1995
Alex Callier, Raymond Geerts and Frank Duchène form Hoover. Esther Lybeert is on vocals.
1996
The year starts with a change in personnel: Esther leaves the group and is replaced by Liesje Sadonius, whose ethereal voice fits in perfectly with the group’s trip hop. Hoover releases the single, ‘2Wicky’. The number, based on a sample of Isaac Hayes’ version of the Bacharach classic, ‘Walk On By’, is included on the soundtrack of Bernardo Bertolucci’s ‘Stealing Beauty’, the film which heralded Liv Tyler’s breakthrough. A new version of ‘2Wicky’ is recorded later that year to appear on their debut album, ‘A New Stereophonic Sound Spectacular’, released on Sony Records and which includes tracks like ‘Inhaler’ and ‘Barabas’. ‘2Wicky’ will later find its way onto the soundtrack of the mock horror film, ‘I Know What You Did Last Summer’.
1997
To avoid problems with other groups of the same name, as well as the well-known vacuum cleaner brand, Hoover changes its name to Hooverphonic. Liesje Sadonius leaves the group and Kyoko Baertsoen is taken on as the new singer in February 1997. With Baertsoen on vocals, the group tours Europe supporting Apollo 440. After two months, Baertsoen is replaced by the girl who is set to become Hooverphonic’s singer: the then seventeen-year-old Geike Arnaert. In October 1997, Hooverphonic tours the States for seven weeks, opening for the singer-songwriter of the moment: Fiona Apple.
1998
Hooverphonic is the supporting act for Massive Attack. With Geike Arnaert on board they record the album, ‘Blue Wonder Power Milk’. The single, ‘Club Montepulciano’, is a hit in Belgium and is given healthy airplay on American college radios. Not only that, various tracks are used in American adverts: ‘Renaissance Affair’ in an ad for Volkswagen Beetle, their Dave Berry cover, ‘This Strange Effect’, in a Cingular ad and ‘Battersea’ is used for Jaguar. The biggest hit on the album is the timeless ballad, ‘Eden’. What has now become a Belgian pop evergreen also makes it to the soundtrack of ‘I Still Know What You Did Last Summer’.
1999
Hooverphonic tours Europe with Moloko and then the States with Duncan Fheik.
Frank Duchêne leaves the group. From now on, the beating heart of Hooverphonic is the trio, Callier-Geerts-Arnaert. The finely-honed line-up is resolved to travel a new course and work starts on a third album. Alex Callier wins the Zamu Award for Best Producer.
2000
Release of the magisterial ‘The Magnificent Tree’, the album on which Hooverphonic show themselves to be writers of classic songs: ‘Vinegar and Salt’, ‘Every Time We Live Together We die A Little Bit More’, ‘Mad About You’... 2000 is the year in which Hooverphonic become known as one of the most important groups out of the history of Belgian pop music. ‘Mad About You’ is a gigantic hit and the group is asked to perform at the opening ceremony of Euro 2000 in Brussels. A billion viewers watch Hooverphonic playing ‘Visions’, the specially composed hymn for the ceremony. The group tours with ‘The Magnificent Tree’ through the States supporting the electro artiest BT (Brian Transeau). Hooverphonic receives the Zamu award for Best Pop/Rock group while Zamu also awards ‘Mad About You’ as Best Song.
2001
Hooverphonic tours Europe with ‘The Magnificent Tree’ and headlines the prestigious Rock Werchter festival, one of the largest rock festivals in the world. The group plays in front of 50,000 people. The year closes working on preparing a new album.
2002
This year sees the release of the band’s fourth album, ‘Hooverphonic Presents Jackie Cane’. Loosely inspired by Serge Gainsbourg’s ‘L’Histoire de Melody Nelson’, one of Alex Callier’s favourite albums, the CD takes the form of a concept album around the fictitious character, Jackie Cane, about whom there was already a song on ‘The Magnificent Tree’. The songs tell the story of Jackie’s rise to fame and subsequent disillusions as well as her troubled relationship with her twin sister. The up tempo, ‘The World Is Mine’, is the most successful single from the album that goes platinum in Belgium – it also earns the group a Zamu award for Best Album as well as the Zamu award for Best Pop/Rock group. The group takes the album on the road, touring Europe.
2003
‘Sit Down And Listen To Hooverphonic’ is released: it’s a live album with a string quartet comprising Hooverphonic’s best-known songs as well as three new numbers. One of them, ‘The Last Thing I Need Is You’, a song Alex Callier wrote with Cathy Dennis, also known for her work with Britney Spears, ‘Toxic’, and Kylie Minogue with ‘Can't Get You Out of My Head’. Geike Arnaert wins the Zamu award for Best Female Singer. In three months, the group play 35 sold out concerts in Belgium.
2004
Encouraged by the success of the domestic tour, the group decides to also tour Europe with the string quartet. ‘Sit Down And Listen To Hooverphonic’ is released throughout Europe.
2005
This year heralds the release of the double offering, ‘(No) More Sweet Music’: on part 1, ‘More Sweet Music’, eleven new songs arranged for strings, while on CD 2, ‘No More Sweet Music’, the same eleven songs are played in a rawer, electronic version. Once again, the group takes the album on the road in Europe.
2006
Hooverphonic announces the end of their collaboration with Sony, and seals the parting of the ways with ‘Singles 96-06’. This ‘best of’ gives an overview of the high points in the group’s career up until now: a CD with 20 singles, a DVD of all accompanying video clips, as well as live recordings of their most recent tour. In Augustus Hooverphonic leaves the road for the seclusion of the La Chappelle Studios in the Ardennes to record a new album.
2007
Hooverphonic celebrates its tenth anniversary with the ‘10th Anniversary Club tour’, which features the songs from their debut album, ‘A New Stereophonic Sound Spectacular’, in their original electronic arrangement. This same year sees the release of their sixth studio album: ‘The President Of The LSD Golf Club’, an album recorded completely live in the studio on which Alex Callier pays homage to the psychedelic era of the sixties.
