Grand Jojo
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Jean Vanobbergen (6 July 1936 – 1 December 2021) was a Belgian singer better known as Grand Jojo in French and Lange Jojo in Dutch.
He is best-known for his contribution to "Olé, Olé, Olé ".
Biography
Jean Vanobbregen first worked as a marketing draughtsman then as a cartoonist. Afterwards, he went on to become a record shop owner and a musician. Jean quickly realized that the market, at the time, lacked festive songs. Therefore, he decided to create his own songs and to nickname himself Grand Jojo. Grand Jojo was a Belgian icon who represented his country by displaying the typical Belgian identity often based on self-mockery and referred to as belgitude (French; Belgianness).
Grand Jojo mostly performed drinking songs such as "Chef, un p'tit verre, on a soif", "Sergent Flagada", "La petite bête à bon Dieu", and "Jules César". In 1985, as R.S.C. Anderlecht won its third consecutive title in the Belgian First Division A, he released a single called "Anderlecht champion" and then decided to adapt the lyrics in "E viva Mexico", a song he published for the 1986 FIFA World Cup where the Belgium national football team made it to the semifinals.
For his debut performances, he chose surrealistic tango songs such as "Le Tango du Congo", "Victor le footbaliste" and "Sitting Bull". His 1974 performance of "Le French Can-can" was successfully received by the public.
His 1979 single "Chef, un p'tit verre, on a soif" was notably used by the presumed killer of Grégory, a 15-year-old who was kidnapped and killed in France in 1984. Three years before the kidnapping, the main suspect of that case, called "corbeau" (meaning raven), had harassed Grégory's parents on the phone by playing the song every time he called.
On 11 May 1998, Jean Vanobbergen was appointed knight in the Order of Leopold.
Since 2006 (in Francopholies de Spa, a music festival in Belgium), he has come back on stage forming bands with ska-punk groups from the current Belgian scene like Skaïra, who for the occasion released an album paying tribute to Grand Jojo. A Grand Jojo tribute concert took place in Louvain-la-Neuve on 7 September 2007, after an invitation from the régional athois and the CESEC — a student organization in economic, social and political sciences — during a celebration of their 30th anniversary.
In 2011, Grand Jojo returned to Universal Music Belgium. In December 2013, Jojo performed at the Cirque Royal in March and at Forest National. Grand Jojo was made an honorary citizen of Brussels in 2015. Manneken Pis wore a Jules César costume in his honour at the award ceremony.
Jean Vanobbergen died on 1 December 2021 at the age of 85.
Discography
- 1972 Le Tango du Congo
- 1972 Valencia
- 1974 Le Bal tyrolien
- 1974 Le French Cancan
- 1974 Le Tango Russe
- 1974 Victor le Footballiste
- 1975 Le Disc-jockey
- 1978 S.O.S.
- 1978 L'avion de Buenos Aires
- 1979 On a soif !
- 1979 Carmelita
- 1980 Ookie pookie
- 1980 Patrouille de nuit (Night patrol)
- 1980 La Petite Bête à Bon-Dieu
- 1981 Agence matrimoniale
- 1981 Les Petites Boules pour la toux
- 1981 Popeye le marin
- 1982 Jules César
- 1982 Clémentine
- 1982 Ma tute
- 1983 Sergent Flagada
- 1984 Vive les saints!
- 1984 Il fait chaud
- 1984 A outsiplou
- 1985 Anderlecht Champion
- 1985 Square dance
- 1986 E viva Mexico
- 1986 Les Oranges
- 1986 Le Téléphone
- 1989 La (New) Beat
- 1989 Sitting Bull
- 1990 Le Mondiale
- 1993 La mer du nord
- 1994 Les petits Belges en Amérique
- 2000 Allez Belgique 2000
- 2002 Les Belges à Tokyo
- 2007 Vive la Belgique
- 2012 Best Of
- 2013 Viva Brasil
- 2015 Tout va très bien
- 2018 Goal Goal Gooaal
