As long as I have "known" Herman van Veen, I have been a fan. Let's say it was somewhere in the early 1980s for me. Herman had already been active for a long time and was far from slowing down. Herman is actually on the rise and looks forward to tomorrow every day. Over the past 20 years, I have seen him perform regularly and it has never bored me once. In 2020, another visit to him was planned, at Carré because my wife and I find that the nicest place. The last time we were able to briefly meet him after his show. I told him I had a wonderful evening. "Did you enjoy it, lad?" he replied. I immediately had the LP "Kersvers" signed for the wall at De Platenbar. At the time of writing this piece, Herman has just turned 76 and is still incredibly vital. He proved that during the performance on "Mathijs draait door" on 13 March 2021 with OG3NE, Lauwtje and no less than two big bands.
If Herman van Veen had not become a cabaret artist, he would have been a famous footballer. Or a gifted painter. Or a well-known opera singer. Or a great poet. Or a fantastic schoolmaster. Or a… He is a creative all-rounder who has been sharing his astonishing observations and wonderful adventures with his audience for more than forty years.
In the early morning of 14 March 1945, Hermannus Jantinus van Veen was born in the City Academic Hospital of Utrecht. Together with his two sisters Hanneke and Mary, he grew up in a socialist working-class family, where father Van Veen worked as a typographer at the newspaper and mother managed the household at home. Seeing a performance of the Scapino Ballet made a great impression on the then six-year-old Herman. “From that moment on, I no longer wanted to become a footballer at DOS, no longer Erik de Noorman, Ivanhoe, no longer a pilot or captain, but wanted to become such a dancer and harlequin,” said Herman.
At a young age, Herman took violin lessons. After secondary school, he went to the Utrecht Conservatory, where he received a classical education. Herman himself found jazz and folk music much more interesting. After obtaining his diploma, he founded the theatre company Harlekijn with his fellow students Erik van der Wurff and Laurens van Rooyen. In 1965, Herman made his theatre debut with the programme Harlekijn. The programme received glowing reviews. Herman was called a prodigy by the press, ‘the Cruijff of the stage’.
Harlekijn was the first of thousands of performances that Herman played in four languages and that took him to theatres all over the world, from Carré to Broadway. Because also in Belgium, France, Germany, Austria, England, Australia, South Africa, Canada and the United States, ‘Hurmen Fan Feen’ is considered a phenomenon. “We lived in a haze from performance to performance. Interviews, TV programmes, record studios, writing, girls, cafés, fans, euphoria,” says Herman, who in 1976 received the prestigious Louis Davids Ring from Wim Kan. “I was always working, always on the road. Fell mercilessly in love with the actress Marlous Fluitsma. My marriage to Marijke Hoffman fell apart. Was completely lost. Could no longer keep up. Tried to express my powerlessness in a film.” And so Herman played a divorced man in the film Uit Elkaar (1979) alongside his co-star Monique van der Ven. Later, Herman also appeared in films such as Ciske de Rat (1984) – for which he wrote the music for the hit Ik Voel Me Zo Verdomd Alleen – and Nachtvlinder (1999), which he also directed.
Alfred J. Kwak
Meanwhile, Herman tirelessly toured the world with his performances. His show Alfred Jodokus Kwak took on a life of its own when the brave and socially critical duck was first made into a picture book and later an animated series broadcast worldwide on television. A large part of the income from Kwak goes to the Columbine Foundation, the Alfred Jodokus Kwak Foundation, the Roos Foundation and the Herman van Veen Foundation, all organisations committed to children's rights through knowledge transfer and funding small-scale projects in developing countries. Herman is also an ambassador for UNICEF and the Music In The Middle East Foundation.
Awards
Over the years, Herman has received dozens of national and international awards, including eight Edisons, the Radio 2 Airtime Award, the Goldene Kamera, the Prix Humanité, the World Peace Flame and the Planetary Consciousness Award, an honour also bestowed on Mikhail Gorbachev and Nelson Mandela. To date, he has released 150 albums, of which more than 80 million copies have been sold worldwide.
Knight
After the death of his parents, Herman took up painting. He mainly creates monochrome abstract work, which can now be seen in several European galleries and museums. In February 2008, a Dutch postage stamp featuring him was issued. In the same year, Herman performed his 400th show in the Royal Theatre Carré, which he loves so much. After the performance, he was appointed Knight in the Order of the Dutch Lion by Queen Beatrix. This high honour was pinned on him by Minister Plasterk of OCW. In 2009, Herman performed dozens of theatre shows again in the Netherlands, Belgium, Germany and America.
source: NPO photo: Anghy
On 28 March 2021, Herman was our Sunday Morning Classic!
Below you will find just a few albums by Herman van Veen. Are you looking for another album than those shown here? Please let us know!
