It has not been a good couple of days for Eurovision related artists. Bruno Andries sent ESC Covers a link to a Belgium newspaper that reported on the death of a well-known Dutch singer, composer and producer. Norbert from ESC Dublin to Amsterdam wrote for us on the news.
Pierre Kartner (April 11, 1935 – November 8, 2022), mainly known as Vader Abraham, was a Dutch singer, composer and producer of songs. He was also the man behind the success of countless artists in the Schlager genre.
He scored his biggest hits with ‘Het Kleine Café Aan de Haven’ (1975) and ‘Het smurfenlied’ (1977). ‘Het Kleine Café’ was covered more than 200 times by other artists, with ‘Het Smurfenlied’ he topped the charts worldwide.
In 1973 Pierre Kartner wrote the Dutch Eurovision entry De Oude Muzikant for Ben Cramer. In 2010 he wrote I’m Love (Sha-la-lie) which was sung by Sieneke at the Eurovision Songcontest.
On November 11, 2022, his family announced that Kartner had passed away on the morning of November 8. On the day of the announcement, Kartner was buried in silence.