Group

Golden Earring

From: Den Haag, Netherlands
Active: 1961–2021
Rating: ★ 4.5 (2 votes)
Releases: 179

rock
hard rock
nederbeat
new wave
pop rock
progressive rock

About

Golden Earring was a Dutch rock band, founded in 1961 in The Hague as the Tornados. They achieved worldwide fame with their songs "Radar Love" in 1973, which went to number one on the Dutch chart, reached the top ten in the United Kingdom, and went to number thirteen on the United States chart, "Back Home" in 1970, "Twilight Zone" in 1982, and "When the Lady Smiles" in 1984. During their career they had nearly 30 top-ten singles on the Dutch charts and released 25 studio albums.

The band went through a number of early personnel changes until settling on a stable lineup in 1970, consisting of Rinus Gerritsen (bass and keyboards), George Kooymans (vocals and guitar), Barry Hay (vocals, guitar, flute and saxophone), and Cesar Zuiderwijk (drums and percussion), which remained unchanged until the band broke up in 2021 when the band announced that Kooymans had been diagnosed with ALS. A number of other musicians also appeared in short stints with the band over its history.
Kooymans died 22 July 2025. Although the band initially declined a concert afterwards, the band organized a series of farewell concerts under the title One Last Night in Rotterdam Ahoy from 26 to 30 January 2026, together with other Dutch artists.

From Golden Earring on Wikipedia, under CC BY-SA 4.0.

Members

Hans van Herwerden 1961–1963 · original member · former guitar
Freddy van Hilst 1961–1964 · original member · former
Rinus Gerritsen 1961–2021 · original member · former bass guitar, keyboard, synthesizer
George Kooymans 1961–2021 · original member · former background vocals, guitar, lead vocals
Peter de Ronde 1963–1967 · former guitar
Frans Krassenburg 1964–1967 · former lead vocals
Jaap Eggermont 1964–1969 · former drums (drum set)
Barry Hay 1967–2021 · former flute, guitar, lead vocals, saxophone
Sieb Warner 1969–1970 · former drums (drum set)
Cesar Zuiderwijk 1970–2021 · former drums (drum set), percussion
Robert Jan Stips 1974–1976 · former keyboard
Eelco Gelling 1976–1978 · former guitar