Famous Dutch Musicians

Dutch DJ and record producer Martin Garrix has been ranked No.1 on DJ Mag's Top 100 DJs list. He decided to become a DJ when he was a child, and at the age of 17, he became the youngest DJ to headline the 2014 Ultra Music Festival. He has performed at many music festivals including Coachella and Electric Daisy Carnival.

André Rieu is a Dutch violinist whose work has earned him international fame for over 30 years. Also an orchestra leader, Rieu is credited with founding the Johann Strauß Orchestra, which is renowned for its unorthodox performances of classical works. André Rieu has played all over the world and is well-known for his performances of classical works by Johann Strauss. 

Tiësto is a Dutch record producer and DJ. Popular among fans, Tiësto was voted the Greatest DJ of All Time in a poll conducted by Mix magazine. Considered the Godfather of EDM, he was voted best DJ of the last 20 years by DJ Magazine readers in 2013. Tiësto is credited with founding the Dutch record label, Black Hole Recordings.

Floor Jansen is a Dutch singer best known for her association with the Finnish band Nightwish. She is also widely known for her role in the popular TV program Beste Zangers. In 2018, she was honored with the Buma Rocks! Export prize. In 2020, Floor Jansen won the Popprijs at the Noorderslag festival.

Armin van Buuren is a Dutch record producer and DJ. He is best known for hosting a weekly radio show called A State of Trance (ASOT), which is broadcast in 84 countries to nearly 40 million listeners on over 100 FM radio stations. Armin has been named by DJ Mag as the number one DJ on a record five occasions.

Martyn LeNoble is a Dutch musician and bass guitarist who has contributed to the success of many bands like Porno for Pyros, Thelonious Monster, The Cult, and Jane's Addiction. Martyn LeNoble, who has courted controversy in the past due to his drug addiction, is currently working on a solo album.

Hardwell is a Dutch record producer, DJ, and remixer. In 2013 and 2014, he was named the world's number one DJ by DJ Magazine. In 2019, he was ranked 12th in a poll conducted by DJ Magazine to determine the top 100 DJs around the world. He is also credited with founding a record label called Revealed Recordings.

Afrojack is a Dutch music producer and disc jockey who often collaborates with other popular musicians like Pitbull, David Guetta, and Eva Simons. He is also credited with establishing his own record label, Wall Recordings. In 2019, Afrojack was ranked ninth in DJ Magazine's list of top 100 DJs.

Two-time Grammy Award-winning Soviet violinist David Oistrakh had been trained in the instrument since age 5 and performed in his first concert at age 6. He later taught at the Moscow Conservatory and performed throughout the world, especially in Europe and the US. He also played for Soviet soldiers during World War II.

Popular Dutch mezzosoprano Simone Simons has also been the lead vocalist of the symphonic metal band Epica, a band she joined at age 17. She has collaborated with bands and projects such as Kamelot and Ayreon. She runs a lifestyle blog and is married to Kamelot keyboard player Oliver Palotai.

Anneke van Giersbergen is a Dutch singer best known for leading her band Agua de Annique where she is the main vocalist. Over the years, her contribution to Dutch music has been honored with several prestigious awards like the Edison Music Award and the Buma Rocks! Award.

Anouk is a Dutch singer widely regarded as the most famous rock singer in the Netherlands. She achieved popularity in 2013 when she represented her country at the Eurovision Song Contest in Sweden with the song, Birds. Anouk is one of the most decorated singers of her generation; she has won several awards like TMF Awards and Edison Music Awards.

Sevdaliza is an Iranian-Dutch singer whose debut album ISON earned her the 3voor12 Award under the Best Album of the Year category. Although she is not very popular in the Netherlands, Sevdaliza performs all over the world. A former professional basketball player, Sevdaliza played for the Dutch national team before embarking on a career as a singer.

Candy Dulfer is a Dutch saxophonist best known for her solo career as well as for her association with the band The Ladies of Soul. Dulfer became a household name in the Netherlands in 2013 when she started appearing as a jury member in the popular TV show X-Factor. During the 1990s, Candy Dulfer won many Conamus Export Prizes.

Best known for her 16-year stint with the symphonic metal band Delain, Dutch singer Charlotte Wessels soared to fame with tracks such as Burning Bridges and We Are the Others. Trained in both classical and jazz, she has also experimented with a collaborative rock musical, which came along with her debut novella.

Aad van Toor is a Dutch recording artist, acrobat, director, actor, and lyricist. He is known for his work with his brother Bas with whom he created popular acts, namely Bassie en Adriaan and The Crocksons. Bassie en Adriaan, which featured acrobatic acts of the duo, was televised from 1978 to 1996. Van Toor also established a couple of companies.

One of the bestselling and most popular artists from the Netherlands, Dutch pop and country singer Ilse DeLange had a successful solo career before she joined the band The Common Linnets. She was part of Eurovision 2014 with the band and later churned up hits such as Calm After the Storm.

Dutch DJ/producer Ferry Corsten is known for his hit tracks that he churned out throughout the 1990s and 2000s, using a variety of pseudonyms such as Gouryella. A master of trance and progressive house music, he has also created concept albums such as Blueprint and supports VH1’s Save The Music Foundation.

Best known for her mega hit No Limit, as part of the Belgian-Dutch duo 2 Unlimited, along with Ray Slijngaard, Anita Doth initially worked at a police station. She is a breast cancer survivor. After reuniting with Ray, following the first break-up of the duo, she quit again, in 2016, to go solo.

