Will Tura ranks among Belgium’s most enduring singer-songwriters, commanding a devoted audience across Flanders and the Netherlands from the 1960s straight through the opening decades of the twenty-first century. After breaking through in 1963 with the chart-topping single “Eenzaam Zonder Jou,” he established himself as a central figure in Flemish popular music, issuing hundreds of recordings that traverse multiple genres while maintaining an active touring schedule well into the 2020s.
Born Arthur Ridder Blanckaert on August 2, 1940, in the Flemish municipality of Veurne, Belgium, Tura drew early inspiration from Nat King Cole and Gilbert Bécaud. Already fluent on piano, guitar, drums, accordion, and harmonica, he began performing at age nine and notched his first major success with the 1963 classic “Eenzaam Zonder Jou.” Over subsequent decades he explored an unusually broad stylistic palette, paying tribute to Elvis Presley on Will Tura Zingt Elvis Presley (1984), revisiting rock & roll on Rock ’n Roll in Mijn Hart (1991), embracing symphonic pop with Tura in Symfonie (1992), and turning to gospel on Tura Gospel (2000), all while composing the majority of his own material. A 1988 automobile accident preceded the 1989 release of one of his signature hits, “Mooi, ’T Leven Is Mooi.”
Later in his career Tura consistently reached the Flemish Top Ten with the albums Bloed, Zweet & Tranen (1995), Europa (1996), Puur Tura (1997), Alleen Gaan En Andere Slows 87-97 (1998), Ware Liefde (2000), De Mooiste Droom (2002), and Zoals die Zomer van Tien Om Te Zien (2004). He sustained his recording and concert activity into the following decade, returning to the charts with the 2016 album Klein Geluk and the 2017 live recording Live in De AB.
