K3 (band)
Encyclopedia
K3 is a Flemish
Belgium
Belgium , officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a federal state in Western Europe. It is a founding member of the European Union and hosts the EU's headquarters, and those of several other major international organisations such as NATO.Belgium is also a member of, or affiliated to, many...

/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...

 girl band with a Dutch
Dutch language
Dutch is a West Germanic language and the native language of the majority of the population of the Netherlands, Belgium, and Suriname, the three member states of the Dutch Language Union. Most speakers live in the European Union, where it is a first language for about 23 million and a second...

 repertoire, mainly aimed at pre-adolescent children. The name of the group is derived from the names of the three original members: Karen Damen, Kristel Verbeke and Kathleen Aerts. Their music is produced by production company Studio 100
Studio 100
Studio 100 is a Flemish company that produces popular children's television series and owns five amusement parks and four musical ensembles.-History:Studio 100 was founded in 1996 by Gert Verhulst, Danny Verbiest, and Hans Bourlon...

 and is written by Miguel Wiels, Alain Vande Putte and Peter Gillis. K3 was founded by Niels William.

The band became famous without any airplay from the regular music television channels like MTV
MTV
MTV, formerly an initialism of Music Television, is an American network based in New York City that launched on August 1, 1981. The original purpose of the channel was to play music videos guided by on-air hosts known as VJs....

, instead marketing directly to children via children- and cartoon-channels.

Their signature is that the girls in the group all three mostly wear the same outfit. The band is mostly known as one of Europe's biggest acts and longest running girl band and they are famous for their poppy-happy songs and K3 dances.

Career


Rise to fame (1998-2002)

The band K3
started by Niels Williams. Initially they had female twenty-somethings as their target audience, which is noticeable in their early song lyrics. Their first single, "Wat ik wil" (What I want), was not very successful.

In 1999 K3 participated with the song "Heyah Mama" in the live television shows to select the Belgian entry for the Eurovision Song Contest
Eurovision Song Contest
The Eurovision Song Contest is an annual competition held among active member countries of the European Broadcasting Union .Each member country submits a song to be performed on live television and then casts votes for the other countries' songs to determine the most popular song in the competition...

. The song was not well received by one of the judges, Marcel Vanthilt, who referred to the band members as assorted meat products.
Notwithstanding, "Heyah Mama" was released as a single and became the first big hit for the band.

The song stayed at the number one spot of the Flemish Ultratop 50 chart for 16 weeks and would eventually be listed in the chart for 34 weeks. Their next two singles also reached the number one position, resulting in an uninterrupted period of 32 weeks in which a K3 song was at the top of that chart. About a year after becoming famous in Flanders
Flanders
Flanders is the community of the Flemings but also one of the institutions in Belgium, and a geographical region located in parts of present-day Belgium, France and the Netherlands. "Flanders" can also refer to the northern part of Belgium that contains Brussels, Bruges, Ghent and Antwerp...

 K3 also became famous in the Netherlands
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...

.

The songs are written by Miguel Wiels, Alain Vande Putte and Peter Gillis. This trio previously collaborated as songwriters for Flemish singer Isabelle A.

K3 is noted for being the first pop act to break through to the top of the charts without receiving any airplay from the regular music television channels like MTV
MTV
MTV, formerly an initialism of Music Television, is an American network based in New York City that launched on August 1, 1981. The original purpose of the channel was to play music videos guided by on-air hosts known as VJs....

 and TMF
The Music Factory
The Music Factory is a pop music television channel that operates in Belgium .TMF previously operated channels in the Netherlands , the UK with TMF UK and Australia with . The brand is owned by MTV Networks International...

. Niels William's new marketing concept was based on promotion via children and cartoon channels like Fox Kids
Jetix
Jetix was a worldwide children's television programming brand owned by The Walt Disney Company. The Jetix brand was used for blocks and channels featuring action-related and adventure-related live-action and animated programming. It was also what Disney eventually turned Fox Kids into...

.

Studio 100 era (2002-present)

Since 2002 the band is managed by Studio 100
Studio 100
Studio 100 is a Flemish company that produces popular children's television series and owns five amusement parks and four musical ensembles.-History:Studio 100 was founded in 1996 by Gert Verhulst, Danny Verbiest, and Hans Bourlon...

, a Flemish television production company for Dutch and Belgian children's programs.

