Don Mercedes
|
Chart positions Explanation of the data |
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Singles | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Don Mercedes (born January 12, 1941 ; actually Rob van Bommel ) is a former Dutch singer who was active with Dutch-language pop songs , especially in the 1960s and 1970s.
Career
Van Bommel, originally from Utrecht , initially appeared with various backing bands , first with The Driftin 'Five , then with The Improvers and finally as Don Mercedes and His Benz . In the early years of his musical activities, he released a number of English-language singles. In the autumn of 1965 he made it into the Nederlandse Top 40 for the first time with the recording of Zo maar een soldaat , a cover version of the protest song Universal Soldier by Buffy Sainte-Marie .
Although Don Mercedes continuously brought records onto the market in the following years, it was not until the spring of 1976 when he landed another hit with another cover version - a Dutch-language interpretation of Frank Farian's Rocky . The recording reached number 1 on the Dutch charts in June 1976 and stayed there for two weeks. 14 days later the single was also at number 1 in the Flemish part of Belgium .
Don Mercedes never repeated this success. Several other, commercially unsuccessful singles were released, including Wie schoot op JR Ewing in 1982 , which is based on the television series Dallas .
In addition to his artistic activity, Don Mercedes ran a discotheque on the Utrecht Oudegracht for some time in the 1970s.
swell
Web links
- Entry at the Nationaal Pop Instituut (NPI) (Dutch)
| personal data | |
|---|---|
| SURNAME | Mercedes, Don |
| ALTERNATIVE NAMES | Bommelen, Rob van |
| BRIEF DESCRIPTION | Dutch singer |
| DATE OF BIRTH | January 12, 1941 |