George Kooymans (born 11 March 1948 in The Hague, Netherlands; died 23 July 2025 in in Rijkevorsel, Belgium) was a Dutch songwriter, guitarist and vocalist remembered for co-founding Golden Earring and being the band's guitarist and vocalist from 1961 to 2021. Kooymans co-founded the band as The Tornado's in The Hague, Netherlands, in late 1961. The band had to call it a day in February 2021 after sixty years due to Kooymans' tragic diagnosis with the neuro-muscular disease ALS, which has render...
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George Kooymans (born 11 March 1948 in The Hague, Netherlands; died 23 July 2025 in in Rijkevorsel, Belgium) was a Dutch songwriter, guitarist and vocalist remembered for co-founding Golden Earring and being the band's guitarist and vocalist from 1961 to 2021. Kooymans co-founded the band as The Tornado's in The Hague, Netherlands, in late 1961. The band had to call it a day in February 2021 after sixty years due to Kooymans' tragic diagnosis with the neuro-muscular disease ALS, which has rendered him unable to perform. He passed away in July 2025, some four and a half years after the diagnosis. With Golden Earring, Kooymans enjoyed major international chart success with singles such as Radar Love (1973), Twilight Zone (1982) and When The Lady Smiles (1984). Kooymans was Golden Earring's main songwriter, whereas singer, Barry Hay, wrote most of the group's lyrics. Kooymans wrote songs for several Dutch artists that he 'discovered', including Bojoura and Earth and Fire (their debut single, the Kooymans-penned 'Seasons', hit #2 in the Dutch charts in 1970) and, many years later, Anouk. In their home country Golden Earring had over 40 hits and over 30 gold and platinum albums. They sold millions of albums worldwide and always kept performing live until the Covid-19 pandemic made it impossible. Almost a year later, ALS symptoms terminated Kooymans' career of six decades. Kooymans released two solo albums under his own name - Jojo (1971) and Solo (1987) - whereas 2010 saw the release of On Location, an album by Kooymans and his long-time friend Frank Carillo (see: Kooymans & Carillo. September 2016 saw him embark on a theatre tour under the moniker Vreemde Kostgangers, a collaboration with his long time friends and fellow legendary Dutch songwriters, Boudewijn de Groot and Henny Vrienten. Although Kooymans had sung in Dutch on a couple of one-off occasions in the past, this was the first time for most of his Dutch fans to hear Kooymans sing in his mothertongue. Vreemde Kostgangers released three studio albums of original Dutch-language material between 2017 and 2023. June 2022 saw the surprise release of Mirage, Kooymans' second studio album with Frank Carillo. The album featured a solo bonus track by Kooymans: his first studio recording of 'Seasons', the song he gave to Earth & Fire back in 1969.
