Guus Meeuwis celebrates his fiftieth birthday on Wednesday. He has been a true folk hero in Brabant for almost half his life. The province about which he wrote that one iconic song that almost became a national anthem. With a handful of number 1 hits and a concert series in the Philips stadium, he is one of the greatest artists in the Netherlands. We summarize how this came about in five highlights.
The discovery
Guus was born on March 23, 1972 in a monastery in Mariahout, but grew up as a young man in Lieshout. After his time at secondary school in Eindhoven and Meersen in Limburg, he wants to study law in Tilburg. Only that doesn’t come to much when he participates in the Leiden Student Song Contest in 1994. As Guus Meeuwis & Vagant they win with Het Is Een Nacht (Levensecht). A song that Guus already wrote in 1992 after a romantic weekend with his later wife Valerie. After the win, the group is offered a recording contract. The band Vagant consists of college friends and is named after the favorite Tilburg café of Guus and brother Marc Meeuwis. They still go to that pub, although it is now called Van Horen Zeggen.
The breakthrough
On August 12, 1995 Guus with It is a night the number 1 position in the Dutch Top 40. The first of four number 1 hits. The second follows six months later with Per Spoor (Kedeng Kedeng). Guus Meeuwis has to wait until 2004 for the next number 1 hit with Give Me Je Angst. A cover by the German Udo Jürgens, which was previously translated and re-released by André Hazes in 1983. When Guus sings it during the funeral of the folk singer, it becomes his biggest hit. In 2007 the Tilburger scored his last number 1 hit with Tears Laughter†
The National anthem
The number that made Guus Meeuwis immortal in 2003, certainly in our province, is Brabant. The song is on his first solo album. Guus writes it when he is homesick in Moscow. According to the figures, Brabant is not a real hit, because it gets stuck in the tip parade. The song does get the stamp ‘unofficial Brabant national anthem’. Provincial Council does not want to make it official despite a petition. Yet the song knows how to touch every Brabant person and everyone recognizes the (Brabant) home feeling in it.
The Folk Concert
It is 2006 when Guus Meeuwis organizes his first concert series Groots met a Soft G in ‘his’ Philips Stadium in Eindhoven. The singer may have lived in Tilburg for years, but his heart has been with PSV since childhood. Performing in the Philips Stadium is a dream for him that has now come true 54 times. More than two million visitors enjoyed it. These are staggering numbers that had to be celebrated ‘bigly’ in 2020 with the fifteenth anniversary. But due to the corona pandemic, the anniversary of Groots with a Soft G now coincides with Guus’s fiftieth year of life, double celebration!
honorary citizen
Guus Meeuwis will be appointed honorary citizen of the province of North Brabant on November 22, 2011. Queen’s Commissioner Wim van de Donk calls Meeuwis’ work ‘grand with a soft G’. According to the province, the singer knows how to connect with his audience like no other with his music’ within and outside Brabant. And the number Brabant reflects the feeling of Brabant about their province. Two years later Guus Meeuwis is knighted.
Own attraction
Not in the top five, but a special moment for Guus Meeuwis is October 8, 2020. Efteling is making a new show for Aquarana together with him. In addition to well-known Efteling melodies, the fountain spectacle also contains a number of songs by Meeuwis himself, because he has been in the business for 25 years. The show will have its premiere in the middle of the corona crisis and has therefore been decided, but will be broadcast live on Omroep Brabant.