Bastiaan Johannes Ragas (born 30 June 1971) is a Dutch

Netherlands

The Netherlands is a constituent country of the Kingdom of the Netherlands, located mainly in North-West Europe and with several islands in the Caribbean. Mainland Netherlands borders the North Sea to the north and west, Belgium to the south, and Germany to the east, and shares maritime borders...

 singer and actor. Born in Lisse

Lisse

Lisse is a town and municipality in the western Netherlands, in the province of South Holland. The municipality covers an area of 16.11 km² of which 0.41 km² is water. Its population is 21864...

, he was the youngest of three brothers. Ragas learnt piano

Piano

The piano is a musical instrument played by means of a keyboard. It is one of the most popular instruments in the world. Widely used in classical and jazz music for solo performances, ensemble use, chamber music and accompaniment, the piano is also very popular as an aid to composing and rehearsal...

 and guitar

Guitar

The guitar is a plucked string instrument, usually played with fingers or a pick. The guitar consists of a body with a rigid neck to which the strings, generally six in number, are attached. Guitars are traditionally constructed of various woods and strung with animal gut or, more recently, with...

 at school. He also participated and traveled with the international musical group Up With People

Up with People

Up with People is an international education organization founded in 1968 by J. Blanton Belk, building from roots in the similar "Sing-Out" program of 1965. Up With People is best known for their musical performances by international casts consisting of 70–100 students from, on average, 20...

 during their 1989-1990 tour. He first came into the public eye as a member of the Anglo-Dutch boy band

Boy band

A boy band is loosely defined as a popular music act consisting of only male singers. The members are expected to dance as well as sing, usually giving highly choreographed performances. More often than not, boy band members do not play musical instruments, either in recording sessions or on...

 Caught in the Act

Caught in the Act (boy band)

Caught in the Act was a half English, half Dutch boy band. The band was established by record producer Cees van Leeuwen in 1993. There were four members of the group: Lee Baxter, Eloy de Jong, Bastiaan Ragas and Benjamin Boyce....

 in the 1990s.

Caught in the Act broke up in 1998 and Ragas embarked on a solo career. His first album, Tomorrow is Looking Good, was released in 2000. Also in 2000, he played Radames in the Dutch production of the musical Aïda

Aida (musical)

Aida is a musical with music by Elton John, lyrics by Tim Rice, and book by Linda Woolverton, Robert Falls, and David Henry Hwang, and produced by Walt Disney Theatrical....

. He later played d'Artagnan in Joop van den Ende

Joop van den Ende

Johannes "Joop" Adrianus van den Ende is a Dutch media tycoon, theatrical producer, co-founder of Endemol and founder/owner of Stage Entertainment....

's 2003–2004 production of 3 Musketiers

3 Musketiers

3 Musketiers is a Dutch musical, also known as 3 Musketiere , 3 Musketeers and A 3 Testőr written by Ferdi Bolland and Rob Bolland. The story is based on Alexandre Dumas, père's novel The Three Musketeers...

.

Ragas has also worked in film, appearing in the Frisian language

West Frisian language

West Frisian is a language spoken mostly in the province of Friesland in the north of the Netherlands. West Frisian is the name by which this language is usually known outside the Netherlands, to distinguish it from the closely related Frisian languages of Saterland Frisian and North Frisian,...

 film De Sportman van de Eeuw and providing the Dutch voice of Sinbad in Sinbad: Legend of the Seven Seas

Sinbad: Legend of the Seven Seas

Sinbad: Legend of the Seven Seas is a 2003 American animated swashbuckling fantasy aventure film produced by DreamWorks Animation, using traditional 2D animation with some 3D...

. Working on Sinbad he met TV presenter Tooske Breugem

Tooske Breugem

Antonia Grietje Ragas-Breugem is a Dutch actress and television host. She played a stewardess in 06/05, a movie by Theo van Gogh about the murder of Pim Fortuyn. She was video jockey at TMF Netherlands and presented the Dutch version of Idols.-Life:Breugem was born in a Dutch Reformed family,...

 and they later starred together in 3 Musketiers in which she played Constance. Their 2003 single Alles (All I Ever Want) reached number in the Dutch charts. They married in 2005 and have three daughters. Ragas also has a son by a previous relationship with singer and TV presenter Laura Vlasblom.

In 2002 he appeared in the hospital drama TV series Trauma 24/7 along with his elder brother Roef. He was on the jury of the Dutch production of Popstars

Popstars

Popstars is an international reality television franchise and a precursor to the Idol series. The series first began in New Zealand in 1999 when producer Jonathan Dowling formed the five member all-girl group TrueBliss...

and came second in the Dutch 2006 series of Dancing with the Stars

Dancing with the Stars

Dancing with the Stars is the name of several international television series based on the format of the British TV series Strictly Come Dancing, which is distributed by BBC Worldwide – the commercial arm of the BBC. Currently the format has been licensed to over 35 countries...

.

External links

• IMDB