Adrian Vandenberg honored with Buma ROCKS! Export Award

Adrian ‘Adje’ Vandenberg, the Netherlands’ best known hard rock guitarist and a prolific composer, music producer and publisher, has received the Buma ROCKS! Export Award 2014. The trophy was handed to him by managing director of Buma Cultuur Frank Helmink, during Buma ROCKS! in Doornroosje in Nijmegen.

Vandenberg was successful during the eighties with both his own rock band Vandenberg and with Whitesnake. After leaving the former in 1999 he retired from the music world. With his new band, Vandenberg’s MoonKings, he quite unexpectedly released an album in February 2014 and started touring Europe and Asia to much critical acclaim.

Young and talented band
According to Frank Helmink, managing director of Buma Cultuur and founder of the Buma ROCKS! conference and showcase festival, this very first Buma ROCKS! Export Award could not have been handed to a more suitable person: “MoonKings is the new addition to the long list of heavy music acts from the Netherlands that do well internationally. The fact that this year Adrian Vandenberg has come back so strongly after so many years, is quite extraordinary. Not just with a high-quality rock album but with powerful concerts outside the Netherlands with his young and talented band as well.”

Loyal fans
Adrian Vandenberg: “I did not expect an award like this after being quiet for so long. I have been overwhelmed with all of the positive reactions coming my way and I am very glad that my fans have stayed so loyal to me. I consider this first album with MoonKings to be one of my best ever, and I am thrilled that the fans and the jury of Buma ROCKS! think likewise!”

Annual event
The Buma ROCKS! Export Award was handed to Vandenberg during Buma ROCKS!, the annual event aimed at artists, booking agents, managements, record labels and fans of heavy music, from The Netherlands and beyond. Buma ROCKS! offers a showcase festival preceded by a conference program, including speeches, panel discussions and round table chats with professionals from the international heavy music community.

Buma ROCKS! is an initiative of Buma Cultuur and is made possible with the help of Mojo Concerts, FortaRock, Doornroosje and Suburban.

Photo credits: Bart Heemskerk