BERT DE CONINCK

Folksinger annex rocker of the seventies that as his bio says "earned a moderate "cult"-status in the Belgian music world through his mix of poetry, way of life, image and statements."

Coming from Bruges, Bert de Coninck started playing in all kinds of pop-rock bands from the age of 16, attempting to become the next Pebbles". However, it was in the "kleinkust"-genre that he found his claim to fame, convinced to sing in dutch by the way Raymond van het Groenewoud and Johan Verminnen had proven that it was possible to sing in that language and be part of the seventies-spirit at the same time. In 1975 he became laureate with three songs in the talenthunt of the "humour"-festvial in Heist and gathered some good reviews by the press on his performance ("he was way better than the rest of the competitors" wrote Bert Verhoye in Het Laatste Nieuws).

As a result of all this, he got the opportunity by Nico Mertens of the Parsifal label to work in team with Jean Rousseau (ex-Hold Up, in the chanson-genre with Bizjoe, and later with the Zappa-ska of Der Polizei and the VIP-rock of the LSP-band) on a debut album, that would get the somewhat prophetic title "Enfant Terrible". Especially the almost whispered single "Evelyne" ("suiker, zegt ze, en ze lacht haar tanden bloot", not a simple love song btw, because the lyrics are about committing adultery) did get quite some attention. In Holland the song even got into the "Top-Pop"-hitparade through Felix Meurders, an unusual feature for a Belgian product to accomplish in those days. The suicide song "Het is me allemaal teveel" (It's all too much for me) also probably deserved more than it did get.

In 1978 a new collaboration came about, this time with the later TC-Matic musicians Jean Marie Aerts and Serge Feys and with the young female singer Fran. This ended up as an album entitled "Crapule de Luxe" which contrary to the predecessor "Enfant Terrible" can be qualified as a rock album. This album also didn't procure him a breakthrough to big success, but it had a little hit in the charming adolescent-love reggae of "Johnny" (which was also released as a single, but by "Fran" alone).

In the eighties, De Coninck did an album with hard rock and English lyrics under the name "Crapule de Luxe" (Room for travellers) which went by largely unnoticed, and then dissappeared at the end of the decade towards the sunny Portugal, where he started a new life outside of the limelight.

In February 2000, the people at Parsifal at long last had the idea of releasing the material of the (unretrievable) albums "Enfant Terrible" and "Crapule de Luxe" on CD, and included as a bonus a few - unreleased - songs in French. At that time Bert De Coninck returned to Belgium and was hoping to do a number of concerts in the summer. There were even some plans of recording a cd with new material. Thus he said in an interview "after "Crapule de Luxe" I dissapeard out of view as a person and an artist here in Flanders, but I always have kept on being creative, for if you're born creative, you got to keep on creating or else you die. For me there is no other way of release than playing my guitar, it's a therapy in which I can loose my sorrow and pain ... My new CD will become a better -balanced piece of work than the albums of the seventies, as the Portuguese lifestyle and culture had their effect on my music. My life is now a regularity of peace and quite, balance, concentration and intuitition. Bert I the rocker is dead, Bert II that rose from the ashes and is a fenix doesn't have anything to do with rock and roll. There are two passions in my life now : "muziek" and "mother earth"."

At the end of 2000, Parsifal released the long-awaited cd : it got called "Pomme d'Amour" (Love Apple) and contained 15 lightweight songs. The rock'n'roll from the seventies was indeed left behind, and instead came a nice songsmith. Or as Knack wrote : "On Pomme d'Amour the tone is set by the bossanova, blues and fado. The southern sun truly has enightened de Coninck. He has gone from an exorcist to a sharp observator".
"Pluis" and "De kinderen van de regen" got some good airplay on Radio 1, and in the summer Bert de Coninck got a place at the "Boterhammen in de stad" festival, in between acts such as Laïs, De Mens, Kris de Bruyne, Monza .... : Bert de Coninck had reclaimed his spot within the Flemish music scene.

Buy CD's of this band at

Albums :
- (als "Bert de Coninck & Jean Rousseau") "Enfant Terrible" (LP, Parsifal, 1975)
- Evelyne / De speelgoedpop (7", CNR, 1976)
- (als "Bert de Coninck & Fran") "Crapule De Luxe" (LP, Parsifal, 1978)
- Cadillac / De Katvis (7" Parsifal, 1978)
- (als "Fran") Johnny / Marylin (Parsifal, 1978)
- (als "Crapule de Luxe") Rooms for Travellers (LP, Mercury, 1981)
- (als "Crapule de Luxe") Rooms for Travellers / Suck it to me (7", Mercury, 1981)
- Bert De Coninck (Best Of CD, Parsifal, 2000)
- Pomme d'Amour (CD, Parsifal, 2000)

Websites :
- my review of Pomme d'Amour
- Bert de Coninck in the Parsifal-catalogue
- Interview on the kkunst-website
- "Zomeren met Bert DeConinck", concertreview of "Boterhammen" in De Standaard

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