Le Grand Jojo is dead, Belgium loses a popular icon with a vast atmospheric repertoire
Biography
The Brussels singer Le Grand Jojo died on December 1, 2021 at the age of 85 following a long illness. He announced last June to retire after a long musical career that began at the end of the sixties. Its atmospheric repertoire includes multiple emblematic titles, such as “On a thirst”, “Jules César” and especially “E viva Mexico”, which have marked Belgian popular culture.
It was at the maternity hospital in Ixelles that Jules Jean Vanobbergen made the sound of his voice heard for the first time on July 6, 1936. At the age of three, he performed his first public performance at the Derby, a bistro in Koekelberg , by interpreting “J’attendrai” by Rina Ketty, he says in his biography published in 2015.
When war broke out, his father took refuge in the free zone, in Bordeaux. Little Jean was then entrusted to his maternal grandfather, Jules Van Eeckhout, in Koekelberg.
His childhood and adolescence, Jules Jean spent them in Molenbeek, between friends, sport and cinema. To seize and, he leaves school to enter the academy, wanting to become a painter. He performed his military service first at the Florennes air base, where he was a member of the first chamber orchestra of the army as a drummer, then at Zeelik.
Before becoming the Grand Jojo, “Lange Jojo” in Dutch, and the author of multiple mood songs, the man with the mustache and other jobs to his credit.
Hired in an appliance store in the mid-1950s as a window dresser, he was finally transferred to the jazz records department, as a specialist, thanks to his knowledge in the field. He then worked at National Music, the company that manages the Würlitzer jukebox brand in Belgium, in charge of programming these machines, he says in his biography.
His own musical career began at the end of the sixties, with the desire to write songs “to party”, a successful bet. The first single of Grand Jojo – nickname that comes from his school years in Koekelberg – and company was released in 1969 by Olympia, and will be quickly followed by a second opus. Its popularity is launched.
From the ’70s, he released his songs under the Vogue Belgique label, the same as a certain Johnny Hallyday in particular … There is also a faithful friend: Claude Barzotti. His first single with Vogue, which includes the track “Don Juan”, is a real success.
There followed titles like “Le French Cancan” (1973), the first real hit of “Lange Jojo” in Flanders and “Victor the footballer” (1974). In 1978, Lou Depryck also landed at Vogue. The beginning of a beautiful friendship, since Lou will at the same time become his producer.
Among his first titles is still “Le Tango du Congo”, released in 1972. The most famous “Jules César” and “On a thirst” followed in particular.
“E viva Mexico”, released in 1986 on the occasion of the Red Devils epic at the World Cup in Mexico, remains one of his essential hits. The title has since become a sports anthem repeated in 50 countries. We could also hear the song during the fall of the Berlin Wall or in films with Clint Eastwood or Gene Hackman, still confided the singer during the presentation of his song of the 2014 World Cup, “Viva Brasil”.
On May 11, 1998 Jules Jean Vanobbergen was also named Chevalier in the Order of Leopold in May 1998.
His Best of, released in 2012, offers a glimpse of his entire career.
On July 20, 2015, at age 79, Le Grand Jojo made his return to the Bal National in the Marolles, after several years of absence, accompanied by his orchestra, by setting fire again with almost all of his repertoire.
His biography, “Everything is going very well”, was published in October 2015.
In 2018, after the Belgian Football Union disowned Damso, the Grand Jojo released his own anthem, “Goal Goal Gooaal”, to support the Red Devils at the World Cup in Russia.
The following year, the singer inaugurated his own museum in Boussu-Lez-Walcourt in the province of Hainaut, in the presence of Frédéric François and Claude Barzotti.
His friend Cyril Forthomme, archivist and manager of this museum, confirmed the death of the popular icon on the night of Wednesday, December 1, 2021 following a long illness. “His memory will remain thanks to his songs which will continue to be broadcast to sing, to dance, to party and to bring good humor. It is all the strength of popular songs,” he paid tribute to him.