Eddy Doorenbos (December 28, 1921 – March 25, 2013) was a Dutch singer, bassist, guitarist, pianist, composer, lyricist, painter and entertainer.
Born in Den Haag, Zuid-Holland, Netherlands, Eddy’s musical career started around 1945. He left for Brussels with Han de Willigen 's orchestra to play music and sing for the American troops, who were stationed in Belgium , France and Germany, for two years. Doorenbos was a great admirer of Nat King Cole and Frank Sinatra and achieved great fame as a vocalist with Ab de Molenaar's legendary Miller Sextet, to which he was associated from 1947 to 1961 .
One of the hits from that time was the song "Smoke smoke that cigarette '. There were many radio appearances and long-term engagements in famous establishments in the Netherlands, as well as extensive foreign tours (US Forces in Belgium, France and Germany; Indonesia; Sweden; Denmark). In 1956 and 1957 Doorenbos was voted favourite singer in the poll of the magazine 'Rhythm'.
In 1961 he left The Millers to sing for a year, among other things, with the orchestra of his good friend clarinetist and saxophonist Herman Schoonderwalt. After the rise of pop music, interest in swing disappeared rather suddenly. Doorenbos decided to leave the Netherlands and went to Spain, where he would stay for some twenty years with an interruption of a few years. He settled on the Costa del Sol in 1965, enjoyed the sunny climate and discovered that he had even more artistic gifts: he took up painting, and this with success.
His work was discovered by the jet set in Marbella and he sold canvases to Gina Lollobrigida, Anita Ekberg and Sean Connery , among others . He is also listed in the large Lexicon '500 years of Dutch painting' and had exhibitions in Spain, France, Switzerland, Sweden and the Netherlands. In 1968 he visited the Netherlands a number of times to make radio and gramophone recordings as part of a Miller reunion organized by producer Skip Voogd, which were later also released on CD.
Here's "Taking A Chance On Love" from above LP.
In the 1970s , Doorenbos also lived in Brussels for four years. At that time he had a gallery in Knokke and regularly performed in Belgium for the French-language channel RTB . He then returned to Spain and settled in Marbella. In 1984 he returned to his homeland. Except for a short break (in the period from 1995-1996 he lived on the island of Lanzarote), he continued to live in the Netherlands. Doorenbos has always remained true to music. From the 90s he performed with his own quartet The Swingmill, had radio broadcasts with The Skymasters and sang with many bandsand ensembles.
Doorenbos can be heard on all The Millers' CDs and has made three CDs under his own name since 1989: Still Together with The Swingmill, Here I Go Again and Gimme That Wine. In 1994 he also recorded a CD with Dutch-language duets with actress-singer Joke Bruijs . He made a rap version of his great Miller success Smoke, Smoke That Cigaret in 1996, combined with a video clip , which was regularly shown on TMF. Since 1997, Doorenbos could be heard in bars of Dutch hotels for many months a year. In addition, he regularly performed at home and abroad, usually on exclusive private occasion parties, but also at jazz festivals and in clubs.
In 2011 his book “Gentleman of Swing” was published; an autobiography about his life and career. “Music keeps me young. And because I have asthmatic bronchitis, I've always been very careful with my breathing and I've spared my voice. I've never had lessons, but I've never sung my voice to pieces. I just have that voice,” Doorenbos told the ANP in March 2011.
He eventually passed away in his sleep in Barendrecht, March 25, 2013, at the age of 91.
(Edited from Wikipedia & AD News Media)