“Arno left us on April 23,” reads the press release that his manager shared on Saturday. “We will all miss him, his family, his friends and musicians. He will always be with us thanks to the music that kept him alive until the very end.”
Arno was seen as an icon of Belgian rock music. In the eighties he was regarded as the figurehead of the TC Matic formation, which played with the infectious O La La La had a hit in their own country. The singer has received various prizes and awards, including the French Knight in the Arts and Letters award.
Despite his illness, Arno was still on stage in the last months of his life. He gave a number of performances in Brussels and in his birthplace Ostend. He is also working on a new album.