Relatives of Liesbeth List and Benny Neyman released the duet You, which the two artists recorded together in the late 1980s, as a single last week. “This is the first time since Benny’s death that a new music of his has been released,” says Hans van Barneveld (56), who has been married to the singer for many years.
Like old times
“This is on the initiative of Liesbeth’s daughter, Elisah. In preparation for her mother’s 80th birthday, she will be releasing her music in the near future. In her search for new music she came across this record. A beautiful chanson that has never been released before. She asked if she could release this record. To this I said ‘yes’. Also because there are now so many new techniques that make old recordings look new. Ten years ago it would not have been possible. I am very happy with the result. You’ll hear Benny again as usual. ‘
To promise
In the past fourteen years, following Benny’s death in February 2008, only a single CD box set has been released. Benny’s colleagues who wanted to re-release his music were turned down. Dutch singers were told that Benny’s songs could not be recorded by them. And theater producer Hans Cornelissen wanted to make a musical around the deceased singer’s songs. “I met Hans several times at the time,” says Hans van Barneveld. “Those were good conversations and I was really keen to do business with him. After all, so many wonderful musicals had already been made with the music of dead artists. Somehow I gave it to Benny too. But I also had to think about the promise I had. made to Benny. His last wish in 2008 was that no one would ever make fun of his music. I wanted to be faithful to Benny in that and that’s why that musical never appeared. Even today I don’t regret it. “
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