Gé Korsten - Meisie van my drome

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Gé Korsten was born in Rotterdam, The Netherlands, on 6 Desember 1927, and came to South Africa with his parents in 1936. After school he completed his apprenticeship as an electrician and started his own electrical contracting and lighting equipment business in Pretoria. In this time he joined a choir known as the “Minnesangers”, of which Mimi Coertze was also a member. At the age of 20 he joined the Johannesburg Male Quartet and started singing with choirs of the South African Broadcasting Corporation (SABC). In 1957 he appeared in his first opera as Canio in Leoncavallo’s Pagliacci. This lead to many other opera performances, and an opportunity to study in Vienna, Austria.

In 1965 he entered the popular music market with the album “Gé Korsten Sing Uit Die Hart”, the first of 45 albums which won him 24 gold and 6 platinum awards. He also won 6 SARIE awards, 3 as Best Male Artist (1966, 1968 and 1969) and 3 for Best Afrikaans Album (“Sing Seeman Sing” – 1969, “Liefling” – 1972 and “Lieflike Droom” – 1974).

In 1967 he appeared in his first role on the silver screen in “Kruger Miljoene / Kruger Millions”, and followed this up with a further 4 film appearances (“Hoor My Lied / Hear My Song”, “Lied In My Hart / Song In My Heart”, “A New Life” and “Lokval In Venisië”). He also presented his own programme on television, “Gé Sing” from 1977 – 1979 and from 1983 – 1984. For this he won an ARTES award in 1979 as Best TV Personality.

He married Elna Burger in 1952 and they had 2 sons and 3 daughters. He officially retired in January 1997 and died on 29 September 1999.

This song is off the LP “Die Hartseerwals” released in 1971. It was his 20th album.