Jan Smit (singer)

Jan Smit (born 31 December 1985) is a Dutch singer, television host, and actor. Smit mostly sings songs in the Dutch language, in a genre known as palingsound. In addition to his solo career, in 2015 Smit joined the schlager trio Klubbb3, and in 2017 The Toppers. As a TV presenter, he has worked on programs like the Beste Zangers (Best Singers in the Netherlands) and Sterren Muziekfeest op het Plein (Music Festival on the square.) Since 1999, Smit has been serving as an ambassador for the SOS Children's Villages.

Jantje Smit began his music career in Volendam where he sang in a boys' choir called De Zangertjes van Volendam. Smit was discovered at the age of ten, when the famous Dutch band BZN asked him to participate in a duet with one of their lead singers, Carola Smit. They recorded the song Mama which was very successful.

Because of this success, he was asked to record a solo song, which was produced by three members of BZN, titled Ik Zing Dit Lied Voor Jou Alleen (I sing this song just for you). The song entered the Dutch charts at number one, something that had never before happened in the history of the Dutch Charts (Nederlandse Top 40). In the following two years, Jantje Smit had five more hits including Pappie, Waar Blijf Je Nou (Daddy, where are you now). All songs were written by BZN members Jan Keizer (singer), Jack Veerman and Jan Tuijp.

Smit was also able to achieve success outside of the Netherlands, in Belgium, Germany, Austria, Italy and France. For a while Smit focused on and performed more often in Germany, where working legislation for minors was less strict, therefore allowing him to perform more. In the Netherlands minors can only perform a couple of times a year. While performing in Germany, he became one of the best-selling Dutch acts abroad. He released ten records sung in German. In 2001 Smit, BZN and their producers received the Exportprijs for being the bestselling Dutch artists abroad.

In 2005 Smit changed his stage name from Jantje Smit to Jan Smit. Starting on 25 March 2005, he appeared in his own reality show Gewoon Jan Smit (Just Jan Smit), which was a reality TV show and followed his everyday life. Later that year, the show won the Gouden Televizier-Ring {Golden Televizier Ring). Smit started focusing more on being a presenter, and alongside Belle Pérez, he presented the TROS program Muziekfeest op het Plein (Music Festival on the Square). In the next few years Smit's popularity kept growing, as he scored hit after hit. Songs like Als de Nacht Verdwijnt (When the Night Disappears), and Laura, which reached number one in the Single Top 100.

On 15 March 2006, Jan Smit was awarded the Edison Award in the Amsterdam Melkweg as Best National Singer for his album Jansmit.com. On 8 September 2006 the second season of Gewoon Jan Smit (Just Jan Smit) launched. In this season, unlike the first one, most of the attention focused on the singer's environment.

In 2006 Jan Smit had his third and fourth number one hits on the Dutch charts. Als de Morgen is Gekomen (When the morning has arrived), stayed on top of the chart for 6 weeks, and in December Cupido also reached number one.

In September 2006, C & A stores started including a clothing line named after Jan Smit. The collection was called J-style and revolved around some of his personal clothing choices.