Songs like "Heyah Mama", "I love you baby", "Alle Kleuren" (All colours), "Blub, ik ben een vis!" (Blub I'm a fish), "Tele-Romeo", "Toveren" (Doing magic), "Verliefd" (In love), "De 3 biggetjes" (The three piglets), "Oya lélé", "Hart verloren" (Heart lost), "Liefdeskapitein" (Captain of love), "Kuma He", "Ya Ya Yippee", "Dokter Dokter" (Doctor doctor) and "Kusjesdag" (Kissing Day) were hits for the band. K3 have released eight albums. Their eighth album Ya Ya Yippee sold more than 50,000 copies in pre-sales within the Benelux
Benelux
The Benelux is an economic union in Western Europe comprising three neighbouring countries, Belgium, the Netherlands, and Luxembourg. These countries are located in northwestern Europe between France and Germany...

.

K3 present a children's television program called De wereld van K3 (K3's World). Originally there were Dutch and Flemish versions, but only the Dutch version remains.

The band has released several DVD
DVD
A DVD is an optical disc storage media format, invented and developed by Philips, Sony, Toshiba, and Panasonic in 1995. DVDs offer higher storage capacity than Compact Discs while having the same dimensions....

's with video clips, with their musicals or films, and with specially recorded footage like K3 in de Ardennen (K3 in the Ardennes
Ardennes
The Ardennes is a region of extensive forests, rolling hills and ridges formed within the Givetian Ardennes mountain range, primarily in Belgium and Luxembourg, but stretching into France , and geologically into the Eifel...

).

In 2007 a team from Madame Tussauds
Madame Tussauds
Madame Tussauds is a wax museum in London with branches in a number of major cities. It was founded by wax sculptor Marie Tussaud and was formerly known as "Madame Tussaud's", but the apostrophe is no longer used...

 in London
London
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...

 took measurements of the band members for wax statues.
K3 unveiled these wax statues at Madame Tussauds
Madame Tussauds
Madame Tussauds is a wax museum in London with branches in a number of major cities. It was founded by wax sculptor Marie Tussaud and was formerly known as "Madame Tussaud's", but the apostrophe is no longer used...

 Amsterdam
Amsterdam
Amsterdam is the largest city and the capital of the Netherlands. The current position of Amsterdam as capital city of the Kingdom of the Netherlands is governed by the constitution of August 24, 1815 and its successors. Amsterdam has a population of 783,364 within city limits, an urban population...

 on 4 July 2007.

Line-Up Change: Kathleen leaves K3 (2009 - present)

On Monday March 23, 2009, Kathleen, the blonde singer, announced her departure at a press conference. "It was a tough decision, after all I gave the best years of my life to K3. People change and life is constantly in motion; I'm 30 now and after ten years it's time to move on". She made her last two appearances with K3 in June at a Studio 100 showcase at the Rotterdam Ahoy. Karen and Kristel would then search for a replacement on television.

Belgian shownews-programme De Rode Loper reported that two celebrities were auditioning for the vacant spot but this appeared to be an April Fool's joke. Meanwhile Kathleen has signed up for Unicef ambassadorship and is likely to quit singing altogether.

The two remaining members of K3 kept searching for a new member. This time through a reality show called 'K2 zoekt K3'. In the final episode the Dutch Josje Huisman became the newest member of K3.

In 2010 K3 will shoot new episodes for their kids-talkshow and will also start with their own sitcom called "Hello K3". The sitcom will air on television in fall 2010. A new single and album with the same name will also be released in the late 2010 or early 2011. Their sitcom was also renewed for a second seaso which will be premiering in the Netherlands
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...

 and Belgium
Belgium
Belgium , officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a federal state in Western Europe. It is a founding member of the European Union and hosts the EU's headquarters, and those of several other major international organisations such as NATO.Belgium is also a member of, or affiliated to, many...

 in September 2011.

Musicals

K3 performed in several musicals. In Doornroosje (Sleeping Beauty
Sleeping Beauty
Sleeping Beauty by Charles Perrault or Little Briar Rose by the Brothers Grimm is a classic fairytale involving a beautiful princess, enchantment, and a handsome prince...

), during 2002, they played three good fairies
Fairy
A fairy is a type of mythical being or legendary creature, a form of spirit, often described as metaphysical, supernatural or preternatural.Fairies resemble various beings of other mythologies, though even folklore that uses the term...

 and in De 3 biggetjes (The three piglets), during 2003. They played the eponymous three piglets, Knirrie (Verbeke), Knarrie (Damen) and Knorrie (Aerts) and reprised these roles in 2007 for a tour of both Belgium and the Netherlands.

