Jan Leyers

Jan Leyers was born in 1958 in Wilrijk, in the Antwerp province. When he was about 10 years old, he found an acoustic guitar in his attic. His father, an architect, taught him how to play the guitar, and later that same year he saw an electric guitar for the first time in his life, being played by a man in a lounge on a boat. 10 years later, with Hugo Matthysen, Bart Peeters, and Marc Kruithof, he starts the group Beri-Beri. The group tried for some years to become successful, but failed to rise. After Beri-Beri, Jan spends a few years singing in theaters until 1986, when he meets singer Paul Michiels in a café in Heist-op-den-Berg (Jan, for his part, is a native of Wilrijk. Together, they record a single, "You Get to Me," which goes over well for Guy Brulez, an executive for EMI in Belgium. Brulez persuades the two to pursue a duo, and they do so under the name the Soul Sisters. They also record "Talk About It" and "Like a Mountain." In 1988, the group, now under the name SoulSister, releases their debut album, It Takes Two, which goes big with the hit single "The Way to Your Heart." It becomes a hit in Belgium, the Netherlands, Germany, and even makes its way onto U.S. hit charts. In 1990, SoulSister changes its moniker to Leyers, Michiels, and SoulSister for a while, but then reverts back to SoulSister. They release three more studio albums: Heat, Simple Rule, and Swinging Like Big Dogs (which Jan co-produced with Joey Balin, an EMI executive). In between, Jan pursues solo songwriting endeavours. In 1997, SoulSister has officially dissolved with the release of a "Very Best Of" compilation album. Jan Leyers, now on a solo track, teams up with Filip Cauwelier and Joost Van den Broek to form the group My Velma. SoulSister had performed melodic pop, but My Velma (which takes its name from Velma, the girlfriend of a mob boss in the Raymond Chandler book Farewell, My Lovely) did harder rock, a much different form of music than was pursued by SoulSister. The group started off with two test singles: "Running a Bath" and "Shower of Love." In October 1997, the group recorded Exposed, and it was released in June 1998 by Mercury Records of the Netherlands. In 2000, Jan scored a big hit in Belgium with the single "Only Your Love Will Do," which was featured in the soundtrack for the Jan Verheyen film Team Spirit. Ironically, there was also a hit on the soundtrack by his old SoulSister buddy Paul Michiels, and the following year he worked with Michiels on his Forever Young cover album. However, My Velma ultimately met its demise, and the group broke up at around the same time. Throughout these endeavors, he remains a music producer and also writes film music. In 2003, Jan first tried his hand at solo work with the album Jan Leyers, which became popular with the hits "Crash and Burn" and "Don't Make Me Miss You." It also featured his hit from 2000, "Only Your Love Will Do." On January 1, 2005, Jan released the single "The Long Road," and soon afterwards begins his 2005 tour in Belgium. Later that year, he releases the singles "Rolling On" and "Break My Heart." In September, he released In the Virgin Dark, which features these three singles along with "This One" and "The Remedy." "This One" is featured in the Jan Verheyen movie Buitenspel (Off-side). In the fall of 2006, he released Songbook: 1996-2006, a compilation of his work with My Velma and his solo work.