Coenie de Villiers born 11 October 1956, is a South African singer/songwriter

Songwriter

A songwriter is an individual who writes both the lyrics and music to a song. Someone who solely writes lyrics may be called a lyricist, and someone who only writes music may be called a composer...

, piano player, pop artist who sings in his mother tongue, Afrikaans

Afrikaans

Afrikaans is a West Germanic language, spoken natively in South Africa and Namibia. It is a daughter language of Dutch, originating in its 17th century dialects, collectively referred to as Cape Dutch .Afrikaans is a daughter language of Dutch; see , , , , , .Afrikaans was historically called Cape...

. If any comparison was required, Coenie's music is best compared to the pop/rock of Herbert Groenemeyer (German language) or Billy Joel

Billy Joel

William Martin "Billy" Joel is an American musician and pianist, singer-songwriter, and classical composer. Since releasing his first hit song, "Piano Man", in 1973, Joel has become the sixth best-selling recording artist and the third best-selling solo artist in the United States, according to...

 (USA English language).

Born in Bloemfontein

Bloemfontein

Bloemfontein is the capital city of the Free State Province of South Africa; and, as the judicial capital of the nation, one of South Africa's three national capitals – the other two being Cape Town, the legislative capital, and Pretoria, the administrative capital.Bloemfontein is popularly and...

, South Africa

South Africa

The Republic of South Africa is a country in southern Africa. Located at the southern tip of Africa, it is divided into nine provinces, with of coastline on the Atlantic and Indian oceans...

^{2 5}, Coenie was educated at University of the Free State

University of the Free State

The University of the Free State is situated in Bloemfontein, the capital of the Free State, South Africa. The university also has a satellite campus in Qwaqwa that was, until 2003, part of the University of the North.-Academic Divisions:...

 majoring in media studies where he later on lectured in the Communications faculty. He is Manager of a Marketing Company in Gauteng

Gauteng

Gauteng is one of the nine provinces of South Africa. It was formed from part of the old Transvaal Province after South Africa's first all-race elections on 27 April 1994...

 and has also spent time as a radio DJ, TV presenter and advertising executive. Currently he is the presenter for the TV show "Kwêla" on DStv

DStv

DStv is MultiChoice's multi-channel digital satellite TV service in Africa, launched in 1995. It operates from two satellites over Africa, broadcasting on Ku band via Eutelsat W7 and Intelsat 7 , which only requires a small satellite dish...

's KykNET

KykNet

kykNET is a South African television channel, which broadcasts in Afrikaans. Owned by pay-TV operator M-Net, it was launched on the DStv satellite service in October 1999.-Programs:Some of the programs broadcast on kykNET:*DKNT*Trompie...

 channel. He has always viewed his musical career as his second vocation. He is also a classically trained pianist

Pianist

A pianist is a musician who plays the piano. A professional pianist can perform solo pieces, play with an ensemble or orchestra, or accompany one or more singers, solo instrumentalists, or other performers.-Choice of genres:...

. During the late 1980s, Coenie spent a few years in self imposed exile in Cyprus

Cyprus

Cyprus , officially the Republic of Cyprus , is a Eurasian island country, member of the European Union, in the Eastern Mediterranean, east of Greece, south of Turkey, west of Syria and north of Egypt. It is the third largest island in the Mediterranean Sea.The earliest known human activity on the...

. Coenie has also performed in New Zealand, Canada, England, Holland and Belgium⁶

Coenie signed with Mountain Records

Mountain Records

Mountain Records is a record label started in Cape Town, South Africa in 1980 by Patrick Lee-Thorp.The record label produces mostly South African music and is known as the home of Cape Jazz recordings, having issued a number of albums by such names as Basil Coetzee, Robbie Jansen, Jonathan Butler,...

¹ in 1983, and recorded his debut album, Skoppensboer, working with producer, Patrick Lee-Thorp and engineer, Kevin Shirley, in the same year. He subsequently recorded 4 albums for the label many of which won industry awards. In addition he contributed to label compilations of his work. Since leaving Mountain Records he has recorded a number of one off projects for different labels.

Futher information can be found at Coenie de Villiers : Biography⁶

Discography

• Amper Alleen (Cyprus)
• Skoppensboer (Mountain Records
  Mountain Records
  Mountain Records is a record label started in Cape Town, South Africa in 1980 by Patrick Lee-Thorp.The record label produces mostly South African music and is known as the home of Cape Jazz recordings, having issued a number of albums by such names as Basil Coetzee, Robbie Jansen, Jonathan Butler,...
  
  beginning 2003, rereleased)
• Hartland
• Die Reisiger
• Kruispaaie
• Karoo Nagte (1990)
• Liefdesversies
• Ek Wens
• Solo
• Zen
• Handgemaak (unplugged)(SAMA Award, Huisgenoot TEMPO Award)
• Weerlig oor die See (2008)
• Dekade (2009)
• Hart van Glas (2011)

External links

1 Mountain Records
2 http://www.thesixthsense.co.za/actor_thirty.htm
3 http://www.musicians.co.za/Musicians/Male_Vocal/Coenie_de_Villiers/Default.html
4 http://www.mountain-africa.com/coenie.html
5 http://www.whoswhosa.co.za/coenraad-grabe-de-villiers-6255
6 http://www.riku.co.za/Musos.asp?pklMusoID=540