It's March 11 in the Netherlands, where, 74 yrs ago, Golden Earring founder George Kooymans was born
Their lead guitarist, who wrote or cowrote most of their songs, and who's been the lead singer on some of their songs.
I'm calling him the founder rather than the cofounder because a band that didn't break up till last year got its start when George, then only 13 in 1961, was giving guitar lessons to a neighbor who was several years older. That neighbor, Rob Gerritsen, didn't do very well with the lessons (he did become their manager later) and gave his guitar to his younger brother Rinus, who was two years older than George. Rinus became the bass player when they started a band, first calling themselves the Tornados before changing their name after hearing of a British band with that name. By 1965 they had a recording contract and their first hit in the Netherlands. By 1969, after a few personnel changes, Golden Earring had the lineup that would last until 2021.
By the time they broke up last year they'd released 25 studio albums and had nearly 30 Top-10 singles on the Dutch charts. But they've been known best outside the Netherlands for "Radar Love" and "Twilight Zone."
The band was still doing concerts and creating new music until George was diagnosed with ALS, a diagnosis announced just over a year ago.
Last year, on March 11, "Radar Love" was played all over the Netherlands, by radio stations and church bells, to honor him.
https://www.dutchnews.nl/news/2021/03/church-bells-all-over-the-netherlands-play-radar-love-in-tribute/
They played it during rush hour because it's a great road song. I suspect the average driving speed in the Netherlands went up at least a few kilometers an hour.
And a rainbow appeared over The Hague during the tribute, as noted by political journalist Ron Fresen on Twitter:
Link to tweet
I haven't heard of any such plans for a birthday tribute this year. I haven't heard any news about George at all since the band's lead singer, Barry Hay, gave an update in November, sayng George was still able to laugh and to travel. ALS is a terrible diagnosis, but I'm hoping for a miracle, for a cure found very soon, for everyone with the disease. I lost an online acquaintance to ALS years ago, when he was only 50.
George Kooymans and the band he formed have given us some amazing music over several decades, and I hope we all wish him well.
The official music video for Radar Love, 1973:
Vanilla Queen, live at Winterland, 1975 (love the guitar solo starting at 3:15, and the outro, especially starting at 8:20):
Twilight Zone -- one of his solo compositions -- live for the German TV show Rockpalast, 1982:
Eight Miles High, acoustic, live in Amsterdam, 1992 (their cover of this Byrds song had been an early hit for them):
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