20 Facts About Cornelis Vreeswijk

Cornelis Vreeswijk was a Dutch singer-songwriter and poet who lived and worked primarily in Sweden.

Cornelis Vreeswijk was educated as a social worker and hoped to become a journalist, but became increasingly involved in music, performing at events for students with idiosyncratic humor and social engagement.

In 2010, the Swedish drama film Cornelis Vreeswijk was made about his life, directed by Amir Chamdin.

Cornelis Vreeswijk was born and grew up in the Netherlands.

Cornelis Vreeswijk emigrated to Sweden with his parents in 1949 at the age of twelve.

Cornelis Vreeswijk left school in 1955 and went to sea, where he passed the time playing the blues.

Cornelis Vreeswijk was educated as a social worker at Stockholm University and hoped to become a journalist, but became increasingly involved in music, performing at events for students with idiosyncratic humor and social engagement.

Cornelis Vreeswijk explained in one of his few interviews that he had taught himself to sing and play in the fifties by imitating his first idols Josh White and Lead Belly.

Cornelis Vreeswijk's first album, Ballader och oforskamdheter, was a hit which immediately gained him a large following among the emerging radical student generation.

Cornelis Vreeswijk participated in Melodifestivalen in 1972 with "Onskar du mig, sa onskar jag dig", which finished sixth.

Cornelis Vreeswijk appeared in movies, including Svarta Palmkronor, which was filmed on location in Brazil.

Later in his career, Cornelis Vreeswijk was to gain increasing fame and a wider audience both for his songs and his other work.

Cornelis Vreeswijk published several volumes of poetry in his lifetime and left a considerable manuscript legacy of poems which have been published since.

Cornelis Vreeswijk became an important musical interpreter of the works of other people, recording the songs of Carl Michael Bellman, Evert Taube, and Lars Forssell.

Cornelis Vreeswijk is known as the co-writer of the Hep Stars song "Speleman" which was released for their album Songs We Sang 68.

Cornelis Vreeswijk translated several of his songs into Dutch, and wrote a couple of new ones.

Vreeswijk still has some fans in the Netherlands and in 2000 the Cornelis Vreeswijk society was founded.

Cornelis Vreeswijk gave his last concert in Uppsala in September 1987, suffering from liver cancer and diabetes.

Cornelis Vreeswijk recorded his last album and a book of poetry, both entitled Till Fatumeh.

Cornelis Vreeswijk travelled one last time to the Netherlands to see his family, returned to Stockholm and died soon afterwards.