History
Racoon started in 1997 as an acoustic duo made up of singer Bart van der Weide and guitarist Dennis Huige. The duo released three songs on the singer/songwriter compilation album Characters, released by the Dutch Rock & Pop Institute. In 1998, they were joined by bass player Stefan de Kroon and drummer Paul Bukkens and the band moved to Utrecht. That year, Racoon played at the Heineken X-pl'oor-festival in the Melkweg and in Rotterdam. Their self-released demo It's an Ice Cream Day earned them the attention of several record companies and many positive reviews from the Dutch press. In 1999, Racoon served as the opening act at the annual Noorderslag festival. They were signed to Sony's S.M.A.R.T. label and at the end of this year they went into the studio to record their full-length debut.
In January 2000, Racoon played at the Eurosonic festival in Groningen, also releasing their debut album Till Monkeys Fly, which was recorded at the ICP-studios in Brussels. The album was produced by Michel "Magic Stick" Schoots from Urban Dance Squad; the end mix was done by Phil Nicolo and Bob Ludwig was responsible for the mastering of the album. The band was being touted as "the next big thing" and their single "Feel Like Flying" was a power play on Radio 3 FM. Racoon also played at the Parkpop and Lowlands festivals. This was followed in 2001 with singles "Smoothly" and "Eric's Bar" and a new album in 2001 titled new album Here We Go, Stereo also touring the country and performing Faith No More songs for the Marlboro Flashback Tour.
In 2003, Racoon took part in the Europe Day festival in Kyiv, an international event organized by the European Union. Other bands on the bill included Alphaville from Germany, The Blueberries from Denmark, K-System from Finland amongst many. 2004 saw Racoon signing a record deal with PIAS. The popular "Feel Like Flying" was runner up in the Top 100 Best Dutch Pop Songs voted for by the listeners of public Radio 3FM just behind winner, Van Dik Hout's "Stil in mij". Snippets of a Racoon track called "Reach" was also used in two Calvé TV ads.
In 2005, Racoon released their third album called Another Day , a major hit with highly successful singles such as "Love You More", "Laugh About It" and "Brother". In 2006, Racoon collaborated with Armin van Buuren to create a trance version of their hit tune "Love You More". The collaboration proved popular in the trance scene and was soon being played by many top name DJs.
In 2008, the band released its fourth album, Before You Leave with the band being present at many Dutch Festivals and playing in front of thousands of visitors during Pinkpop, Rockin Park and Parkpop events. In the fall of the same year, they had a successful tour in Dutch theaters that continued into the following year. In May 2011, Racoon released their fifth album, called Liverpool Rain . It was produced by Wouter Van Belle and recorded in Powertone Studios near Mechelen (Belgium) and in Abbey Road Studios in London where they played together with the London Chamber Orchestra, arranged by Andrew Powell. Some of the vocal takes from those London sessions made it onto the album. Their biggest hit so far came from the album called "No Mercy".
Armin Jozef Jacobus Daniël van Buuren OON is a Dutch DJ and record producer. Since 2001, he has hosted A State of Trance (ASOT), a weekly radio show, which is broadcast to nearly 40 million listeners in 84 countries on over 100 FM radio stations. According to the website DJs and Festivals, "the radio show propelled him to stardom and helped cultivate an interest in trance music around the world".
Marinus Bernardus "Benno" de Goeij is a Dutch trance music producer. He is best known for his participation in Rank 1 with Piet Bervoets, Kamaya Painters with Tiësto and Gaia with Armin van Buuren. Since 2008, de Goeij has been the co-producer behind the Dutch trance artists Armin van Buuren and Jochen Miller.
Anouk Schemmekes, professionally known by the mononym Anouk, is a Dutch singer and songwriter. After her 1997 breakthrough rock single "Nobody's Wife", she had additional hit records in the Dutch and Belgian charts. Many of her albums topped the Dutch album charts, most of them going Platinum and several debuting in the number 1 position. Her most famous singles include "Michel", "It's So Hard", "R U Kiddin' Me", "Girl", "Lost", "Modern World", "Three Days in a Row", "Birds", and "Woman".
Till Monkeys Fly is a debut album by the Dutch rock band Racoon. It was first released in January 2000.
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Di-rect is a rock band from The Hague, the Netherlands, which was formed in 1999. The current line-up consists of Jamie Westland (drums), Frans "Spike" van Zoest (guitar), Bas van Wageningen (bass), Paul Jan Bakker (guitar) and Marcel Veenendaal.
