Golden Earring

Golden Earring was a Dutch rock band, founded in 1961 in The Hague as the Tornados. They achieved worldwide fame with their international hit songs "Radar Love" in 1973, which went to number one on the Dutch chart, reached the top ten in the United Kingdom, and went to number thirteen on the United States chart, "Back Home" in 1970, "Twilight Zone" in 1982, and "When the Lady Smiles" in 1984. During their career they had nearly 30 top-ten singles on the Dutch charts and released 25 studio albums. The band went through a number of early personnel changes until settling on a stable lineup in 1970, consisting of Rinus Gerritsen (bass and keyboards), George Kooymans (vocals and guitar), Barry Hay (vocals, guitar, flute and saxophone), and Cesar Zuiderwijk (drums and percussion), which remained unchanged until the band broke up in 2021 when the band announced that Kooymans was diagnosed with ALS. A number of other musicians also appeared in short stints with the band over its history. Kooymans died 22 July 2025. Although the band initially declined a concert afterwards, the band organized a series of farewell concerts under the title One Last Night in Rotterdam Ahoy from 26 to 30 January 2026, together with other Dutch artists.