Friday 3 September 2010

World Popular Song Festival - Robert Long

John Mohring and Robert Long

Jan Gerrit Bob Arend (Bob) Leverman, better known as Robert Long (1943-2006), was a Dutch singer, songwriter, composer, comedian and television presenter.

Under the stage name Bob Revel he founded the band The Yelping Jackals in 1963. In 1967 he moved to another band called Unit Gloria. In 1971 he began to sing solo under the name Robert Long, a reference to his height. Only a year later he left Unit Gloria and began to sing self-written songs in Dutch. His Dutch songs were critical of Dutch society and of politics. In 1977 Robert Long was awarded with six Dutch Edison Music Awards. During the 80's he scored a top 10 hit in the Netherlands with his song Iedereen Doet't (Everybody Does It) In the late 80's he was the presenter of a couple of shows on Dutch television like Mein Geheim (My Secret), Tien Voor Taal (An A For Language), Vandaag Geen Nieuws (No News Today) and Fantstico. Together with Dimitri Frenkel Frank, Robert Long composed the Dutch version of the musical Chekhov, which was a big success in the Netherlands, but the German version in which Robert Long also participated, was less popular.

In 1973 Robert Long represented the Netherlands at the World Popular Song Festival with the sing-along song I Believe In Love which came 5th and won an Outstanding Song Award.

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