Music

Danielle Schoovaerts (real name) was born in Schaerbeek in 1953 and, like Toots Thielemans, grew up in the working-class Marolles district of Brussels.

Dani Klein had no shortage of musical experiences before reaping the rewards of his work with Vaya Con Dios. Global success finally knocked at her door when she was already well into her 30s. In the mid-80s, she joined Marcel Vanthilt's iconoclastic group Arbeid Adelt! A few years later, she joined former Scorpions drummer Rudy Lenners on vocals in the hard-rock band Steelover. But it was in the company of Reggie Magloire (ex-Indeep) and Beverly Jo Scott (the most Belgian of Alabama-born singers) that she began, in the Ladies Sing The Blues project, to explore a musical style that suited her better. In a way, this laid the foundations for Vaya Con Dios. 

Produced by Phil Gosez, their 1987 debut single “Just A Friend Of Mine” with bassist Dirk Schouts and guitarist Willy “Willy” Lambrechts is a jazz-pop gem illuminated by Dani's voice. And let's not forget jazz drummer Bruno Castellucci, invited for the occasion. It took a while, but the song eventually caught on in France and Belgium, then in the rest of Europe, and became the bedrock of the band's repertoire.

Between 1988 and 2014, Vaya Con Dios released just six studio albums. With several million copies sold worldwide, the Belgian band embodies both commercial success and fine artistic work. With a stage name that evokes tapas bars rather than the smell of hops. While the singer still professes an immoderate attraction to black music, jazz and blues in particular, she nevertheless draws the subject matter of tracks like “Hot August Night” from a life (hers too, unfortunately) strewn with tragic episodes.

At one time or another, we've all hummed a Vaya Con Dios chorus: “Just A Friend Of Mine” of course, “Puerto Rico”, “Nah Nah Nah”, “What A Woman” (recorded with Aaron Neville), “Don't Cry For Louie” or the soulful “Stay With Me” (featuring Benny Lattimore) have carved out a special place in the collective unconscious. Recent piano (by William Leconte) and vocal versions demonstrate the subtle richness of these compositions.

After 'Thank You All' in 2014, an album that was supposed to bring her career to a close, Dani is back in 2023 with the unexpected “Shades Of Joy” and eleven delicately chiselled songs in which she alternates, as usual, between Spanish, French and, above all, English. For the occasion, as in the early days, Vaya is once again a trio, with Thierry Plas on guitar and François Garny on bass. A real return to their roots!

(MH with AK - Photo: © Etienne Tordoir)
Photo: Dani Klein with Vaya Con Dios on the set of a TV show in Brussels (Belgium) in October 1988.