Armand (singer)

Herman George van Loenhout (10 April 1946 – 19 November 2015), better known as Armand, was a Dutch protest singer.[1] His greatest hit song was "Ben ik te min" ("Am I not good enough?"). Armand came to the fore during the hippie generation and was well known as an advocate of cannabis.[2]

Armand
Armand in 2009
Born
Herman George van Loenhout

(1946-04-10)10 April 1946
Died19 November 2015(2015-11-19) (aged 69)
NationalityDutch
OccupationProtest singer

Biography

His great examples were Bob Dylan, Peter Seeger and Woody Guhrthie. Arand, ex-member and fonder of the Shannonboys, Les Gilets. He launched his first solo-record in 1965. "En nou ik" which flopped, but he didn't give up. Then the record "En een van hem ben ik" came out, which made it to the "Tipparade", but then 3 months afterwards the B side (Ben ik te min) became a national hit. He stayed in the Dutch Top 40's for 14 weeks with this record. In that same year the single "Blommenkinders" came out. This brought him in the Top40's, reaching a high of number 19. From here on, the record label Philips refusesed to release "Lijpe Harrie", from where on Armand decided to write the debut song for Lenny Kuhr ("Laat maar schrijven"). Ten years later Armand released "Lijpe Harrie" after all.

Because Armand was a great advocate of legalising soft drugs and Philips declined to publish lyrics about that subject, he transferred in 1970 to Telstar Records (then owned by Dutch singer Johnny Hoes). On the label Kilroy he released six albums in the period of 1971 to 1981. The albums contained many socially concerned lyrics, most of them inspired by the hippie ideology of the late 1960s. In 1990 he broke with the majors to give himself more artistic freedom. In 1994 he released "One of Our Kind", which was only for sale at his gigs. In 1996 he celebrated his 50th birthday by bringing out the double CD "50 jaar Armand". The album "A Tribute to Armand/50 years and still in the Highlife" followed. On 14 December 2011 Armand was the first Dutch hippie artist to participate in the TV show hosted by Ali B called "Op Volle Toeren". He recorded his own version of the song "Straattaal", originated by the rapper Nina, who-in turn-recorded her version of Armand's song "Ben ik te min".

Armand revived his music career in 2011, performing on rapper Ali B's TV show Ali B op volle toeren. An adaptation of "Ben ik te min" was released with rapper Nina having updated the lyrics: in this version (with Ali B and Brownie Dutch), the song talks of the disrespect for women Nina finds in hip hop culture. In 2012, Armand began a collaboration with singer-songwriter Lucky Fonz III and Dave von Raven (singer for The Kik), both fans of his, and in June 2015 Armand & The Kik released an album with adaptations of Armand's lesser-known songs, followed by a Dutch tour.[1]

Armand died in Eindhoven on 19 November 2015 of pneumonia, at the age of 69.[3]

References
  1. "Protestzanger ar (69) overleden". De Volkskrant (in Dutch). 20 November 2015. Retrieved 20 November 2015.
  2. "Protestzanger Armand overleden". Nederlandse Omroep Stichting (in Dutch). 20 November 2015. Retrieved 21 November 2015.
  3. Armand, Our Legendary Dutch Singer Friend has Died, Savingiceland.org
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