Forty -five years ago, two people in love and a wedding. Frans and José van Aarle from Tilburg gave each other the yes in 1980, and Frans’ father had arranged a band as a surprise to perform at the wedding party. With on the guitar … none other than Henny Vrienten.
It was a few months before Henny joined the immensely popular band as a singer, before he composed hits as ‘Doris Day’ and ‘One night alone’, and before thousands of young girls got completely in katzijm.
“Henny was not yet known at the time.”
“He was not known at all at the time,” says the now 67-year-old Frans, who has been happily married to his José for 45 years. “They played English -language songs, but also Brabantse Gouwe Ouwe, such as” Life is good on the Brabant country “. That was our opening dance, and in no time the entire dance floor was full.”
How does Henny Vrienten end up at a wedding in Tilburg? “My father had a photo shop at the time,” says Frans. “One of his regular customers was René Frijters, who had a booking agency. Willy Alberti, Mieke Telkamp, the singer without a name and father Abraham, all kinds of well -known artists were under contract with him.”
“My father asked him then,” Do you perhaps have a nice band that can come and play at my son’s wedding? “Well, he had that. And so Trio Fender appeared with us as a surprise on stage. We expected that there would be a DJ or something, but this was of course much more fun.”
“Hey, wasn’t that the guitarist of our wedding?”
When Henny broke through fairly afterwards at Doe Maar, Frans and José encouraged each other: “Hey, wasn’t that the guitarist of our wedding?”.
Did they become a fan of Doe Maar afterwards? “Do I have to give an honest answer?” Laughs Frans. “No, not that. Of course we are from the eighties, and then you are more of the soul, and so. With Doe but we didn’t have that much, although we did go to the musical later.”
“It was a man with charisma.”
That the teenage girls then became completely hysterical of Henny, Frans understands that. “It was a man with charisma,” he says. “And that makes the story that he played with us at the wedding is only more fun.”
How many father Aarts had to pay for the performance at the wedding party, Frans cannot say that. “But it was for an apple and an egg,” he laughs. “No amount that you say, I have to take out a loan at the bank for that.”