His love for music started at the age of 9 when his grandparents gave him a record player and started playing records from his father’s collection. He was touched by Jim Reeves and Elvis Presley and he started collecting records of his favorite singers. His collection soon grew with records by Tom Jones, Roy Orbison and Neil Diamond.
At 16, he formed his first band with his classmates and, on the advice of his music teacher, he took singing lessons. From then on, he developed broadly in opera, musical, classical music and pop. Eventually, he ended up where his love and influence for music began: the narrative music of Johnny Cash, Willie Nelson and Kris Kristofferson.
In 1990, he recorded his first single: “Separate Ways” by Elvis Presley. From his savings, he rented a studio and had 500 copies printed, which he delivered to various radio DJs. Weeks passed, when suddenly Radio 3’s Frits Spits played the single and it reached the top 100. This led to Maarten’s first record deal. Apart from a few demos, this did not lead to his dreamed breakthrough.
In 1997 he recorded his first album ‘First Floor’, with songs by artists that appealed to him, such as Neil Diamond, Garth Brooks. His eldest daughter Floortje was born and this special album is named after her. The album received good reviews and that boosted his musical career.
In 1999, Maarten got the chance to perform with Elvis Prestly’s original band, the TCB band. The Danish Henrik Knudsen, chairman of the Danish and also the largest Elvis fan club in Europe, had heard the album First Floor and was impressed. They met and Maarten was invited to play in the intermission of a concert of the TCB band. He conquered the hearts of the audience and the collaboration between Knudsen and Jansen was born. This resulted in many performances in Denmark, not only as a soloist, but also with the TCB band. This resulted in his second album Untangled in 2002.
In 2003 Maarten performed with the TCB band during a fundraising campaign for the Danish Children’s Cancer Foundation. The performance was recorded for the album by PJ Proby and Big Fat Snake, 2 well-known artists and sold no less than 130,000 copies! The foundation for Maarten’s Danish career was laid. He went on a sold out tour with the TCB band in Scandinavia and Maarten was offered a record deal by My Way Music in Denmark.
In 2005, his newly released single ‘Welcome to My World’ entered the top 20 and his music career was back on track.
Maarten is known for his “Big” voice and range, loves to perform live and loves to be on stage!
Check him out………………..