Roel van Velzen, better known as VanVelzen, is a Dutch singer-songwriter. Besides being known for his short stature, he and his band enjoy a huge live reputation; they have played at virtually every festival in the Netherlands, shared the stage with Queen's Brian May, and supported Kelly Clarkson, Bon Jovi and German megastars Reamonn. He also had an international airplay hit when DJ Armin van Buuren remixed VanVelzen's song "Broken Tonight".
Cyndi Louise Almouzni, best known at the beginning of her music career in the United States as Cherie, is a French pop and dance music singer coming from Marseille. Her 2004 hit "I'm Ready" hit number one on the Hot Dance Music/Club Play chart.
Intense is the fifth studio album by Dutch DJ and record producer Armin van Buuren. It was released on 3 May 2013 by Armada Music.
Laura Jansen is a Dutch-American musician. Before gaining fame in the Netherlands, Jansen became a fixture in the constellation of artists associated with Los Angeles nightclub Hotel Café – a national launching pad for artists as Sara Bareilles, Priscilla Ahn and Joshua Radin. As a daughter of an American mother and Dutch father, Laura has been living in the United States for over 10 years.
Dennis Princewell Stehr, known professionally as Mr. Probz, is a Dutch record producer, singer and singer-songwriter.
Kensington is a Dutch rock band from Utrecht that was formed in 2005. The band's lineup of lead vocalist Eloi Youssef, guitarist Casper Starreveld, bassist Jan Haker and drummer Niles Vandenberg remained consistent for 14 years beginning in 2008. The band has since released two EPs and five studio albums: Borders (2010), Vultures (2012), Rivals (2014), Control (2016) and Time (2019).
Christopher Anthony Jones is an English singer and songwriter best known for featuring the vocals and lyrics on "Going Wrong" (2008), written and produced by Dutch trance DJ and producer Armin van Buuren plus German trance DJ and producer Roger Shah. This track was present in the Dutch charts for nine successive weeks and has been viewed more than 19,000,000 times on YouTube.
"This Is What It Feels Like" is a song by Dutch DJ and record producer Armin van Buuren, featuring Canadian singer, songwriter and former soulDecision frontman Trevor Guthrie, released in the Netherlands by Armada Music on 5 April 2013 as the second single from van Buuren's fifth studio album, Intense (2013).
Jelte Steven Tuinstra, known professionally as Jett Rebel, is a Dutch singer-songwriter, composer, multi-instrumentalist, music producer and recording artist. The moniker Jett Rebel refers to a solo artist who performs live in different band formations in the Dutch music scene.
Dotan Harpenau, better known mononymously as Dotan, is a Dutch-Israeli singer-songwriter, multi-instrumentalist, and record producer.
Venus & Mars is the first studio album by Dutch pop singer songwriter and multi-instrumentalist Jett Rebel, released by the record label Sony Music Entertainment on April 19, 2014 in the Netherlands. The album is composed of his first two EPs, Venus and Mars.Venus was released on May 26, 2013 and Mars on January 15, 2014. Two new songs have been added to the album, "#" and bonus track "On Top of the World", the bonus track for The Amazing Spider-Man 2. On April 19, 2014, these EPs were combined for one album. It is not considered to be his debut album. The album was produced by Rebel with help from Dutch producer JJJ Sielcken for the first seven tracks. Venus & Mars spawned the singles "Do You Love Me at All", "Louise" and Tonight".
"In and Out of Love" is a collaboration between Dutch DJ and record producer Armin van Buuren and Dutch singer and songwriter Sharon den Adel from the band Within Temptation. It was released on 6 August 2008 as the second single from van Buuren's third studio album, Imagine.
Secret Rendezvous is a band consisting of members Sietske Morsch and Remi Lauw. The duo met when they both studied pop music at the Codarts Conservatory in Rotterdam and formed the band Secret Rendezvous after graduating. They produce all their music themselves and are influenced by a variety of artists like Frank Ocean, Janet Jackson, Prince and Lizzo.
Wouter Van Belle is a Belgian musician and producer. He is known for his work with Flip Kowlier, Gorki, Noordkaap, Arno, Axelle Red, Yevgueni, Novastar and Racoon. He scored as producer four number-one albums in Flanders and one in the Netherlands, and had top three singles in Flanders, France and the Netherlands. He is also the keyboard player for Dead Man Ray.
