Biography
Born Modest Schoepen in Antwerp on May 16, 1925, the performer later known as Bobbejaan and Bobby John earned recognition as a foundational figure in both Flemish and Belgian country-and-western music as well as pop, while also gaining notice for his whistling and his work in vaudeville. His travels took him across continents, and the scale of his success eventually prompted him to open an amusement park that bore his stage name, Bobbejaanland. Entry into music came relatively late; already in his mid-twenties, he secured an audition with Brussels radio in 1944. The following year he formed the duo Two Boys and Two Guitars with Kees Brug, during which period the nickname Bobbejaan originated from a South African number titled “Bobbejaan Klim Die Berg” that the pair performed.
Going solo in 1947, he encountered Jacques Kluger, whose guidance soon produced an engagement entertaining American and Canadian military personnel at the Nuremberg Trials and, in its wake, a German concert circuit. At the same time he began cutting Flemish-language sides, the earliest of which, “De Jodelende Fluiter” (The Yodeling Whistler), reached audiences in 1948 and quickly became a hit. The 1950s brought an invitation to Nashville’s Grand Ole Opry, where Schoepen became the first European artist outside Britain to appear; he returned three times in 1953, sharing bills with figures such as Roy Acuff. Additional European engagements followed, capped by a 1957 slot on The Ed Sullivan Show. During the same period he cut material at RCA’s studios under the name Bobby John and served as Belgium’s entrant in the Eurovision Song Contest.
Extensive touring marked the 1960s, when he added a circus tent to his convoy to streamline self-managed European dates. He also took on acting roles, appearing in five musical films produced in Germany and Belgium. The same decade saw his property evolve from a performance site into the theme park that opened in the 1970s and, by the 1980s, ranked among Europe’s foremost amusement destinations. Park operations absorbed most of his attention until 1999, when intestinal cancer was diagnosed. After selling the park and recovering, he resumed music. Appearances included a 2005 set at the Saint-Amour Festival and induction into the Radio 2 Belgium Hall of Fame the next year. In 2007 the Ancienne Belgique presented him with a Lifetime Achievement Award, and in 2008—after a thirty-five-year recording hiatus—he released the Miami-made album Bobbejaan, which featured several contemporary Belgian musicians. That year he also became the first European inducted into the Whistler’s Hall of Fame.
Going solo in 1947, he encountered Jacques Kluger, whose guidance soon produced an engagement entertaining American and Canadian military personnel at the Nuremberg Trials and, in its wake, a German concert circuit. At the same time he began cutting Flemish-language sides, the earliest of which, “De Jodelende Fluiter” (The Yodeling Whistler), reached audiences in 1948 and quickly became a hit. The 1950s brought an invitation to Nashville’s Grand Ole Opry, where Schoepen became the first European artist outside Britain to appear; he returned three times in 1953, sharing bills with figures such as Roy Acuff. Additional European engagements followed, capped by a 1957 slot on The Ed Sullivan Show. During the same period he cut material at RCA’s studios under the name Bobby John and served as Belgium’s entrant in the Eurovision Song Contest.
Extensive touring marked the 1960s, when he added a circus tent to his convoy to streamline self-managed European dates. He also took on acting roles, appearing in five musical films produced in Germany and Belgium. The same decade saw his property evolve from a performance site into the theme park that opened in the 1970s and, by the 1980s, ranked among Europe’s foremost amusement destinations. Park operations absorbed most of his attention until 1999, when intestinal cancer was diagnosed. After selling the park and recovering, he resumed music. Appearances included a 2005 set at the Saint-Amour Festival and induction into the Radio 2 Belgium Hall of Fame the next year. In 2007 the Ancienne Belgique presented him with a Lifetime Achievement Award, and in 2008—after a thirty-five-year recording hiatus—he released the Miami-made album Bobbejaan, which featured several contemporary Belgian musicians. That year he also became the first European inducted into the Whistler’s Hall of Fame.
Albums
Singles