Dutch guitarist Jan Akkerman not just co-founded the internationally acclaimed progressive rock band Focus, but also had a phenomenally successful solo career as a jazz-rock/fusion musician and became known for tracks such as Streetwalker. The son of a scrap dealer, he had learned the accordion before switching to guitar.

One of the most popular Dutch rock guitarists of all time, Adrian Vandenberg soared to fame as part of the hard rock bands Whitesnake and Vandenberg. Known for tracks such as Your Love Is In Vain and Burning Heart, he later formed another band, Vandenberg's MoonKings.

Born in the Netherlands to Pakistani parents, Imran Khan began his music career in his teens. Known for tracks such as Amplifier and Imaginary, which garnered millions of views on YouTube, Khan has also sung for the Bollywood film Tevar and has been appreciated for putting Punjabi music on the global platform.

Dutch singer Dominique Rijpma van Hulst, better known as Do, was a promising tennis player in her early days. However, an injury made her switch to music. She soared to fame with the cover version of Bryan Adams’s track Heaven and later churned out hits such as Love Is Killing Me.

Laidback Luke, whose real name is Lucas Cornelis van Scheppingen, is a Dutch-Filipino DJ and music producer who has released albums like Psyched Up and Electronic Satisfaction and is the founder of Mixmash Records. He is also a vlogger and a kung fu world champion. 

Born to a Dutch mother and a Scottish father in India, Barry Hay later moved to the Netherlands, where he lived with his mother. Initially part of the Dutch rock band Golden Earring, he later went solo and also contributed as a singer and flutist on as Ayreon track.

Willem Rebergen, popularly known by his stage name Headhunterz, is a prominent Dutch DJ and music producer who is known for his hard style music. His works include albums like Studio Sessions, Sacrifice and The Return of Headhunterz. Also a voice actor, he has dubbed for animated movies and television series like The Land Before Time and Rocket Power.

Mark Jansen is a Dutch singer, songwriter, and guitarist. Over the years, Jansen has been an important contributor to the symphonic metal subgenre and has worked with popular bands like After Forever. Mark Jansen is also credited with co-founding symphonic death metal bands like Mayan and Epica.

The founder member of the Dutch progressive rock band Focus, Thijs van Leer was the son of a flautist father and a singer mother. He began training in the piano and the flute as a child. Known for hits such as Hocus Pocus, he has also received a Dutch knighthood.

A renowned guitarist, George Kooymans was also the founder of the Dutch rock band Golden Earring. A talented songwriter, too, he penned the Billboard-charting Twilight Zone and co-wrote other smash hits such as Radar Love. He also co-wrote tracks for the debut album of Anouk, making her a star.

While Arjen Anthony Lucassen began his career as a backing singer and guitarist for Bodine, using the pseudonym Iron Anthony, he later soared to fame as part of the progressive metal/rock band Ayreon. In his career of over 2 decades, he has been part of countless projects and has also released solo tracks.

Esmée Denters first gained attention with her cover versions on YouTube. At 19, she signed with Justin Timberlake's label and accompanied him on tours. The MTV Europe Music Award-winning Dutch singer is best known for her UK top 10 hit Outta Here. She has also been featured on the Oprah Winfrey Show.

Robbie van Leeuwen is a Dutch pop musician, guitarist, and songwriter. He is credited with founding the successful rock band Shocking Blue and wrote the highly popular song Venus, which earned him international fame. Van Leeuwen was honored with the Buma Lifetime Achievement Award in 2013.

Ray Slijngaard is a Dutch rapper best known for his association with fellow singer Anita Dotho; the two had formed a musical duo named 2 Unlimited, which became the most affluent Dutch-Belgian pop band of all time. After the disbandment of 2 Unlimited, Ray Slijngaard started focusing on his own record label Rayvano Records.

Loona is a Dutch dancer and singer-songwriter best known for her collaboration with DJ Sammy and her cover of Vamos a la playa. She is also popular for her cover of Paradisio's Bailando, which became a hit in Germany in 1998. After taking a break from 2005 to 2008, Loona started performing again, much to the delight of her fans.

Best known as part of Wild Romance, Dutch musician Herman Brood was the poster child of Dutch rock and roll and the Netherlands’s biggest rock superstar but was also notorious for his addiction to drugs and alcohol. He later turned to painting but committed suicide by jumping from an Amsterdam hotel at 54.

Dianne van Giersbergen is a Dutch singer best known as the founder of the popular symphonic metal band Ex Libris where she has been performing as the lead singer since 2004. She was also associated with the German band Xandria where she was the lead singer from 2014 to 2017.

The son of Simon Posthuma of the designer group The Fool, Douwe Bob began playing the piano at age six and the guitar at age 14. He gained fame after winning a Dutch talent show and has also been part of Eurovision. Openly bisexual, he has fathered children with multiple women.

Israeli-born singer Dotan moved to the Netherlands as a toddler. He began his music career performing at private functions and soared to fame with his debut album, 7 Layers. Though he hardly appeared in his own music videos, he was later criticized for hiring troll accounts to boost his social-media reputation.

Robert Westerholt is a Dutch grunter and guitarist. He is best known for his association with a symphonic metal band named Within Temptation, which he founded along with Sharon den Adel in 1996. Within Temptation, for which Westerholt served as a guitarist from 1996 to 2011, is one of the most affluent bands in the genre.

Louis Andriessen was a Dutch composer best remembered for his innovation. Often counted among the developers of the Hague School, Andriessen played an influential role in the Dutch music scene of the 1970s and 1980s. He is also credited with founding an ensemble for contemporary music called Orkest De Volharding, which achieved immense popularity in the Netherlands.