Kane

Singer Dinand Woesthoff grows up in Gorinchem. Back To The Real World is the name of the demo from his first band Citizen Kane.

Woesthoff and Van Leeuwen form the band Kane and bring in Kersbergen and Directie. Later Cornelissen joins the band. BMG shows interest almost immediately and arranges some performances (including an opening act for the Swedish band Kent) and the recording of a single. Woesthoff studies civil engineering at the Technical University in Delft, but when the first single is released he stops his studies just before receiving his diploma.

In June, Kane's launch begins. The band makes a short tour opening for the German crossover band Guano Apes and then comes out with the single Where Do I Go Now. With the help of Radio 3 and TMF, the song becomes a modest hit. On this track, Hans Eijkenaar (ex-Dulfer, René Froger) can be heard on drums. In October the band goes back into the studio to record the album. The album production is in the hands of the duo Slok & Smits. On Anouk's album Urban Solitude appears the duet My Best Wasn't Good Enough written by Woesthoff, sung by Anouk and Woesthoff himself. In December the Kane single Damn Those Eyes is released, immediately chosen as a Megahit by Radio 3.

In January the band plays at the Noorderslag festival. They are declared Best Rock Group at the TMF Awards. They also play at Pinkpop and Parkpop. Kane also plays at the benefit festival for victims of the fireworks disaster in Enschede. During their contribution to the Marlboro Flashbacks, Kane performs music from the repertoire of the Irish band U2. The cd/dvd With Or Without You is a report from this. The cd contains a recording of the performance in Paradiso. The dvd contains image and sound from the concert in Plan C in Rotterdam. Woesthoff and Van Leeuwen help the young band Di-rect for half a year in refining their compositions and take the band as an opening act on their As Long As You Want This 2000 tour. During the gala of the MTV Europe Music Awards, the band from The Hague wins the prize for best Dutch act. At the end of December, Woesthoff must observe voice rest for two weeks on doctor's orders.

Drummer Cyril Directie leaves the band in February due to personal and musical disagreements. He becomes a member of Total Touch. His place is taken by André Kemp from the shortly before disbanded Hague group Billy The Kid. On 27 February Kane receives an Edison for the album As Long As You Want This in the category Best Alternative (inter)national. On 8 and 9 March Kane plays in Portugal. It is the first time the group performs in a non-Dutch-speaking country. Kane travels on 5 May by helicopter to various liberation festivals in the Netherlands. It is not new drummer Kemp who plays on Kane's second studio album released in the autumn, but drummer Martijn Bosman (among others Dyzack and Gotcha!). The single with the title track So Glad You Made It precedes the album. The single enters at number seven in the Mega Top 100 and is immediately Kane's biggest hit from their career. From 11 November Kane plays in a new line-up with additional guitarist Paul Jan Bakker and drummer Martijn Bosman. Bosman replaces André Kemp, who devotes himself fully to studio work, session work (among others with The Pilgrims) and his music school. Programming for the live performances is handled by Jeroen van Iterson. For the second consecutive year Kane receives an MTV Award for best Dutch act. Kane wins a Top Of The Pops Award in the category Top Act 2001.

Bassist Aram Kersbergen, guitarist Tony Cornelissen (further as composer and producer for others) and keyboardist Ronald Kool leave Kane in the spring. Matto Kranenburg (ex-Handsome 3Some) takes over the bass parts. Kane receives an Edison in the category Best Alternative. The band tours in the spring as an opening act for the Scottish band Simple Minds through Germany. For the second consecutive year the band receives three TMF Awards: for Best Rock Group, Best Album (So Glad You Made It) and Best Website. Recordings from the Pinkpop performance appear on the single Rain Down On Me. Kane plays at the end of June at Rock Werchter in Belgium. The concert the Hague band was to give in August in Johannesburg does not go ahead at the last moment due to illness of Dinand Woesthoff. Kane plays 3 September at the Binnenhof in The Hague. The band draws attention this way to the world environmental conference taking place at that time in Johannesburg. The concert in Ahoy' on 12 December is sold out within half an hour. The band gives an extra concert on 13 December. In the same month Kane receives the Public Prize of the Promotion Prize The Hague, an honour awarded annually to someone who has made an important positive contribution to the image of the city.

Guitarist Paul-Jan Bakker and bassist Matto Kranenburg are fired from the band in January. The reason lies both on a personal and musical level. A year later Kranenburg forms the Hague supergroup Seven with members from bands of among others Anouk and Candy Dulfer and also plays in The Blues Rock 'n Soul Review from the end of 2006. Temporarily six guest musicians are hired: keyboardist Nico Brandsen, bassist Manuel Hugas, pianist Wiboud Burkens, trumpeter Mike Booth, saxophonist Peter Lieberom and acoustic guitarist Cor Mutsers. In February Kane becomes the first Dutch band to perform an internet concert where people can watch for a payment of 5 Euro. Dion Murdock becomes Kane's new bassist in March. The American multi-instrumentalist has so far played drums in the band Mothers Finest (he is the son of singer Glenn Murdock and singer Joyce Kennedy). He has also worked for among others John Hayes and Macy Gray. Murdock wrote some songs for Gray, played bass and drums on her albums and drummed in Gray's live band. The DVD Live In Rotterdam contains a two-hour recording of the concert Kane gave in December 2002 in Ahoy'. Dinand Woesthoff is a special guest at DJ Tiësto's concert in May at the Gelredome in Arnhem. On Saturday 28 June Kane performs a one-off stadium show in the Amsterdam Arena. The track Rain Down On Me is used in the remix by DJ Tiësto in the computer game FIFA 2004 and later also as music in a German commercial for the Bundesliga, the German football league. The album What If, released in June, is a collection of songs from the first two albums. All tracks have been re-recorded with an eye on the foreign market. Woesthoff marries in September in Las Vegas actress Guusje Nederhorst (known as Roos in the soap series Goede Tijden, Slechte Tijden and the occasional trio Linda, Roos & Jessica). On 29 September Rain Down On Me is released in Germany.

