If you say Nick, you say Simon. But that will soon change if it is up to the Volendam duo. Although there is no definitive split yet, the singers want to focus more on solo projects. However, success together is no guarantee for a smashing solo career. That’s how it went for other artists who started their career as an iconic duo.
By Michiel VosA comparison with Nick & Simon’s own idols Simon & Garfunkel is easily made. The duo, consisting of Paul Simon and Art Garfunkel, experienced their heyday in the sixties with hits such as The Sound Of Silence, mrs. Robinson and Bridge Over Troubled Water.
With the creation of the last song and the accompanying fifth album in 1970, creative differences cause a rift. Tempers run so high that the two can barely breathe or see each other in the years that follow. Although there are still some reunion performances every now and then, the two never release new music together.
Instead, they throw themselves into their solo careers, both with considerable success. Simon releases fourteen albums, of which Graceland from 1986 with sixteen million copies sold worldwide proves to be the most successful.
Garfunkel is slightly less productive with ten albums and also achieves significantly less success in the United States. In the UK, however, he writes the number 1 hits I Only Have Eyes For You and Bright Eyes to his name, something Simon never managed to do.
Tina more successful without Ike
Ike & Tina Turner form a band and later get married. The two score big hits as River Deep – Mountain High and Proud Mary, but they do not have a happy marriage. The singer later talks about the domestic violence she was a victim of. In 1976, she flees Ike after he becomes aggressive again on the way to a performance. Not long after, she filed for divorce.
While Ike mainly makes the news after the break with his drug addiction and clashes with the law, Turner knows how to turn the tide for himself at the age of 44. Her version of the song Let’s Stay Together becomes a hit followed by successful songs like Private Dancer, What’s Love Got To Do With It and The Best. Turner scores the biggest hits of her career after leaving her ex behind.
Cher’s career follows a similar pattern. She breaks through as a duo Sonny & Cher with her husband. With him she scores hits like I Got You Babe and The Beat Goes On and makes the successful television program The Sonny and Cher Show. Sonny Bono and Cher divorce in the mid-1970s and break up as a duo. Where Sonny focuses on acting and later on a political career, Cher turns out to be one of the most popular pop stars. For decades she stays at the top with hits like If I Could Turn Back Time (1989), The Shoop Shoop Song (1990) and believe (1998).
Harmony or conflict
Also on Dutch soil, after a long career together, a few duos have taken the plunge alone. After their breakthrough in 1998, Acda & De Munnik produce with Not Or Never Been a long series of well-known Dutch songs, such as The Captain Part II, Ren Lenny Ren and It’s Raining Sunbeams.
The two take a short break in 2006 and only announce the final end of Acda & De Munnik in 2015. Thomas Acda is expanding his acting career and they both come out with solo albums. However, the collaboration is not completely over yet: the two are sometimes on stage together and together they record a song with Maan and Typhoon.
At Lange Frans and Baas B, known for hits like The country of, honey and meaningless, the break is less harmonious. The end of their collaboration in 2009 led to a business dispute in 2011, in which the then girlfriend of Lange Frans visited Baas B’s house with a loaded weapon. The business dispute is eventually resolved and Lange Frans and Baas B both record some solo work.
Baas B does not rule out a reunion last year in conversation with NU.nl, but only if he and Lange Frans can agree on the message of their music. Boss B. does not agree with the conspiracy theories that his colleague is spreading. “Before we release anything again, we have to make sure we agree on that. Time will tell,” said Baas B.
Speaking of a definitive break is still premature for Nick & Simon: until next year there is a lot on the schedule as a duo. But it is certain that they will do more of their own things. And whether that will eventually lead to a permanent break? The two don’t want to say anything about it yet.