This was the K3 display at Madame Tussauds in Amsterdam before Kathleen Aerts announced this week that she is quitting the Belgian Pop music group.
After Kathleen’s announcement, the museum symbolically moved her figure three meters away from Kristel’s and Karen’s still lifes in wax (or whatever material is used nowadays), and the sign now says ‘K2’. “We find the picture of Kathleen still an important piece in our collection,” says Annemiek Dolfin of Madame Tussauds. “She has sung for ten years for K3 and remains a celebrity.”
When I first saw K3 in wax, I thought it was a surreal display for the museum to put together, but now it seems prophetic to have the ladies frozen in time this way, because K3 has stopped, and where they go from here is unknown.
On Monday, Studio 100 released a statement about Kathleen and the future of K3. I’ve taken a Google translation and edited it for easier reading.
The girl group K3 is on hold. Kathleen Aerts, the blonde of K3, has quit the group. Whether or not Karen Damen and Kristel Verbeke will look for a new singer is still unknown. The 30-year-old from Geel [Belgium] is the youngest singer of the popular girl group. Kathleen has already been on her own, in the musical ‘Snow White’ and in ‘The Little Mermaid’. She is still single, although at the end of 2007 she had wedding plans with her ex-boyfriend, seven years younger.
“I have given my best to K3 for ten years, with all my heart and soul, but people change in ten years time,” said Kathleen. “After many discussions with family, friends, Karen and Kristel, I have made the hardest decision of my life. With a heavy heart I take leave of K3, and I have very mixed feelings. First, the Kathleen of K3 is still a part of me and will always remain so. But meanwhile, I am thirty, and I feel that it is time to explore new roads.”
But for Karen and Kristel, this is not the end. “How strange it will be without Kathleen on the podium with us after these years with the three of us. Karen and I are still planning to proceed with K3,” said Kristel. “We are still full of ideas and we are making plans.”
It is not yet known what the future will be for K3. Studio 100 has promised K3 shows in both Belgium and the Netherlands this year.
Karen, Kristel and Kathleen have had a decade of success with K3. No one doubted that there would be an end, but Kathleen just stopping — that’s a surprise. Many people came to her solo concerts in December, but they were produced by Niels William [K3’s first manager], not Studio 100.
Studio 100 says that within a month the future direction for K3 will be clear. Having a new K join the band is “an option”.
I’ve assembled a playlist of related videos with Kathleen’s farewell. I downloaded them, so if they start to disappear from YouTube I’ll put them back online myself.
I would prefer that Karen and Kristel likewise call it quits, but if they continue I think it should be as K2, rather than auditioning a replacement for Kathleen. When a group gels perfectly it’s never the same after a member leaves. Without David Lee Roth, Van Halen was only lukewarm for teacher! 😉