‘My son thinks my gold records are funny, that’s all’

Image: Nine IJf

Nance Coolen (48) sings in the dance formation Twenty 4 Seven and scored big hits with Slave to the Music and Is It Love? She is married and mother of son Robin (13).

“In a discotheque I was scouted as a singer for the group Twenty 4 Seven. I was only fifteen then, only two years older than my son is now.

Living the dream

Our album street moves became a great success. Suddenly, as a girl from Brabant, I was sitting in limousines and flying first class around the world. Living the dreameven if it was hard work. Our schedules were monstrous, going from festival to club and often barely having time to catch our breath.

“That crowd of 150,000 sang along with every word. Goosebumps moment”

I remember one time we performed at the Copacabana in Brazil. We got up and started singing and that crowd of 150,000 people sang every word. A goosebumps moment that will stay with me forever.

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Present

After Twenty 4 Seven I first continued as a solo artist, in addition I mainly did presentation jobs on TV, such as lingo. But once I got on stage and the whole audience shouted ‘Lingo!’ shouted, I stopped singing. Still, I missed the performance. Presenting is work, singing feels more like a hobby.

“When I heard the first beats, it immediately felt like old times. Even the dance routines were still in my system”

Two years ago I had a reunion with Jacks and Hanks, who previously did the raps for Twenty 4 Seven did. It started to itch for me again and we decided to perform together again. I then started training like crazy in the gym, because I was barely in shape. When I walked up the stairs with the laundry basket, I was almost out of breath. But then corona threw a spanner in the works. In the end, we only recently performed for the first time, after thirty years. Super exciting, but when I heard the first beats, it immediately felt like old times. And even the dance routines were still somewhere in my system.

gold records

My son sees my gold records hanging at home. He thinks that’s funny, that’s all. A while back a mother had recognized me: ‘Mom, everyone at school was suddenly talking about you.’ I asked him if he hated that, but he thought it was cool. Recently he was with us to our first performance, with a big smile he stood proudly in the wings. And to be honest, he especially loved the dressing room with chips and chocolate.”

This portrait is in Kek Mama 07-2022.

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