Golden Earring has been a household name in the current line-up for fifty years. But the oldest Dutch rock band is calling it quits because guitarist and co-founder George Kooymans (72) has muscle disease ALS and therefore can no longer perform. For the rest of the band that means the end; Without Kooymans they do not want to continue.

The guitarist and his neighbor Rinus Gerritsen (bass player) founded the band The Tornadoes in The Hague in 1961. They soon find out that a group with the same name already exists, so they continue as The Golden Earrings and later Golden Earrings.

Singer Barry Hay and drummer Caesar Zuiderwijk have been with the band since 1970 and the composition remains unchanged.

In that formation the band experiences its greatest successes nationally and internationally. So it says Radar love (1973) ranks first in the Dutch charts and the song is also in the highest regions of the US and the United Kingdom. other than this Twilight Zone (1982) When the lady smiles (1983) The Rockers earned a high position on the charts.

Golden Earring releases dozens of albums and is high on the Dutch charts with almost all singles. The band often looks back on their previous successes with several great hit albums. Similarly in 2000 The Devil Made Us As Do.

Quiet around the band in the nineties

In relation to the new work, things remain fairly quiet around the golden earrings in the coming years. The band released in 2012 Breast n ass Outside, the final album with new work. In the years that followed, however, separate issues were released.

Meanwhile, the band’s songs are still widely used abroad. For example, Hillary Clinton used some time in 2007 When the lady smiles During his presidential campaign. The band’s songs in the film and television series can be heard in the film Baby driver (2017) and television series like American (2014), houses (2012), six feet Under (2003) is in Simpson (2002 to 1996).

In 2019, the band will celebrate its 50th anniversary in the current line-up. Golden Earring performs with a big show in Rotterdam Ahoi, which has now become their final concert.

“It sucks, we would rather have planned a farewell tour, but unfortunately that’s what it is,” hey said E. “Our last performance was in Ahoi in 2019. It was a great performance with family and friends, but we would love to see it differently.”