Keessie

Keessie: tearjerker, presenter and DJ

"You meet him all over the country and now also on the digital highway. Keep surfing to the right, don't overtake and try to warn him with light signals!"

Biography:
With his wrong appearance and ditto accent, it is clear from the start: Keessie is a B-artist with a capital B! Dressed in an immaculate white suit with a curly hair and slick glasses, it looks like he just walked out of Jiskefet. Keessie is therefore a comical tearjerker act with a wink, who also has a more than excellent voice. In addition, despite his smooth chatter, he is often long-winded when he introduces his songs in an inimitable and extremely witty way.

Keessie once started as a joke, but can now be taken very seriously. As a bassist and singer, Cees normally defends the colors of De Thuisband and Roy en de Rodjers and he was guitarist with Let's Quit and De Dubbers , Armand 's band (“Am I too less?”). But as tearjerker Keessie, he is on his own. And with success!

When you invariably, at every sound check, sing songs by André Hazes, while the rest of your tough band doesn't have to know anything about it, there's only one thing to do: you have to start for yourself! And that's exactly what Keessie did almost twenty years ago. As a singer and of course as a songwriter, because although there are mostly covers in his repertoire, he has a more than nice collection of his own songs. In 1998 Keessie's entire oeuvre was released on CD, under the title "25 hours a day."

Keessie performed for the first time with great success during the Nijmegen Day of the Life Song” 5 May 1995 and since that day his star has been rising. Keessie already has a remarkable track record in Nijmegen for a tearjerker singer, because in recent years the collection of halls and cafes where he never performed has shrunk to a minimum. But you can also find him everywhere outside of Nijmegen. He was already successful at Smartlaagfestivals in Amersfoort, Arnhem, Berlicum, De Koog, De Meern, Doetinchem, Echt, Gemert, Groenlo, IJsselstein, Maastricht, Sittard and Zwolle. You could see him during the Poprondes of Nijmegen, Arnhem, Breda, Zwolle and 's-Hertogenbosch. He was heard on the radio at the 'Nacht van de Smartlap' of the NCRV and on TV at MAX and Loretta. Small bars, large halls and even real football stadiums had to die. In Spangen Castle, the Wageningse Berg, Gelredome, the ArenA and the Philips Stadium, Keessie got her hands dirty and her feet off the floor. In short, a decent track record and a fixture at (twitch) festivals across the country. Rightly so, because Keessie guarantees a fun and entertaining performance. Accompanied only by his 'Cassette band', Keessie sings the stars from the sky, the fire from his slippers and the wallpaper on the walls. In this he is preferably assisted by his audience, who can sing along to a repertoire known to everyone.


Smartlap Singer:
Keessie brings the nicest Dutch-speaking sing-alongs in the world. From Johnny Jordaan to André Hazes, from Vader Abraham to Willy Alberti, the entire range is covered. Keessie passionately sings the stars from heaven, the fire from his slippers, the laces from your shoes and the wallpaper from the walls. He likes to be assisted by his audience, because Keessie's repertoire is pre-eminently inviting to sing along.
Perhaps unnecessarily it should be noted that Keessie fits with the old tradition of tearjerkers, life songs and sing-alongs with a wink and has emphatically nothing to do with the current Piratenhausse and the Volendam invasion. Lovers of Jannes and associates have come to the wrong place with Keessie, although he will do his utmost to fall into their bad taste as well.


Presenter:
Because of his pleasant way of presenting, you often see Keessie as a presenter of (pop) festivals. If desired, Keessie will be happy to perform one or more sing-alongs to enhance the atmosphere. For example, Keessie presented many finals of De Roos van Nijmegen and the Dutch Air Guitar Championship.


DJ:
Keessie also made a name for himself in Nijmegen as a disc jockey. Keessie's Kroegcafé was a household name for no less than seven years. “Every record just below average” is the motto of DJ 49% Keessie, a welcome guest at every party. All pictures, or rather ceedeetjes, in understandable Dutch and if you're not careful he also sings a song himself!