K3 Museum

On 10 June 2006 a party was held at Plopsaland
Plopsaland De Panne
Plopsaland De Panne is a theme park located near the town of De Panne on the Belgian coast. The park opened on 20 April 2000. Before that date the park was called Meli-Park, created by a honey company and based on a bee theme.-History:...

 to celebrate the tenth anniversary of Studio 100. At this occasion the band members opened the K3 Museum which provides an overview of their career. There are interviews, clothes and props from the films to be seen, including the air scooters from the film K3 en het Magische Medaillon (K3 and the magic medallion). The countless gold and platinum discs can be seen too.

K3 Language

Through making music, the girls created their own Language. Called K3lish. Heyah Mama was their first song that featured K3lish, just a few words in the chorus. A lot of songs of the band have words like this in the songs. The self-made language is a mix between African and Simlish
Simlish
Simlish is a fictional language featured in EA Games' Sim series of games. It debuted in SimCopter, and has been especially prominent in The Sims, The Sims 2 and The Sims 3. The Sims development team created the unique Simlish language by experimenting with fractured Ukrainian, French, Latin,...

.

Projects in other languages

In 2002 K3 recorded English
English language
English is a West Germanic language that arose in the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms of England and spread into what was to become south-east Scotland under the influence of the Anglian medieval kingdom of Northumbria...

, French
French language
French is a Romance language spoken as a first language in France, the Romandy region in Switzerland, Wallonia and Brussels in Belgium, Monaco, the regions of Quebec and Acadia in Canada, and by various communities elsewhere. Second-language speakers of French are distributed throughout many parts...

 and German
German language
German is a West Germanic language, related to and classified alongside English and Dutch. With an estimated 90 – 98 million native speakers, German is one of the world's major languages and is the most widely-spoken first language in the European Union....

 versions of their Tele-Romeo album.

After having sold K3 to Studio 100, the founder Niels William moved to South Africa
South Africa
The Republic of South Africa is a country in southern Africa. Located at the southern tip of Africa, it is divided into nine provinces, with of coastline on the Atlantic and Indian oceans...

 in 2002 and started his own music studio there. In March 2007 he launched X4, a 4-girl group singing translations of K3-songs in Afrikaans
Afrikaans
Afrikaans is a West Germanic language, spoken natively in South Africa and Namibia. It is a daughter language of Dutch, originating in its 17th century dialects, collectively referred to as Cape Dutch .Afrikaans is a daughter language of Dutch; see , , , , , .Afrikaans was historically called Cape...

 and English. They released one album: Heyah Mama, which also featured the single of the same name.
.

In May 2007 Studio 100 launched a German version of K3: Wir 3. They do not only sing translated versions of K3 songs (starting off with Heyah Mama) they're also modelled after the originals (consisting of a redhead, a brunette and a blonde).
.

Band members in non-K3 activities

Aerts was the stand-in for the title role in the musical Sneeuwwitje (Snow White
Snow White
"Snow White" is a fairy tale known from many countries in Europe, the best known version being the German one collected by the Brothers Grimm...

) and during the pregnancy of Verbeke, Aerts played the title role in De kleine zeemeermin (The Little Mermaid
The Little Mermaid
"The Little Mermaid" is a popular fairy tale by the Danish poet and author Hans Christian Andersen about a young mermaid willing to give up her life in the sea and her identity as a mermaid to gain a human soul and the love of a human prince...

).

From February till May 2008 Verbeke appeared in the musical Pinokkio
Pinocchio
The Adventures of Pinocchio is a novel for children by Italian author Carlo Collodi, written in Florence. The first half was originally a serial between 1881 and 1883, and then later completed as a book for children in February 1883. It is about the mischievous adventures of Pinocchio , an...

as Nina de Ballerina, the title character's conscience.

Damen plays a PE
Physical education
Physical education or gymnastics is a course taken during primary and secondary education that encourages psychomotor learning in a play or movement exploration setting....

 teacher
Teacher
A teacher or schoolteacher is a person who provides education for pupils and students . The role of teacher is often formal and ongoing, carried out at a school or other place of formal education. In many countries, a person who wishes to become a teacher must first obtain specified professional...

 in television series Het Huis Anubis
Het Huis Anubis
Het Huis Anubis is a Belgian/Dutch children's television drama created by Studio 100 and Nickelodeon, airing in the Netherlands and Flanders. It first aired in September 2006 and the last episode was broadcast on December 4, 2009...

(The Anubis House) for the 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...

 Nickelodeon
Nickelodeon (Netherlands)
The Dutch version of Nickelodeon, seen in the Netherlands and Flanders, launched on September 1, 2002. Nickelodeon is on air 24 hours a day CET ....

 channel.

