Composer, conductor and arranger Harry van Hoof (81) died on Saturday. This was announced on Sunday. Van Hoof was born in Hilversum, but had lived in Eindhoven for a long time. He left his mark on the Dutch music industry. He achieved great fame as a conductor at many Dutch participations in the Eurovision Song Contest.
Van Hoof was also permanent guest conductor with the Metropole Orkest (orchestra) for a long time. He had his greatest success as a composer in 1971 with the song ‘How do you do’ by Mouth & MacNeal, the artist duo consisting of Sjoukje Smit and Willem Duyn from Tilburg. He wrote the success song together with Hans van Hemert.
More than ten years earlier, in 1960, Van Hoof was one of the six Rockets of Peter (Koelewijn) and his Rockets. Van Hoof played the piano, but later left the backing band of the Eindhoven singer.
‘Sandraatje’
During his musical career he worked closely with artists such as Armand, Ramses Shaffy, Rob de Nijs, Willeke Alberti, Sandra & Andres and BZN. With Sandra Reemer, for example, he went to the Eurovision Song Contest three times and made many records. When she died in 2017, Van Hoof said that Sandra had always remained ‘Sandraatje’ to him because she was still so young when he met her.
In 1967, Van Hoof married the Eindhoven singer Trea Dobbs, whom he later divorced. He later remarried. Van Hoof was the father of three children and grandfather of five grandchildren.
In his role as conductor for many Dutch entries for the Eurovision Song Contest, Harry van Hoof achieved great fame, here during Ruth Jacott’s performance with Vrede (peace) in 1993:
Harry van Hoof’s greatest success as a composer, ‘How do you do’ by Mouth & MacNeal:
Source: Studio040
Translated by: Bob
