Very sad news from the electronic music world in Belgium. Herman Celis, the drummer and co-founder of the new wave act 2 Belgians, died in Antwerp at the age of 67. The group scored several hits in the 80s with “Opération Coup de Poing” (1984), “Queen of Mine” (1985) and especially “Lena” (1985).

2 Belgen was formed in Ghent in 1982 and initially consisted of singer-guitarist Rembert De Smet and drummer Herman Celis. Later De Smet focused on the use of the guitar synthesizer. In 1982 the first single “Quand le film est triste” / “Lena” and the first album “2 Belgen” were released. After this first album, the duo expanded into a real band.

The group was officially disbanded in 1993. De Smet later became active with the (excellent!) flamenco pop group Está Loco and created with the track “Llorar” an instant classic. On January 28, 2017, he died of cancer at the age of 62.

Bernard - Side-Line Staff

Chief editor of Side-Line – which basically means I spend my days wading through a relentless flood of press releases from labels, artists, DJs, and zealous correspondents. My job? Strip out the promo nonsense, verify what’s actually real, and decide which stories make the cut and which get tossed into the digital void. Outside the news filter bubble, I’m all in for quality sushi and helping raise funds for Ukraine’s ongoing fight against the modern-day axis of evil.

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It doesn’t seem to stop, another music legend has died, Rembert De Smet. De Smet died from cancer, a diagnose he got only 6 weeks ago. Rembert De Smet was the frontman of 2 Belgian who in the mid-eighties together with Front 242 put Belgium on the EBM map thanks to his dark electropop including the massive hits “Lena”, “Operation Coup de Point” (a cover of Alpha Blondy’s Brigadier Sabari) and “Queen of Mine”.

Rembert De Smet started 2 Belgen in the early eighties together with Herman Celis. After the band disbanded in 1993 (after 4 albums) De Smet gathered fame with the band Está Loco which resulted in yet another hit “Llorar”, a beautiful Spanish sung acoustic guitar driven track. He would record 3 albums with the band.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d_UA11Stl3I

Bernard - Side-Line Staff

Chief editor of Side-Line – which basically means I spend my days wading through a relentless flood of press releases from labels, artists, DJs, and zealous correspondents. My job? Strip out the promo nonsense, verify what’s actually real, and decide which stories make the cut and which get tossed into the digital void. Outside the news filter bubble, I’m all in for quality sushi and helping raise funds for Ukraine’s ongoing fight against the modern-day axis of evil.

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