In September 2007 Damen was a panel judge voting the Belgian entry for Junior Eurovision Song Contest
Junior Eurovision Song Contest
The Junior Eurovision Song Contest , is an international song competition which has been organised by the European Broadcasting Union annually since 2003 and is open exclusively to broadcasters that are members of the EBU. It is held in a different European city each year.The competition has many...

.

The band members have occasionally, separately or collectively, taken part in the television program De Notenclub
The Lyrics Board
The Lyrics Board is an Irish game show. Originally hosted by Aonghus McAnally, the show is currently hosted by Eurovision winner, Linda Martin. In each episode there are two teams. Each team consists of a piano player/team captain who is joined by two celebrities/singers, at either side. A team...

, which allowed them to sing a more grown-up repertoire. Miguel Wiels, who is the co-author of most of the K3 songs, is one of the two regular piano players in the Flemish version of that program. Another song writer for K3, Alain Vande Putte, has also appeared as singer on that show.

Discography

Studio albums
  • 1999: Parels
  • 2000: Alle Kleuren
  • 2001: Tele Romeo
  • 2002: Verliefd
  • 2003: Oya Lele
  • 2004: De Wereld Rond
  • 2005: Kuma He
  • 2006: Ya Ya Yipee
  • 2007: Kusjes
  • 2009: MaMaSé!
  • 2011: Eyo!

Filmography

The group made several television aparances, dvd's and three theatre-movies. And the girls have also their own talkshow.

The members of K3 have also made several films. In 2004 they released their first: K3 en het Magische Medaillon (K3 and the magic medallion). The film premiered on 29 September 2004 and received favourable reviews. In the film Dutch television celebrity Paul de Leeuw
Paul de Leeuw
Paul Henri de Leeuw is a Dutch television comedian, singer and actor.De Leeuw gained national fame in the late eighties and early nineties with television shows for broadcasting company VARA...

 played the stark raving mad genie.

In 2006 the second film, K3 en het IJsprinsesje (K3 and the little ice princess), was released. In this fairy tale film Carry Tefsen played the witch at the pancake house, Peter Faber played the king and famous Belgian comedian Urbanus
Urbanus
Urbain Servranckx , also known as Urbain and Urbanus van Anus, is a Belgian stand-up comedian, actor, singer and comic book writer.-Career:...

 played the wizard. More than half a million people in Belgium and the Netherlands went to the cinemas to see the threesome melt the spoilt princess' frozen heart.

The third film, K3 en de Kattenprins (K3 and the Catprince) had its 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...

 premiere on December 20, 2007 and reached gold status (attendance in excess of 150,000 people) in two weeks time.
Title Translation Release date Remarks
Alle Kleuren All colours 13-9-2001
Tele-Romeo 17-6-2002
Doornroosje, de musical Sleeping Beauty, the musical 23-1-2003 First Musical
Toveren Tour Magic tour 2-5-2003
De 3 biggetjes, de musical The three piglets, the musical 30-10-2003 Second Musical
K3 in de Ardennen K3 in the Ardennes
Ardennes
The Ardennes is a region of extensive forests, rolling hills and ridges formed within the Givetian Ardennes mountain range, primarily in Belgium and Luxembourg, but stretching into France , and geologically into the Eifel...

24-11-2003
K3 in Wonderland K3 in miracle land 16-2-2004
5 jaar K3 5 years of K3 10-3-2004
K3 en het Magische Medaillon K3 and the magic medallion 27-1-2005 First Bigscreen Movie
De wereld rond Around the world 9-5-2005
K3 in Ahoy K3 in Ahoy 27-4-2006
K3 en het IJsprinsesje K3 and the little ice princess 16-11-2006 with extra cd
K3 in de sneeuw K3 in the snow 10-01-2007
K3 Clipparade K3 clip parade 08-04-2007
K3 Superfan Quiz Game 11-04-2007
K3 en het Heksenexamen K3 and the witch's exam 23-05-2007
K3 Karaoke 12-11-2007
K3 en de Kattenprins K3 and the Catprince 09-04-2008 with extras on dvd
K3 en het Toverhart K3 and the magic heart 12-11-2008
K2 terug K3 K2 back K3 10-02-2010 first dvd with Josje Huisman
Josje Huisman
Josina "Josje" Huisman is a Dutch singer, actress, dancer, host and the newest member of the girl group K3. She was chosen in the television show K2 Zoekt K3 in 2009.- Discography :*2009: MaMaSé!...

K3 Show MaMaSé! 19-05-2010
Hallo K3!Volume 1 Hello K3, vol 1 2011 with 3 episodes
K3 en het wensspel! K3 and the wish game 2011 clips of old and new songs

External links

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