Due to the death of singer Henk de Roo, better known as ‘Boer Harms’, last December seemed to fall the curtain for The Dutch Boys from Zwartemeer. Because how could the group continue without its characteristic voice? Yet The Dutch Boys will continue, with son Hendry de Roo as a new frontman.
De Roo Junior grew up with pirate music and grown with the songs from The Dutch Boys. He knew the secret wish of his father, but doubted to take over the baton in the band. Now he has decided to follow in the footsteps of his father, who died on December 19 from the effects of esophageal cancer.
“The only one who can make my father’s wish come true, I am. Which son wouldn’t want that?” Says Hendry de Roo about the future plans of The Dutch Boys. “To keep honoring my father, I put on his straw hat and wear his dust jacket.”
The other band members, Jans Hoogeveen and Cor Maatje, see it completely. “Hendry had been the driving force behind his sick father Henk for some time. He was actually a Dutch Boy,” says Maatje. “If I close my eyes, I will hear the same voice.”
In the new formation, The Dutch Boys will perform for the first time next Saturday at the Mega Piraten Festijn in Borger.