K3 (band)

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K3
K3 during a concert in Ahoy in 2005
Background information
Origin	Belgium
Genre(s)	Pop
Years active	1998 – present
Label(s)	Studio 100
Website	Official website (Dutch)
Members
Kristel Verbeke, Karen Damen, Kathleen Aerts

K3 is a Flemish girl band with a Dutch repertoire, mainly aimed at pre-adolescent children. The name of the group is derived from the names of the three singers: Karen Damen, Kathleen Aerts and Kristel Verbeke. The music is produced by production company Studio 100. The music is written by Miguel Wiels, Alain Vande Putte and Peter Gillis. K3 is founded by Niels William.

The band is also known for becoming famous without any airplay from the regular music television channels like MTV, instead using marketing via children and cartoon channels^[1].

1 Career
- 1.1 Rise to fame (1998-2002)
- 1.2 Studio 100 era (2002-present)
2 Films
3 Musicals
4 K3 Museum
5 Projects in other languages
6 Band members in non-K3 activities
7 Discography
8 See also
9 References
10 External links

[edit] Career

K3 performance - Hasselt - april 2006

K3 performance Oostende 2001

[edit] Rise to fame (1998-2002)

The band K3 was started by Niels William. Initially they had female twenty-somethings as their target audience, which is noticeable in their early song lyrics. Their first single, "Wat ik wil" (What I want), was not very successful.

In 1999 K3 participated with the song "Heyah Mama" in the live television shows to select the Belgian entry for the Eurovision Song Contest. The song was not well received by one of the judges, Marcel Vanthilt, who referred to the band members as assorted meat products. Notwithstanding, "Heyah Mama" was released as a single and became the first big hit for the band.

The song stayed at the number one spot of the Flemish Ultratop 50 chart for 16 weeks and would eventually be listed in the chart for 34 weeks. Their next two singles also reached the number one position, resulting in an uninterrupted period of 32 weeks in which a K3 song was at the top of that chart. About a year after becoming famous in Flanders K3 also became famous in the Netherlands.

The songs are written by Miguel Wiels, Alain Vande Putte and Peter Gillis. This trio previously collaborated as songwriters for Flemish singer Isabelle A.

K3 is noted for being the first pop act to break through to the top of the charts without receiving any airplay from the regular music television channels like MTV and TMF. Niels William's new marketing concept was based on promotion via children and cartoon channels like Fox Kids^[1].

[edit] Studio 100 era (2002-present)

Since 2002 the band is managed by Studio 100, a Flemish television production company for Dutch and Belgian children's programs.

Songs like "Heyah Mama", "I love you baby", "Alle Kleuren" (All colours), "Blub, ik ben een vis!" (Blub I'm a fish), "Tele-Romeo", "Toveren" (Doing magic), "Verliefd" (In love), "De 3 biggetjes" (The three piglets), "Oya lélé", "Hart verloren" (Heart lost), "Liefdeskapitein" (Captain of love), "Kuma He", "Ya Ya Yippee", "Dokter Dokter" (Doctor doctor) and "Kusjesdag" (Kissing Day) were hits for the band. K3 have released eight albums. Their eighth album Ya Ya Yippee sold more than 50,000 copies in pre-sales within the Benelux.

K3 present a children's television program called De wereld van K3 (K3's World). Originally there were Dutch and Flemish versions, but only the Dutch version remains.

The band has released several DVD's with video clips, with their musicals or films, and with specially recorded footage like K3 in de Ardennen (K3 in the Ardennes).

In 2007 a team from Madame Tussauds in London took measurements of the band members for wax statues^[2]. K3 unveiled these wax statues at Madame Tussauds Amsterdam on 4 July 2007^[3].

[edit] Films

The members of K3 have also appeared in several films. In 2004 they released their first: K3 en het Magische Medaillon (K3 and the magic medallion). The film premiered on 29 September 2004 and received favourable reviews. In the film Dutch television celebrity Paul de Leeuw played the stark raving mad genie.

In 2006 the second film, K3 en het IJsprinsesje (K3 and the little ice princess), was released. In this fairy tale film Carry Tefsen played the witch at the pancake house, Peter Faber played the king and famous Belgian comedian Urbanus played the wizard. More than half a million people in Belgium and the Netherlands went to the cinemas to see the threesome melt the spoilt princess' frozen heart.

The third film, K3 en de Kattenprins (K3 and the feline prince) had its Dutch premiere on December 20, 2007 and reached gold status (attendance in excess of 150,000 people) in two weeks time^{[citation needed]}. Reviewers described the movie as The Wizard of Oz meets Alice in Wonderland.

[edit] Musicals

K3 performed in several musicals. In Doornroosje (Sleeping Beauty), during 2002, they played three good fairies and in De 3 biggetjes (The three piglets), during 2003. They played the eponymous three piglets, Knirrie (Verbeke), Knarrie (Damen) and Knorrie (Aerts) and reprised these roles in 2007 for a tour of both Belgium and the Netherlands.

[edit] K3 Museum

On 10 June 2006 a party was held at Plopsaland to celebrate the tenth anniversary of Studio 100. At this occasion the band members opened the K3 Museum which provides an overview of their career. There are interviews, clothes and props from the films to be seen, including the air scooters from the film K3 en het Magische Medaillon (K3 and the magic medallion). The countless gold and platinum discs can be seen too.

[edit] Projects in other languages

In 2002 K3 recorded English, French and German versions of their Tele-Romeo album.

