Beschrijving

Robert Long (22 October 1943 in Utrecht as Jan Gerrit Bob Arend (Bob) Leverman – 13 December 2006 in Antwerp) was a Dutch singer and television presenter.

Under the stage name “Bob Revel” he founded the band The Yelping Jackals in 1963. In 1967 he moved to another band, called Unit Gloria (at that time using the name Gloria). In 1971 he began to sing solo, under the name “Robert Long”, a reference to his height. Only a year later he left Unit Gloria to concentrate on his solo career. He started singing in English, but not long after that he also began to sing self-written songs in Dutch. His Dutch songs were critical of Dutch society and of American politics. Of his first Dutch album in 1974, Vroeger of Later (Sooner or Later) more than half a million records were sold and continued to be a best seller for 118 consecutive weeks. During this period the album reached the top of the charts three times. Also his second album Levenslang (Lifelong) scored well with sales of more than 200,000. In 1977 he was awarded the first of a total of six Edison Music Awards. During the 80s he scored a top 10 hit in the Netherlands with his song “Iedereen doet ‘t” (Everybody does it). Subsequent albums also sold well.

Robert Long In the late 80s Long appeared on television presenting a show called Mijn geheim (My secret). Despite this new career he received some negative reactions, although the show itself was successful. Soon afterwards he switched to another television network, presenting Tien voor taal (An A for spelling).

Robert Long In 1986 Long began writing columns for the Dutch newspaper Algemeen Dagblad. A selection of these columns was released in a book in 1990 using the title Vandaag geen nieuws (No news today). During this period he presented the television show Fantastico. Source Wikipedia