Johnny Jordaan

From HitStory, the pop encyclopedia of School of Rock · Artist

Johnny Jordaan was the pseudonym of Johannes Hendricus van Musscher, a Dutch singer of the levenslied, the Dutch variant of the French chanson. He was born in 1924, the son of a roofer, near the Westertoren, on the edge of the Jordaan, at that time a poor working-class district. He was already singing in the street at eight, together with his cousin Carel Verbrugge, later known as Willy Alberti. At fourteen he took the name Johnny Jordaan. After the war he got a regular job as a singer in the café De Kuil.

Music and breakthrough

In 1955 he won the Jordaanfestival, a singing contest organised by the record company Bovema to find the best voices of the Jordaan. His first single contained two songs by Louis Noiret, De Parel van de Jordaan and Bij ons in de Jordaan. After being broadcast by the AVRO, it was an immediate hit. His best-known song, Geef mij maar Amsterdam, is felt by many Amsterdammers to be their own song. In a few months he sold hundreds of thousands of records and performed with Tante Leen at the Concertgebouw.

Influence

His style is recognisable by its hiccuping vibrato, called Mokum by the Amsterdammers. He became the uncrowned king of the Jordaan song and made the dialect of the Jordaan popular nationwide. The whole district, which had been poor since the nineteenth century, became fashionable. Jordaan died in 1989. He belongs in Dutch music history as the interpreter of a city's identity.

Listening

• 
  Geef mij maar Amsterdam · Johnny Jordaan
  Apple Music ↗

Discography

Studio albums

• 1955De afgekeurde woning / Op de Ouwe Lindengracht
• 1962Johnny Jordaan zingt liedjes van Willy Derby
• 1963Johnny Jordaan zingt Willy Derby
• 1968Jofel Mokum
• 1970Als ik jou niet had
• 1970Tussen Kerstmis en nieuwjaar
• 1971Feest met Johnny Jordaan en de Schuimkoppen
• 1972Bedankt, lieve mensen
• 1972Ik maak van mijn hart geen moordkuil
• 1972Samen uit, samen thuis
• 1974Dit is mijn leven
• 1975Eeuwig jong
• 1975Successen uit onze jeugd
• 1981Ze zijn nog niet vergeten (De liedjes van weleer)
• 1992De parel van de Jordaan
• 2000Weet je nog wel
• 2003Kerst in de Jordaan
• ?Gouden Jordaan successen
• ?Ouwe trouwe Jordaan
• ?Successen, deel 1

Mentioned in other articles

• Levenslied and smartlap GenreIn the 1950s the Amsterdam Jordaan became the centre, with Johnny Jordaan and Tante Leen, and in the 1980s André Hazes made the levenslied big.

See also

• Levenslied and smartlap