After having sold K3 to Studio100, the founder Niels William moved to South Africa in 2002 and started his own music studio there. In March 2007 he launched X4, a 4-girl group singing translations of K3-songs in Afrikaans and English. They released one album: Heyah Mama, which also featured the single of the same name. ^[4].

In May 2007 Studio 100 launched a German version of K3: Wir 3. They do not only sing translated versions of K3 songs (starting off with Heyah Mama) they're also modelled after the originals (consisting of a redhead, a brunette and a blonde). ^[5].

[edit] Band members in non-K3 activities

Aerts was the stand-in for the title role in the musical Sneeuwwitje (Snow White) and during the pregnancy of Verbeke, Aerts played the title role in De kleine zeemeermin (The Little Mermaid).

From February till May 2008 Verbeke will perform in the musical Pinokkio as Nina de Ballerina, the title character's conscience.

Damen plays a PE teacher in television series Het Huis Anubis (The Anubis House) for the Dutch Nickelodeon channel.

In September 2007 Damen was a panel judge voting the Belgian entry for Junior Eurovision Song Contest.

The band members have occasionally, separately or collectively, taken part in the television program De Notenclub, which allowed them to sing a more grown-up repertoire. Miguel Wiels, who is the co-author of most of the K3 songs, is one of the two regular piano players in the Flemish version of that program. Another song writer for K3, Alain Vande Putte, has also appeared as singer on that show.

[edit] Discography

[edit] Albums

Year	Album	Translation	Chart position
Year	Album	Translation	Mega Album Top 100	Ultratop 50 Albums
1999	Parels	Pearls	-	-
2000	Parels 2000	Pearls 2000	15	-
2000	Alle Kleuren	All colours	1	-
2001	Alle Kleuren Limited Edition	All colours Limited Edition	-	-
2001	Tele-Romeo		1	-
2002	Tele-Romeo Limited Edition		-	-
2002	Verliefd	In love	1	-
2003	Oya lélé		1	-
2004	K3 5 jaar	5 years of K3	13	-
2004	De wereld rond	Around the world	1	-
2005	Kuma He		1	-
2006	Ya Ya Yippee		1	1
2007	Kusjes	Kisses	-	-

[edit] Singles

Year	Single	Translation	Chart position		Album
Year	Single	Translation	Dutch Top 40	Flemish Ultratop 50	Album
1998	Wat ik wil	What I want	-	-	Parels
1999	Heyah Mama		18	2	Parels
1999	Yeke Yeke		-	4	Parels
1999	I Love You Baby		-	11	Parels
2000	Op elkaar (remix)	Going steady (remix)	-	40	Parels 2000
2000	Alle Kleuren	All colours	-	2	Alle Kleuren
2000	Yippee Yippee		-	-	Alle Kleuren
2000	Oma's aan de top	Grandmothers at the top	18	-	Alle Kleuren
2001	Hippie Shake		-	20	Alle Kleuren
2001	Tele-Romeo		-	1	Tele-Romeo
2001	Mama's en Papa's	Mamas and papas	-	-	Tele-Romeo
2001	Blub, ik ben een vis!	Blub, I'm a fish!	18	1	Tele-Romeo
2001	Je hebt een vriend	You have a friend	-	-	Tele-Romeo
2002	Toveren	Doing magic	3	3	Tele-Romeo Limited Edition
2002	Feest	Fiesta	8	7	Verliefd
2002	Papapa		tip	-	Verliefd
2002	Verliefd	In love	tip	-	Verliefd
2003	De 3 biggetjes	The three piglets	21	5	Oya lélé
2003	Oya lélé		9	2	Oya lélé
2003	Frans Liedje	Little French song	-	21	Oya lélé
2004	Hart verloren	Heart lost	-	30	Oya lélé
2004	Liefdeskapitein	Captain of love	4	8	De wereld rond
2004	Superhero		-	16	De wereld rond
2004	Zou er iemand zijn op Mars?	Do you think there's someone on Mars?	-	-	De wereld rond
2005	Kuma He		2	2	Kuma He
2005	Borst vooruit	Chest out, shoulders back	31	13	Kuma He
2006	Ya Ya Yippee		25	3	Ya Ya Yippee
2006	Dokter, Dokter	Doctor, doctor	-	28	Ya Ya Yippee
2007	Kusjesdag	Day of kisses	7	8	Kusjes

[edit] DVDs

Title	Translation	Release date	Remarks
Alle Kleuren	All colours	13-9-2001
Tele-Romeo		17-6-2002
Doornroosje, de musical	Sleeping Beauty, the musical	23-1-2003
Toveren Tour	Magic tour	2-5-2003
De 3 biggetjes, de musical	The three piglets, the musical	30-10-2003
K3 in de Ardennen	K3 in the Ardennes	24-11-2003
K3 in Wonderland	K3 in miracle land	16-2-2004
5 jaar K3	5 years of K3	10-3-2004
K3 en het Magische Medaillon	K3 and the magic medallion	27-1-2005
De wereld rond	Around the world	9-5-2005
K3 in Ahoy	K3 in Ahoy	27-4-2006
K3 en het IJsprinsesje	K3 and the little ice princess	16-11-2006	with extra cd
K3 in de sneeuw	K3 in the snow	10-01-2007
K3 Clipparade	K3 clip parade	08-04-2007
K3 Superfan Quiz Game		11-04-2007
K3 en het Heksenexamen	K3 and the witches exams	23-05-2007