Clouseau

Biography

Clouseau is a Belgian band. The group name Clouseau is derived from the film character Jacques “Inspector” Clouseau. During his work for the local radio Ro in Sint-Genesius-Rode, Bob Savenberg often imitated the typical accent of this character. That earned him the nickname Clouseau in the studio. When Savenberg founded a group, he chose his radio name as a group name. In 1987, Clouseau was discovered by the audience of pop festival Marktrock in Leuven. Their first single “Brandweer” sold 427 pieces. A year later, Clouseau scored it’s first hit with “Alleen met jou”. In 1989 Clouseau took part in the Belgian heat for the Eurovision Song Contest with the song Anne. Clouseau became second, but Anne became a huge hit in Belgium and a modest hit in the Netherlands. The popularity of Clouseau in Belgium rose to enormous heights. In the same year the group released its first album. In 1990 the single “Daar gaat ze” was a big success in Belgium and the Netherlands. Several successful singles followed. On September 30 of that year, guitarist Tjenne Berghmans the group. In March 1991, bass player Karel Theys left the group, leaving only three members. In that year, Clouseau was the Belgian entry for the Eurovision Song Contest in Rome. The group saw participation in this festival as an opportunity for a European breakthrough. High expectations were not met. Clouseau finished 16th out of 22 participants. The English-language album “Close Encounters”, released in the same year, did not lead to the European breakthrough. In May 1992, another Dutch-language album followed, Continue. At the same time. Founder Bob Savenberg left the group in 1996.
In December 2001 Clouseau played twice in the Antwerp Sportpaleis. December had now become the regular Clouseau Sportpaleis month, because in 2002 they also performed there. The hall was completely filled nine times, and the performance was released on the Clouseau DVD live in the Sportpaleis. In 2003 a “Clouseau Zingt” tour was done for the second time. This time Clouseau mainly performed in theaters and covers were sung to a large extent. In the spring of 2012, a musical premiered in the Schouwburg in Antwerp around the songs of Clouseau, called Domino. The group won ZAMU Awards, the Music Industry Awards, and two MIAs in 2008 for best live act.