Jan Smit

Born on 31 December 1985 in Volendam, the Netherlands, Jan Smit belongs to the tradition of Dutch pop sung in the native language, between schlager, levenslied (a Dutch form of sentimental song) and sentimental ballads. Launched very young under the name Jantje Smit after a notable collaboration with the group BZN, he became known in the late 1990s with the single Ik zing dit lied voor jou alleen, which gave its name to his first album released in 1997. Over the 2000s Jan Smit gradually shed his child-star image to develop an adult repertoire, still centred on melody and everyday storytelling, with albums such as Vallen of springen (2005) and Op weg naar geluk (2006). Alongside his solo career he also records in German and performs regularly in German-speaking countries, which led him around 2015 to join the schlager project KLUBBB3 with Florian Silbereisen and Christoff. Highly present on Dutch and Benelux stages, Jan Smit accompanies his tours with sustained television activity—music shows, documentaries about his life as an artist and appearances linked to the Eurovision Song Contest—while remaining associated with Volendam’s musical milieu.