Piet Souer


Pieter Cornelis "Piet" Souer is a Dutch record producer, songwriter and arranger. His collaboration with acts made him gain twenty two gold and platinum records', one Conamus Export Prize and one 'Outstanding Song Award', thanks to his composition "Too Young To Know", performed by Anita Meyer at World Popular Song Festival in Japan in 1981.

Debut

Piet Souer started his career as a member of The Valiants, a rock band from Eindhoven. His breakthrough happened when he played guitar on "De troubadour", a track performed by Lenny Kuhr, winner of the Eurovision Song Contest 1969. The next year, Kuhr, bassist Paul Reekers and Souer were the supporting act of Georges Brassens during his tour in France.

A successful producer, arranger, songwriter and conductor

In the early 1970s, he scored, as a songwriter and an arranger, moderate hits such as "I'm The Grand Pretender" and "Keep On Dancing" and "Angel Eyes" as well as successful chart toppers in the Netherlands including "Te Veel Te Vaak" and "Samen".
In 1976, he recorded with the conductor Harry van Hoof the album Strings by Candlelight. Then, he produced hit records for popular Dutch acts such as Champagne, Doris D. & The Pins, Vanessa, American Gypsy, Mouth & MacNeal, Anita Meyer, Maywood, Conquistador. He also collaborated with international artists including Vicky Leandros, Helen Shapiro, Katie Kissoon and Engelbert Humperdinck.
In 1982, Sylvie Vartan sang one of his composition, which was released as a single and was a French cover version of "I'm So Sorry". The same year, British pop group Tight Fit covered "Fantasy Island" which became a UK Top 5 hit and a European Top 10 hit.

Luv'

In 1976, he teamed up with producer Hans van Hemert and manager Han Meijer to form a female pop trio: Luv'. Van Hemert and him wrote songs for the girl group. In the late 1970s, Luv' had popular hit singles in Benelux, German-speaking countries, Denmark, Spain, France, South Africa, New Zealand and Mexico. This international success made Luv' win a Conamus Export Prize in 1979. This formation sold seven million records.

Eurovision Song Contest

Souer composed two songs for the Eurovision Song Contest: "Sing Me a Song" by Bernadette and "De eerste keer" by Maxine & Franklin Brown. Both of them reached seventh position in the Contest.

TV jingles and film soundtracks

Souer has composed many film soundtracks and television jingles.
Scores for TV programs including:
He composed Bel canto themes for the NCRV show Una Voce Particolare hosted by Ernst Daniel Smid. His collaboration with Smid includes the Top 5 album Gevoel van Geluk.
Film soundtracks including: