George Kooymans (77) – lead guitarist for Golden Earring – was born 11 March 1948 in The Hague, the Netherlands.
In 1961, 13 year old Kooymans and his 15 year old neighbor Rinus Gerritsen formed a rock duo. They originally called themselves “The Tornados”, but changed their name to “The Golden Earrings” when they learnt of The Tornados, a UK instrumental group who had just had a hit with “Telstar“. The name “the Golden Earrings” was taken from an instrumental called “Golden Earrings” performed by the British group the Hunters, for whom they often served as opening and closing act. Initially a pop-rock band with Frans Krassenburg on lead vocals and another neighborhood kid Jaap Eggermont on drums, the Golden Earrings had several pophits with ‘Please Go’, ‘Daddy Buy Me A Girl’ en ‘In My House’ all recorded in 1965. Dissatisfied with Dutch recording studios, the band’s manager Fred Haayen arranged for the next single to be recorded at the Pye Records studios in London. The record cut at Pye, “That Day”, reached number two on the Dutch charts. But then singer Krassenburg was called into military service and for 18 months the band was limited. By 1967 Kooymans and Gerritsen wanted to go a different musical direction and after two albums, and in 1968 Indonesian born Dutch singer/songwriter Barry Hay joined on lead vocals permanently, and by 1970, drummer Sieb Warner had been replaced by Cesar Zuiderwijk, and the principal lineup (that would last for 50 years) was finalized.
Two years later, the band earned their first number one hit in the Netherlands with the song “Dong Dong Diki Digi Dong” and followed it with another chart-topper, the Kooymans-penned epic “Just a Little Bit of Peace in My Heart.” Golden Earring embarked on their first major US tour in 1969–1970. Owing to American influences, their music evolved towards hard rock, and they performed along with Jimi Hendrix, Led Zeppelin, Procol Harum, and Eric Clapton. Ground work for entering the US market was being laid by East Coast FM radio disc jockey and music critic Neil Kempfer-Stocker, who is credited as the first radio DJ to play the band in the US. These singles were followed by a successful psychedelic rock album Eight Miles High, which featured a 19-minute version of the title track, a cover of the 1966 hit song by the Byrds. The song, played throughout their US tour, became the core performance of their live shows, and their experience in the US led them to make their studio albums resemble their live shows, rather than the other way around.
In 1970, Kooymans branched out into songwriting for other groups, penning Earth & Fire‘s Dutch hit “Seasons.” Meanwhile, his main band shortened its name to Golden Earring and set about revamping its sound to keep up with the times, eventually settling on a straightforward, hard-rocking brand of AOR.
Kooymans (like lead singer Barry Hay) made a brief detour into solo recording in 1971, cutting an album called Jojo that was released on Polydor.
Between 1969 and 1984, Golden Earring completed 13 US tours. During this period, they performed as the opening act for Santana, King Crimson, the Doobie Brothers, Rush and .38 Special. During 1973–74, when “Radar Love” was a hit, they had Kiss and Aerosmith as their opening acts. The band enjoyed brief international fame in the 1970s when the single version of “Radar Love” (1973), from the gold-certified album Moontan, became a hit in both Europe and the US. The band’s American records during this period were issued by the Perception Records label in New York, and the band’s Golden Earring LP, known as Wall of Dolls, and single “Back Home” performed poorly in the US but became a number 1 hit in the Netherlands.
Golden Earring released the Live album in 1977. The album was recorded at London’s Rainbow Theater.
US stardom evaporated as quickly as it had been built. Punk and new wave forced them to retool their sound once again, and they returned to international prominence in 1982 with the album Cut and the U.S. Top Ten hit “Twilight Zone,” a Kooymans composition that had actually been planned as a solo release at first. When “Twilight Zone” hit the airwaves, the music video of the song was played on the recently launched MTV, and helped the song to become a US hit, spending 27 weeks on the Billboard chart.
As a key creative force behind Golden Earring, Kooymans co-wrote many of the band’s most iconic songs with singer Barry Hay.
“When the Lady Smiles” became an international hit in 1984, reaching No. 3 in Canada and becoming the band’s fifth number one hit in their native country, but was not successful in the United States, reaching no higher than #76 on the US Singles Chart. Reason for that could be found in the fact that the song’s video was banned from MTV because of its “unholy desires about a nun and a lobotomy“. Tragedy struck when touring the US in 1984, and the band played at the Great Arena Six Flags Great Adventure in New Jersey on May 11 and were in the midst of their performance when a fire broke out at the Haunted Castle on the opposite side of the theme park, killing eight teenagers.
Following this tour, Golden Earring turned their focus toward Europe where they continued to attract standing-room-only crowds for years to come. The group paused briefly after the release of The Hole in 1986 to focus on other projects, with Hay and Kooymans both releasing solo albums (Victory of Bad Taste and Solo, respectively) the following year. The group then reconvened to record their final album of the 1980s, releasing Keeper of the Flame in 1989.
Over the decades, George Kooymans’ powerful guitar riffs, melodic sensibility, and distinctive voice helped shape the band’s sound through a remarkable career that spanned more than 50 years. And beyond his work with Golden Earring, Kooymans also pursued solo projects and collaborations with other Dutch musicians. His solo album, “Jojo” (1987) showcased his versatility as a songwriter and performer. He also contributed significantly to the Dutch music scene through his production work and support for emerging artists.
In 1991, Golden Earring had another hit in the Netherlands with “Going to the Run”, a rock-ballad about a Hells Angels motorcycle gang member who was a friend of the band and died in a crash. Between 1992 and 2004, the band released three acoustic live unplugged albums, which became quick successes. The first, The Naked Truth, sold 450,000 copies within the first year and became the third-best selling album of 1993 in the Netherlands.
In 1995, Kooymans and Hay discovered female rock singer Anouk, and wrote material for her 1997 debut album, Together Alone, which made her a star in the Netherlands. Golden Earring celebrated their 50th anniversary in 2011, which the Dutch postal service honored with a stamp that contained a music link: when a smartphone with a special app is held up to the music stamp, Golden Earring’s “Radar Love” plays.
Kooymans reached the Dutch charts once again in 2010 with On Location, recorded as part of a duet with American singer Frank Carillo.
On 11 May 2012, the band released what was to be their final studio album, Tits ‘n Ass.
On 5 February 2021, the band’s manager announced to the Dutch press that the band’s active career was over due to George Kooymans’ serious ALS illness.
During their career they had nearly 30 top ten singles on the Dutch charts and released 25 studio albums.
In the shadow of Ozzy Osbourne’s death on the same date, George Kooymans passed on July 22, 2025 from complications of ALS. He was 77 years old.
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