Dutch rock band Golden Earring with vocalist/guitarist George Kooymans founder of the band perform at Live at The Beach festival, Scheveningen, Netherlands, 09 September 2016. (Photo by Paul Bergen/Redferns).
The Dutch rock band, Golden Earring have sadly broken up due to guitarist George Kooymans‘ ALS diagnosis. They formed in 1961, and are famously remembered for hits like “Radar Love” and “Twilight Zone.”
Golden Earring singer/musician Barry Hay says about the band, “This is a death blow. We always said we would keep going until one of us fell over. I didn’t expect George to be the first. Kooymans was always the toughest of the four of us. You sometimes philosophize about that: who goes first? Then he was always at the back of the line. It sucks; we would have preferred a farewell tour, but unfortunately, this is what it is. Our last performance appears to have been in Ahoy (a conversion center in Rotterdam, Netherlands) in 2019. That was a great show with family and friends, but we would have preferred it differently.”
A comment by drummer Cesar Zuiderwijk makes us believe the band will not be continuing on or hiring anyone new to replace Kooymans. He said, “We are a group of friends of four men who are irreplaceable. A new band member? That wouldn’t fit.” Rock out to some Golden Earring below, and check out the full story from UltimateClassicRock.com here.
“Radar Love” (1973)
“Twilight Zone” (1982)