Famous Dutch Singers

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.

Dutch singer Sharon den Adel began training in music at 14 and later soared to fame as the lead singer and the main songwriter of the Dutch symphonic metal band Within Temptation. Well-traveled, she has lived in 10 countries and often incorporates the moves of Balinese dancers she has grown up watching.

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.

Bas van Toor is a Dutch recording artist and entertainer best known for being one-half of the popular duo Bassie en Adriaan along with his brother Aad van Toor. Bas portrayed a crook named Vlugge Japie as part of the act and then played Japie in a TV series. He is also credited with co-founding the children's channel Pebble TV.

Erland Van Lidth De Jeude was a Dutch-American actor, amateur wrestler, and opera singer. While pursuing his wrestling career, he was given an opportunity to portray the role of the fearsome Terror in the 1979 American comedy-drama film The Wanderers. He then landed a couple of other roles, including his role as Dynamo in the 1987 film The Running Man.

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.

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.

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.

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.

Stefania Liberakakis is a Greek-Dutch singer, YouTuber, and voice actress. She is best known for her participation in the Eurovision Song Contest in 2021 where she represented Greece with the song Last Dance; Stefania finished tenth in the contest. Stefania Liberakakis has also voiced important characters in the Dutch version of films like Dolittle and Wonder Park.

The career of Dutch actress, singer and television-presenter Chantal Janzen skyrocketed after she   performed in the musical 42nd Street. Her oeuvre includes films like The Preacher and Full Moon Party and the Dutch musical production of Beauty and the Beast; and presenting Idols. She gained international recognition co-hosting Eurovision: Europe Shine a Light and the Eurovision Song Contest 2021.

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.

Lil' Kleine is a Dutch actor and musician best known for his song Drank & Drugs, which was certified double platinum. Lil' Kleine's popularity increased after the release of his debut studio album WOP! He was part of the popular reality TV show, Expeditie Robinson.

Trijntje Oosterhuis was a teenager when she formed Total Touch, which scored the bestselling debut by a Dutch band with their first album. Known for her mix of jazz, pop, and soul, the singer has also been a judge on The Voice of Holland and has represented her country in Eurovision 2015.

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.

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.

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.

Celinde Schoenmaker is a Dutch film and theatre actress and singer. Apart from playing important roles in theatre productions like Les Misérables, Schoenmaker has also appeared in popular movies like Rocketman. In 2016, Celinde Schoenmaker surprised people at Covent Garden where she busked alongside a local street performer named Steven Barry.

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.

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.

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.

Patricia Paay is a Dutch television personality, singer, glamour model, and radio host. She is best known for her musical career and has released popular albums like Beam of Light. In 1984, she became the first glamour model to pose for the Dutch edition of Playboy. Paay posed for Playboy for the third time in 2009 when she was 60!

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.

Willemijn Verkaik is a Dutch actress and singer best known for her work as a theatre actress in musicals like Elisabeth and Wicked. Having played the role of Elphaba over 2,000 times in Wicked, Verkaik holds the distiction of being the longest running Elphaba. Willemijn Verkaik is also the only person to have played Elphaba in three languages. 

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.

Famke Louise is a Dutch singer, YouTuber, and model who achieved national recognition in 2018 when she appeared in the reality TV program, Expeditie Robinson. In 2019, she became the first person to win the FunX Music Award for Artist of the Year–Female. In 2020, Louise made an attempt to expose the Chinese fur industry through her documentary, Bont Girl.