IVAN HEYLEN

The cultural heritage of a country is not always something to boast about or be proud of.

One proof for this thesis is Ivan Heylen, of whom you can find the single "de wilde boerndochtere" (the wild farmer's daughter) on the left. Sung in the dialect of West-Vlaanderen (the province around Bruges and Ostende), this is the account of the shy country boy trying to approach the beautiful next door farmer's daughter.

This single made it to the second place in the national hitparade, which at the time was being dominated by the likes of Demis Roussos, Freddy Breck, the Osmonds, Dawn etc. You can laugh, but at least these artists were not from Belgium !

The single became a huge hit in the Netherlands, as had already been the case for his song "De Werkmens" (The working man) a year before.

Anyway, with Ivan Heylen everything got straightened out later : he started a career in journalism (for Panorama) and even as a talk-show host (VT4).

In 1998, there was a surprise incident when Heylen took on the plan to make a film based on the story of his biggest hit "De wilde Boerendochter". He decided to direct it himself, with ex-cycling champion Eddy Planckaert and Flemish singer and former pin-up Wendy Van Wanten in the main roles. When the video was almost ready (featuring the longest love-making scene in Flemish filmhistory), disaccord grew between Heylen & his female actress, leading to a banning order by the court to show or even talk about the film.

Buy CD's of this band at

Albums :
- De werkmens (Omega, 1974)
Singles :
- De werkmens / Gustaaf (Omega, 1973)
- De wilde boerndochtere / 'k had zo geirn mee a (Omega, 1974)
- Mijn pintje / Oh schone Frieda (Omega, 1974)
- Mijn wijveken - Nie slechtere of nie betere (11 Prov., 1975)
- 't Lied van de Zwarte Bende - Heeft er iemand mijn ziele gezien (Omega, 1975)
- Toon mij de weg / Een kind (Philips, 1981)
- Jef - Mijn moeder (WEA, 1982)
- J'aime bien ma Flandre / Rock'n Roll (Vogue, 1983)
- Ooit wordt het Kerstmis / Mijn engel (CNR, 1984)
- De wilde boerndochtere 120 BPM (???, 1989)
- De Wilde boerndochter (featuring Da Rick) - 1999