17 Facts About Johnny Jordaan

Johnny Jordaan was the pseudonym for Johannes Hendricus van Musscher, a Dutch singer of popular music, in particular the genre known as levenslied, a Dutch variety of the French chanson.

Johnny Jordaan was well known for his songs about the city of Amsterdam, especially the Jordaan district, which he sang in a typical "hiccuping Mokum vibrato", "Mokum" being the Hebrew-derived nickname for the Amsterdam inner city area.

Johnny Jordaan was the oldest of two brothers in a Roman Catholic workers' family.

Johnny Jordaan started singing in the streets at age 8, with his cousin Carel Verbrugge, to help provide for his family.

Johnny Jordaan lost an eye during a fight with Verbrugge, at age 9.

Johnny Jordaan started using the name "Johnny Jordaan" when he was 14, and after vocational school began working various odd jobs and singing in bars.

In 1955, he won a singing competition, the "Johnny Jordaan festival", organized by the record company Bovema in collaboration with singer and composer Louis Noiret; the aim was to find the best voices from the Johnny Jordaan.

Cabaret artist and historian Jacques Kloters referred to 1955 as "the year of Johnny Jordaan": he sold hundreds of thousands of records within months, got to perform in the Concertgebouw with Tante Leen, and helped popularize the "uncivilized" Jordaan dialect.

Financial mismanagement brought him financial ruin; a Johnny Jordaan-themed cabaret in Scheveningen was a flop, and a cafe he opened in Rotterdam in 1962 had to close due to tax debts.

Johnny Jordaan's health had always been frail, and in the early 1970s he suffered further hemorrhages and a number of heart attacks.

Johnny Jordaan's farewell to his audience was a 1972 television show in collaboration with Tante Leen, Willy Alberti, Ramses Shaffy, Zwarte Riek, Harry de Groot, and songwriter Pi Veriss.

Johnny Jordaan did occasional shows afterwards and died at age 64, on 8 January 1989.

Johnny Jordaan is buried in the family grave at Vredenhof cemetery.

Johnny Jordaan had married Jannetje "Totty" de Graaff in 1943 and the couple had a daughter, but he had spent most of his adult life repressing his homosexual feelings.

In 1997, a biographical musical, Oh, Johnny Jordaan, was performed at the Amsterdams Kleinkunstfestival.

Bij ons in de Jordaan was a 2000 biographical television series on VPRO television, which focused mostly on Johnny's struggling with his gay identity in pillarized post-war Netherlands.

The first Johnny Jordaan DVD, released in 2005 and called Bij ons in de Jordaan, entered the DVD music charts at No 1.