From Surf Wiki (app.surf) — the open knowledge base

Ozark Henry

Belgian musician (born 1970)

Summary

Belgian musician (born 1970)

Field	Value
background	person
name	Ozark Henry
image	Ozark Henry Piet Goddaer.jpg
alt	black-and-white close-up of Ozark Henry, staring intently at camera
caption	Ozark Henry in 2020
birth_name	Piet Goddaer
birth_date
birth_place	Kortrijk, Belgium
genre
occupation
instrument	Vocals
years_active	1995–present
label	Studio Ozark Henry
website

Piet Goddaer (born 29 April 1970 in Kortrijk) is a Belgian musician, better known by his stage name Ozark Henry. , he has released nine studio albums under the name Ozark Henry. In 2001, he released the album To All Our Escapes under the name Sunzoo Manley, a collaboration with Frank Deruytter.

Background

Goddaer drew the inspiration for his stage name from a geographic region in the United States, the Ozark mountains, and the book Junkie by William S. Burroughs.

Ozark Henry's first album, I'm Seeking Something That Has Already Found Me, was considered avant-garde. His third album, Birthmarks, marked a transition from earlier experimental music to pop music with classical influences, such as string and wind instruments. Birthmarks and the subsequent album The Sailor Not the Sea were Henry's breakthrough with Belgian audiences. Since the album The Soft Machine (2006), his music has been characterized by a more mainstream sound.

Goddaer writes, composes, and produces his albums himself. In addition to regular studio albums, he has also released a few soundtracks, including for the film adaptation of Thea Beckman's Crusade in Jeans. He has also produced music for other artists.

Career

In his early life, Goddaer was involved in several local bands. As a rapper in the band Word, founded by his brother Jan, Goddaer scored a cult hit with the song "Henry Man-She" in 1994.

His career really took off when Goddaer started a solo career and adopted the stage name Ozark Henry. The debut album I'm Seeking Something That Has already Found Me was released in 1996 with Double T Music. In an interview, David Bowie praised the album as "debut of the year", but the record had little commercial success.

His second album, This Last Warm Solitude, was released in Belgium in 1998. The next year, This Last Warm Solitude was released in the Netherlands, Germany, and France, and Henry received a Zamu Award as best songwriter/composer.

The next album, Birthmarks, was released in 2001 on Sony Music Entertainment and was the commercial breakthrough for Henry. The singles "Rescue" and "Sweet Instigator" were hits in Belgium, and the album was certified platinum. Henry won two Zamu Awards: best pop/rock and best producer. He appeared regularly on television and radio shows, including Aan tafel.

His fourth album, The Sailor not the Sea, was released in 2004, and was awarded a gold record the next year. Henry also won another Zamu Award for best songwriter/composer.

His fifth album, The Soft Machine, was released in September 2006.

For Henry's tenth anniversary, the compilation album A Decade was issued.

The sixth album, Hvelreki, was released in October 2010.

Henry also wrote the music for several theatre projects and the soundtrack of the Belgian television series Sedes & Belli, as well as Crusade in Jeans, a movie based on a children's novel by Thea Beckman. He received the Magritte Award for Best Original Score for his work in the 2012 film The World Belongs to Us.

His seventh album is Stay Gold. In 2014, Henry re-recorded "We Are Incurable Romantics", a track from this album, with Italian singer-songwriter Elisa.

In 2015, Henry released the album Paramount, which was recorded together with the National Orchestra of Belgium. In 2017, his ninth album, Us, came out.

Sunzoo Manley

In 1999, Goddaer collaborated with musician Richard Jonckheere (under the moniker LaTchak) to record the track "If This Is Love". Nothing much happened until 2001, when Goddaer began recording an album together with Frank Deruytter, Marc François, and Stephane Galland, which was released the same year under the name To All Our Escapes.

Awards

2000: Best Writer Composer-arranger – Zamu Music Awards.
2001: gold record for Birthmarks.
2002: platinum record for Birthmarks.
2004: gold record for The Sailor not the Sea.
2004: platinum record for The Sailor not the Sea.
2005: double platinum record for The Sailor not the Sea.
2006: gold record for The Soft Machine.
2006: platinum record for The Soft Machine.
2007: gold record for the compilation A decade.
2010: gold record for the single "This one's for you".
2010: gold record for Hvelreki.
2010: platinum record for Hvelreki.
2011: won the 'MIA' for "Best Pop Artist" at the Music Industry Awards.
2013: Radio 2 Hit of the Summer for "I'm your sacrifice", sung together with Amaryllis Uitterlinden.
2013: gold record for the single "I'm your sacrifice".
2013: platinum record for "I'm your sacrifice".
2013: gold record for Stay Gold.
2014: platinum record for Stay Gold.

Activism

United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) has appointed Piet Goddaer as its national goodwill ambassador against human trafficking. The appointment is aimed at increasing visibility and assisting in mobilizing support in Belgium to tackle human trafficking. Next to his work for the UNODC, Goddaer actively supports Bike For Africa.

Discography

Main article: Ozark Henry discography

Studio albums

Year		Title
1996
1998
2001
2004
2006
2010
2013
2015
2017
2025

References

"Sunzoo Manley – To All Our Escapes".
Pingitore, Silvia. (18 June 2020). "The Belgian who enchanted David Bowie: interview with Ozark Henry".
(15 July 2014). "Elisa e Ozark Henry duettano, ascolta il brano "We Are Incurable Romantics"".
"LaTchak Feat Sunzoo Manley – If This Is Love".
(30 May 2001). "Interview: Sunzoo Manley koppelt jazz aan elektronische muziek".
"Overview award ceremony ZAMU-Awards 2001". ZAMU.

Wikipedia Source

This article was imported from Wikipedia and is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Content has been adapted to SurfDoc format. Original contributors can be found on the article history page.

1970-births living-people magritte-award-winners 20th-century-belgian-male-musicians 21st-century-belgian-male-musicians

Want to explore this topic further?

Ask Mako anything about Ozark Henry — get instant answers, deeper analysis, and related topics.

Research with Mako

Free with your Surf account

Content sourced from Wikipedia, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.

This content may have been generated or modified by AI. CloudSurf Software LLC is not responsible for the accuracy, completeness, or reliability of AI-generated content. Always verify important information from primary sources.

Report