Henri Segers

He is known for his work on Sextet (1965), Dans ma rue (1960) and Zomercaroussel (1964).

1963 became a glorious year for Segers. First, he was awarded with the Bronze Rose of Montreux for his orchestra's interpretation of 'La Suite en 16', a piece composed and arranged by Etienne Verschueren with a star role for the internationally acclaimed vibraphone virtuoso Sadi (Sadi Lallemand, 1927-2009). Moreover, in the fall of that same year, he and his men were invited to come over to the Bavaria Studios in Munich, West Germany, for three weeks to record a television show centred around the piece 'Fantaisie pour Ballet et Orchestre'.

In 1960 when Belgian King Baudouin married his Queen Fabiola, the orchestras of Segers and Francis Bay both performed during the wedding celebrations.

Henri Segers and his orchestra played at the 1958 World Fair (EXPO) in Brussels.

Until Francis Bay's TV orchestra was formed in 1957, Segers' big band did not only work for French-speaking television programmes, but for Flemish television as well.

Between 1956 and 1965, Segers and his orchestra worked on countless television shows, the most successful one being the weekly music programme 'Music Parade', in which stars from Belgium and abroad sang their hit tunes accompanied by Segers' band. Guests for the show included Charles Aznavour, Sascha Distel, and Gilbert Bécaud.

In 1953, a TV service was formed (NIR/INR), introducing television in Belgium. From the very start, Segers' combo was a regular feature in entertainment programmes. Three years later, producer Ernest Blondeel commissioned Segers to form a grand orchestra for television broadcasts.

In the early 1950s, his orchestra became the house band of Jean Omer's Boeuf sur le Toit in Brussels, where he kept on performing for several years. The story of how this came about sounds improbable, but is well remembered by many musicians, including trombonist Frans Van Dyck: "It actually started with a joke. Jean Warland - an excellent double-bass player - was always thinking of ways to poke fun at others. He rang Henri Segers and, introducing himself as an assistant to Blondeel, he declared: 'You are expected tomorrow at 10 o'clock in Mr Blondeel's office. He wants you to form a television orchestra'. There was no truth in this at all, but of course Segers turned up at Blondeel's office at NIR. It must have been an awkward situation for both men. After his astonishment had subsided, however, Blondeel said: 'Well, coming to think of it, we do need an orchestra. So, perhaps we can do business after all!' And that is how Segers was given the commission to form the INR Big Band. Everything thanks to Jean Warland's joke of course!".

In 1946 Segers founded a jazz band of his own in Brussels and named it L'Heure Bleue. With it, he was part of the 'invasion' of the Netherlands by Belgian orchestras. While Eddie De Latte worked in the Scheveningen Casino and Fud Candrix in the Palais de la Danse, also in Scheveningen, Segers' swing band performed in a dance club in nearby The Hague.

Although Segers seemed destined for a career in classical music, his first love was always jazz. Until the German invasion of Belgium in 1940, he played the piano in various jazz orchestras.

In 1938, he graduated with a first prize awarded to him by his professors.

Henri Segers was born on May 20, 1921 in Brussels, Belgium.

During World War II, Segers kept on working in Brussels, being the pianist in the professional jazz orchestras of Fud Candrix (1908-1974), Gus Deloof (1909-), and Jean Omer (1912-1994).