Petula Clark will be appearing in the Netherlands — K3 country!
12-14 December, 2008
MAX-Proms 2008
Jaarbeurs Convention Centre,
Utrecht, THE NETHERLANDS
What a double-bill show that would make.
Category: K3
Karen Damen, Kristel Verbeke and Josje Huisman
Three ages of K3
Kristel Verbeke, Kathleen Aerts, Karen Damen
More with the best pop music group in the world today — K3. Here’s a good write-up on the group, written and not translated, in English. But it neglects to highlight how K3’s image was changed after they were picked up by Studio 100 in 2002.
Flemish vocal pop group K3 were brought together by producer Niels William, a former Belgian recording artist himself. Having auditioned and assembled Kathleen Aerts, Kristel Verbeke, and Karen Damen, choosing the band name K3 was the easy part.
With all three trio members having cut their teeth either in television or recording, it was not long before the ladies took to the studio. Their first single, “Wat Ik Wil” (What I Want), was well received, but did not turn the group into an overnight sensation as had been hoped. K3’s follow-up single, “Heya Mama,” fell short of the mark yet again, mocked by judges in pre-qualification for Eurosong in 1999, prior to its release. The group decided to release the track anyway, and scored a major hit. “Heya Mama” spent 30 weeks at the top of national charts, achieving gold record status.
K3’s debut album, entitled Parels (Pearls), featured the group’s previously published singles and went gold in presales alone. The band’s next record, Alle Kleuren, hit shelves in September of 2000, landing even more impressive sales than its predecessor. A merchandising frenzy ensued, including plans for a movie, TV series, clothing, and even K3 dolls. The band’s 2001 release, Tele-Romeo, and hit single by the same name reached new teen sugar pop heights, hitting double platinum in presales.
Though skeptics claimed that the market could never sustain the meteoric trajectory of the adolescent bubblegum trio, K3’s steady rise to international stardom continued with “Popstarr”, followed by “Kuma He”, which landed on Billboard’s European Top 100. ~ Evan C. Gutierrez, All Music Guide
Against the odds, K3 have gone from survivors to thrivers. Like the Eurovision judges, I’m not crazy about “Heya Mama”, but it was their big break-out hit. Let’s go back nearly ten years and see young K3 before they had their style figured out.
[flv:http://www.dograt.com/Video/2008/OCT/K3HeyaMama1.flv 440 330]
The next video is after Studio 100 had gotten hold of them. The costumes match, but they’re still a bit young and not quite how I think of K3.
[flv:http://www.dograt.com/Video/2008/OCT/K3HeyaMama2.flv 440 330]
Now this is K3! An amateur video from this past May.
[flv:http://www.dograt.com/Video/2008/OCT/K3HeyaMama3.flv 440 330]
Bose Wave MP3 Test
You may recall that a while ago we had to replace our defective Bose Wave that broke after only six weeks of light use. It cost us $25 to ship it back, which bugged me, but so far the new one has been working all right. Yet I remain wary, because I’ve seen “disc error” flash a couple of times when ejecting a disc.
Until now I hadn’t tested the MP3 playback of the Wave. So I burned a data CD with five hours of high quality MP3 files. You’ll never guess what’s on it. 😉
[flv:http://www.dograt.com/Video/2008/OCT/BoseWaveMP3.flv 440 330]
K3 10 Jaar Show
[flv:http://www.dograt.com/Video/2008/OCT/K3Show2008.flv 448 252]
Why the “K3 onslaught,” as Eric calls it? Because this month is their 10th anniversary, and they’re celebrating with a series of shows.
So what I’m doing is jumping on the bandwagon. And here’s the bandwagon.
[flv:http://www.dograt.com/Video/2008/OCT/KusjesparadeRotterdam21oct07.flv 440 330]
How do I keep up with with K3’s concert schedule? I use the RSS feed you’ll find by clicking here. Then click the picture below to enlarge it, and keep in mind that the ladies have been at this for ten years, and they’re busier than ever.
I’d like to think this was taken after a show, but it looks to me as though they’re just setting up for a rehearsal. Poor Kathleen! She’s the youngest member in the band, and if she looks this beat, I assume Karen and Kristel must sometimes feel the same way. How much longer can they keep up what is obviously a very grueling schedule? Even Petula Clark had to take some time off every so often in her younger years to attend to family and personal matters.
Another side of K3
If you go through the conveniently categorized K3 posts, it’s obvious there are two different acts — one primarily for kids, and another for their parents. Here’s an example of the latter. According to Google, “Een Rustige Ouwe Dag” translates into “A Quiet Old Day.” A while ago I linked to another take of this video on YouTube, but the audio cuts out in places. This copy is OK. Does it sound to you as though they’re singing “Tom Hanks”?
[flv:http://www.dograt.com/Video/2008/OCT/K3EenRustigeOudeDag.flv 440 330]
This is how the studio version sounds. Very nice.
[audio:http://www.dograt.com/Audio/2008/OCT/K3EenRustigeOudeDag.mp3]I’ve always been fascinated by what works and doesn’t work in popular music, but somewhere along the way, after getting out of the radio business, I stopped keeping up with much of anything new. A few bands caught my attention, including REM and Green Day (Eric can’t stand Green Day!), but for the most part I continued to enjoy the old stuff. Carol got me listening to Steve Earle and Lucina Williams, along with a local singer-songwriter here in Massachusetts named Lori McKenna, who’s had some national success.
Not that I feel the need to justify my appreciation of K3, but as a popular music act, I think they have it. The fact that I don’t understand Flemish is inconsequential.
Catchy songs and production values, with cute costumes and dances, aren’t enough. Thirty seconds of Wir3 performing a K3 song is proof of that. Karen Damen, Kathleen Aerts and Kristel Verbeke are why K3 has been successful for ten years, and seem to be more popular than ever.
K3 Dreamin’
No comment! 😉
