Gers Pardoel
Gerwin Pardoel, better known by his stage name Gers Pardoel or mononymously as Gers, is a Dutch rapper. He rose to fame in 2009, due to his successful collaboration with The Opposites on the single "Broodje Bakpao". Pardoel's debut studio album Deze wereld is van jou was released in November 2011 and was certified Platinum by the NVPI. The Nederhop artist is best known for his number-one single "Ik neem je mee", which became the most successful Dutch-language and Dutch-artist hit in the Dutch Top 40 ever.
Biography
1981–2002: Early life
Gerwin Pardoel was born on 12 May 1981 in Nijmegen, thirty-five minutes before his younger twin brother Robbie. When Pardoel was young, his father was purchaser at a nursing home. Later, his father worked for the theme park De Efteling in Kaatsheuvel. His mother was a housewife and took care of the children.When Pardoel was 17 years old, his life changed when his mother died from cancer. His life was turned upside down and the relation with his father deteriorated enormously. To escape from his difficult home situation, Pardoel looked for refuge in roller skating. He was a very fanatical roller skater and wanted to reach the Dutch roller skating top. Together with Steffen Haars and Huub Smit, he practiced almost every day in an inline skate hall in 's-Hertogenbosch. The hall became a "new home" for Pardoel. He reached the ninth position in a national roller skating competition.
2002–2010: Career beginnings
Pardoel became interested in hip hop. In Rotterdam, he met rapper Postman. Postman and his then-wife Anouk helped him to discover the world of hip hop. They made up Pardoel's stage name Gers. Despite the fact that the name Gers is very similar to his own name Gerwin, "gers" also means "cool" or something like that in Rotterdam dialect. Postman highly influenced Pardoel's performing stile.Pardoel improved his rapping skills and began developing himself as a producer. He started working on songs for a future album. At some point, Pardoel showed his old friend Steffen Haars some of his raps. Haars was impressed and put him in touch with rappers Sef and Big2. That resulted in the recording of the song "Broodje Bakpao". The hit single, which was included in the soundtrack of the movie New Kids Turbo and reached the first position in the Mega Single Top 100, resulted in an enormous rise of fame for Pardoel. Due to this success, Pardoel received a recording contract at Dutch label TopNotch. The next success for Pardoel was the single "Ik ga hard". This song, by The Partysquad featuring Gers Pardoel, Adje, Jayh and Reverse, became a popular song among teenagers.
2011–present: ''Deze wereld is van jou'' and ''De toekomst is van ons''
On 14 October 2011, Pardoel released his debut studio album Deze wereld is van jou. After a lot of work, the release was finally there. The second single of the album, "Ik neem je mee", became a great success and reached the number-one position in both the Dutch Top 40 and the Mega Single Top 100. The album was certified Platinum by the NVPI. The album also included the single "Bagagedrager" among others. Three years later, another studio album was released, called De toekomst is van ons. It didn't match the success of its predecessor, but includes the Platinum-certified single "Louise".Due to his musical success in the Flemish part of Belgium, Pardoel became a coach in the The [Voice Kids (Belgian TV series)|Flemish version of The Voice Kids] in the shows 4th and 5th seasons. In the summer of 2021, the Belgian popular newspaper Het Laatste Nieuws published stories in which Sélina van Gool accused him of domestic abuse, both physical and psychological in nature. Van Gool also posted on Instagram on the topic, screenshots of her private profile are visible in the newspaper articles. The newspaper added specifically that they were able to check police reports supplied by van Gool which confirmed her allegations. Subsequently Pardoel did not return in the 2022 season of The Voice Kids. It is noteworthy that both VTM which airs The Voice Kids and Het Laatste Nieuws are brands of Mediahuis. However, also in 2022, Pardoel was welcomed as the presenter of the Flemish version of Come Dance With Me on Play4, a channel of SBS Belgium.