The Tiësto remix of Rain Down On Me enters in January at number twelve in the Belgian Ultratop 50 Singles and eventually reaches number one. In February the single is sent to European radio stations. 30 January, a day after the death from cancer of his wife Guusje Nederhorst, Dinand Woesthoff writes the song Dreamer, the ode to his deceased wife gets the subtitle Gussie's Song. On Wednesday 4 February (Guusje's birthday) the song is played at various radio stations at twelve noon. A week later the track appears as a single. Dreamer enters directly at the highest position in the Dutch charts. The proceeds go to the Koningin Wilhemina Fund, the foundation that works towards cancer prevention in the Netherlands. Live In Rotterdam by Kane receives an Edison audience prize for the best dvd. Martijn Bosman is chosen by Dutch fellow musicians as best drummer in the Netherlands and wins a Duiveltje at the end of March. The prize is an initiative of the National Pop Institute. During the presentation of the TMF Awards on 10 April in Ahoy', Kane is chosen as best national rock band. Dinand Woesthoff performs as a surprise act and sings the song Dreamer. In April Rain Down On Me is released as a second single in Germany. The cd contains four versions of the track, including a Tiësto remix plus the track Mother and a cd-rom with video clip. The premiere of the dvd February is on 16 May at the Melkweg Cinema. The DVD is a recording of an acoustic set, recorded at the Pepsi Stage in Amsterdam on 22 February 2003. Direction is by Tanja Allaert. At the same time the eponymous double cd is released with an additional track. February is dedicated to Maddy van Dijck. In early June Kane heads to Germany again for a club performance and several festival concerts. Kane plays in July at the Outside Festival in the Swiss Zürich. Rain Down On Me is released in England on 23 August. The single contains both the original rock version and the dance remix by Tiësto. The remix is already a hit in English clubs before the release. Kane performs in the British version of Top Of The Pops on the BBC. Kane is nominated for an MTV Europe Music Award in the category best Dutch act. Bassist Dion Murdock leaves the band. He is replaced by British Yolanda Charles (Robbie Williams, Aztec Camera, Mick Jagger, Paul Weller and others). During the MTV Europe Music Awards in Rome, Kane wins for the third time an MTV Award for best act from the Netherlands and Belgium.

Following the earthquake in Asia and parts of Africa, benefit actions take place throughout the Netherlands in the first week of January. Dinand Woesthoff stands together with among others DJ Tiësto, Di-rect, Bløf, Acda en De Munnik, Trijntje Oosterhuis, Berget Lewis and Xander de Buisonjé free of charge at the festival held on 6 January at Dam Square in Amsterdam. Woesthoff performs a special performance at Dam Square together with Andy Tielman and René van Barneveld (ex-Urban Dance Squad). The stay in Kane of bassist Yolanda Charles is short-lived. In February she is already no longer in the band. She can still be heard on the album Fearless released in May. After her departure Kane presents itself to the outside world from then on as a trio: Dinand Woesthoff, Dennis van Leeuwen and Martijn Bosman. On 19 March Kane receives a 3FM Award in the club Panama in Amsterdam in the category Best Band. During their concerts on Queen's Day in Amsterdam and Pinkpop in Landgraaf the band is accompanied by guest musicians Nico Brandsen (keyboards) and Manuel Hugas (bass). The single Something To Say goes on sale first via mobile phones on 28 April and only a week later in the record store. The Hague rock band signs an agreement with telecom company Vodafone for this. The single reaches number one in the Top 40. At the end of May Fearless enters directly at number 1 of the Mega Album Top 100. During the sold-out concert at Almere Strand Kane plays on 13 August for over 32,000 fans. The performance appears on dvd at the end of the year. The band gives an extra concert on 20 August in the park Buiten de Waterpoort in Gorinchem, the city where singer Dinand lived for seventeen years.

During the presentation of the 3FM Awards at the Melkweg, during the closing of the Weekend of Dutch Pop Music in March, Kane wins in the category Best Album for the cd Fearless. On Saturday afternoon 26 August Kane gives a concert at the Malieveld in The Hague. With this Kane is the first band in eight years to play the Hague Malieveld with their own show after the concert of The Rolling Stones. Kane is again declared Best Band on 13 October during the presentation of the TMF Awards. For the Dutch horror film Sl8n8 (premiere: 29 September) guitarist Dennis van Leeuwen writes together with singer Brace the title song Wees Niet Bang. Under the project name d'BRACE the duo releases the single Superster a month later in which Brace's sultry vocals are supported by Van Leeuwen's strong guitars.

Drummer Martijn Bosman leaves Kane. "It's time to forge new paths," he announces on the band's website. The rest of the band searches for a new record label and ultimately finds a home at Universal. Kane works with the production team The Matrix (among others David Bowie, Korn, Britney Spears) and producer Martin 'Youth' Glover (U2, Crowded House, INXS, Texas, The Verve) on a next album.

Kane performs during the New Year's party at the Wilhelminapier and the Erasmus Bridge in Rotterdam. On 28 June Kane plays in the Rotterdam Kuip. It is the only major concert Kane gives in the Netherlands this year.