www.omroepbrabant.nl/nieuws/3141238/iedereen-houdt-van-floor-jansen-ze-steeg-boven-alle-anderen-uit
Everyone loves Floor Jansen: 'She rose above all others'
20 January 2020 at 21:00
Floor Jansen from Goirle is the singer of rock band Nightwish and has been better known to the Dutch public since last year through the TV program 'Beste Zangers'. She was in the very first school band at the Veghelse Fioretti College and also studied at the Rock Academy in Tilburg. Last Saturday Floor received the 2019 Pop Prize and all of Brabant is proud.
Geert van de Vorstenbosch, visual arts teacher at the Fioretti College in Veghel, cannot stop laughing. "The circle is complete. At the beginning of my career, Floor was in the very first school band and she was featured on the school's very first CD. Next year I will stop teaching and now Floor is at the height of her fame."
Geert heard Floor singing at school and asked if she wanted to join a band. He was also into music and wanted to do something with it at school. "She was tall, a bit lanky, but I heard her singing in the canteen and gave her a compliment. We arranged to make a little music and sing with a bunch of students during the break and Floor quickly rose above the others ."
The school has now released a CD eighteen times. But Floor is still on the very first. She sings along on three songs. Floor Jansen regularly states in interviews that some teachers have helped her a lot. That includes Geert. The teacher wrote her a letter and on Monday she even invited him to come to her concert in Poppodium 013 together with his colleague who teaches music.
'World famous. Period'
For the teachers at the Rock Academy, the Pop Prize that Floor received was no surprise. "She was already big, just not with us," says Alexander Beets, one of her former teachers there. "You should see it this way: Jan Smit is world famous throughout the Netherlands. Floor Jansen is world famous. Period."
On Saturday, recognition finally came for Floor Jansen, who has been tearing up halls all over the world in the symphonic metal genre for twenty years. She received the 2019 Pop Prize ahead of Duncan Laurence, rapper Snelle and De Staat. Floor was one of the first group of graduates at the Rock Academy. And that pioneering club has turned out to be a successful club: Jacqueline Govaert from Krezip was in it, just like Danny Vera.
'Can I have some extra?'
Floor immediately stood out. Teacher Alexander Beets: "She was already a talent, but she was also ambitious. At one point she said: 'I am also going to take some courses at the conservatory, because I also think it is important that I learn that classical part in terms of technique. Yes, that is the reverse student, who comes in and says: 'Can I have something extra?'"
At the Rock Academy they cherish the first generation. A photo of the entire club hangs in the office of study leader Hans van den Hurk. "There have been a number of major successes in the past year that have also been clearly visible to the general public. And if your students end up well, then that is the raison d'être of what we do here as a school."
And the new generation of rock artists who are still struggling at school are also proud. Sam Nijland is one of them: "She was already very well known abroad and I think it's great that she went to the same school as I am now attending. And I certainly get inspiration from that."