Vermeulen, Hans (18th September 1947-9th November 2017)

He was a singer-songwriter, guitarist, keyboardist and producer born Hans Gerard Jozef Vermeulen in Voorburg, The Netherlands. His father was a saxophonist, his mother a choral singer brother was the guitarist Jan Vermeulen and his son David is also a musician.

He was drawn to music as a child and greatly encouraged by his parents, so joined Voorburg’s Hadriana Forum as a horn player.

He began his musical career in 1961 at the age of fourteen when he put together the group Sandy Coast Skiffle Group. The name changed when his brother Jan was asked to join the band but refused to unless they widened their horizons from just skiffle. Thus they became Sandy Coast Rockers and eventually just became known as Sandy Coast. They had several hit records that include “Capitol Punishment”, “I See Your Face”, “Just a Friend”, “Sumer Train” and “True Love”.

Sandy Coast called it a day in the mid-1970s and Hans went on to form Rainbow Train in 1975 with his brother. His wife at the time, Hilde Dianne Marchal, sang with the group and in later years Hans wrote “Hilde” about her, which appeared on his solo album. They released the single “Heaven on Earth” and “Another Band” in 1978 and the album Accompanied By. The following year Hans decided to shorten the group’s name to Train and they released the album Gentlemen Street and the single of the same name in 1980.

He also worked as a producer during these years and saw success with Anita Meyer and Daisy Eshuijs and received an Edison Award in 1977 for his work with Anita..

In 1981 he was called upon by Stars On/Starsound to sing on the Beatles medley they were putting together. He became the voice of George Harrison on the resultant single, which would become a huge international hit.

The early 1980s also saw the return of Sandy Coast who returned to the charts with their “The Eyes of Jenny”. They appeared again later in the decade with a new album release. During the 1980s he also continued to produce new artists such as Niamh Kavanagh and Nadieh and was a recipient of the Golden Harp Award in 1987.

Things quietened down during the ‘90s for Hans so he packed up and moved to Thailand where he married the Thai singer known as Aom. He released the single “A Kiss and a Hug” which was a minor success and in 1994 worked with the group called The Rest. The television documentary Hans Vermeulen: Gogelvrij was released in 1998.

In the new millennium he worked on the TV broadcast The Friends of Amstel LIVE with City to City and Precious in 2001. In 2007 he gave a performance with the Metropole Orchestra and continued to periodically return to the Netherlands for gigs.

He died suddenly after suffering from a cardiac arrest in 2017. He was 70 years old.

Stars on 45 recordings
Medley: Intro “Venus” – Sugar Sugar – No Reply – I’ll Be Back – Drive My Car – Do You Want to Know a Secret – We Can Work it Out – I Should Have Known Better – Nowhere Man – You’re Going to Lose That Girl – Stars on 45 (Jeff Barry/Martin Duiser/Jaap Eggermont/Andy Kim/Robbie van Leeuwen/John Lennon/Paul McCartney)

Sources:

Vermeulen, Hans (18th September 1947-9th November 2017)

Navigation