Bennie Jolink

About

Also known as: Ben Jolink, Bennie Joling, Benny Jolink, Bernard Jolink, Buizen Beernd

Bennie Jolink is the voice and driving force behind Normaal, the Achterhoek band widely credited with inventing what became known as boerenrock, a raw Dutch take on rock music rooted in regional dialect and farming culture. The breakthrough came in 1977 with the track Oerend Hard, and from that point on Normaal became something genuinely unique: a band that sang exclusively in the Achterhoeks dialect and built a devoted following across the Netherlands. Jolink has been the band's frontman from the very start, and his commitment to singing in his own regional tongue rather than English helped carve out an entirely new space in Dutch music. After Normaal's farewell concert in 2015, Jolink stayed active with smaller projects including De Motorband and De Pensionado's, the latter releasing the album Odi Profanum in 2016. Health issues eventually forced him off the live stage, but he still found time to release Post Normaal in 2019, a solo record accompanied by a 96 page book of his own drawings and stories. Outside of music, he has done voice over work and is an avid motorcyclist, which has earned him a few hospital visits over the years.