It's not bad to be able to write ten times platinum (800,000 copies) for your first single at the age of twelve. Thomas Berge succeeded with his single Mijn Luchtballon. It should be noted that this was not about sales through the record stores, but about a promotional stunt in collaboration with a mail order company, whereby all customers also received the single together with the catalog. In any
… case, it was good for a lot of publicity. Thomas Berge also has his first full-fledged album with the CD of the same name. Berge, who is actually called Chiel Ottink but has adopted a stage name because of the possible German market, was discovered by Johnny Sap of Studio One Records, who produced the CD together with Marty Schreijenberg (Frans Bauer, Marianne Weber). Musically the CD can therefore also be placed in the 'Frans Bauer genre', and with his lyrics about grandma, mama and a hot air balloon, he strongly reminds of Jantje Smit. A DVD and TV special are also in the works, so that's okay. (IV)more
