Jean-Paul Den

Born on July 12, 1957 in Enghien, Belgium, Jean-Paul Deneyer took up the guitar at the age of 15 and began composing his first songs. His passion for music accelerated in 1974, when he was invited to open for Julos Beaucarne. The following year, he won the Audience Prize at the Festival de la Source in Leuze, and gained experience on stage by introducing Pierre Vassiliu and Paul Louka. In 1979, he released his first single, which remained anonymous, but in the 1980s he stopped making music in the face of the economic difficulties of being an artist. Back on stage in 2000, he entered a new register of humorous songs, and made a name for himself at the Rochefort Laughter Festival. With a self-produced album, Tout s'arrange (2000), he won the Prix de la Communauté française de Belgique in 2001, then continued on the path of self-production. He released a series of albums, including Des parents qui s'aiment (2003) and a compilation of songs the same year, and in 2005 won first prize from the public at the Concours de la Chanson Française. As he moves towards professionalism with the accumulation of performances, recordings continue to pile up, including Il y a un chemin (2006) and En harmonie (2011). After a book, Paroles de chansons, published in 2016, Jean-Paul Den returns in 2021 with new singles, "Avant que la mer revienne" (2021) and "Drôle d'époque" (2022).