Author: bestmedeal

Former America ‘s Got Talent and The Voice contestant Nolan Neal’s causeof death has been determined.

The Nashville-based singer, who competed on season 15 of AGT and season 11of The Voice , died at 41 on July 18 in his apartment. The coronerdetermined that Neal died from “acute combined drug toxicity,” and his deathwas ruled an accident. (The news was first reported by the New York Post ‘sPage Six and subsequently confirmed by multiple outlets.)

A spokesperson from the Davidson County Medical Examiner’s office in Nashvilleconfirmed to the outlet that the drugs found in Neal’s system included adeadly combination of morphine, methamphetamine, fentanyl and acetyl fentanyl.

AMERICA’S GOT TALENT — “Live Show 3” Episode 1515 — Pictured: Nolan Neal

Chris Haston/NBC/NBCU Photo Bank via Getty Images Nolan Neal on AGT

RELATED: Nolan Neal, Former America ‘s Got Talent and _The Voice_Contestant, Dead at 41

Neal’s cousin Dylan Seals confirmed to TMZ at the time of the musician’s deaththat the singer was found dead in his apartment. At the time, the MetropolitanNashville Police Department told Page Six that officers received a call of a”deceased person” that was later identified as Neal.

“On the desk next to the bed was a black guitar pick that appeared to containa powder residue,” a spokesperson from the department revealed to the outlet.”The victim reportedly struggled with substance abuse.”

Seals told PEOPLE at the time of Neal’s death that he was “saddened” that themusician “ultimately succumbed to his battle with substance abuse.”

“He was always open and honest about that struggle,” Seals said. “He was aloving father and son. A light to all who knew him. My heart goes out to histwo children and his mother Cathy.”

RELATED: Family of Former America ‘s Got Talent Contestant Nolan Neal Asksfor Help Following His Sudden Death

THE VOICE — Season: 11 — Pictured: Nolan Neal

Chris Haston/NBCU Photo Bank/NBCUniversal via Getty Images via Getty Images

Story continues

In July 2020, Neal told WBIR, “I joined the rock band Hinder, they were allabout drinking and partying.”

“I remember going to a bar and ordering a drink. I tried to hide it,” hecontinued. “I remember pretending to be normal. I was just lying to myselftelling myself that I could control it.”

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Neal first rose to recognition on The Voice in 2016. His auditionperformance of the Incubus song “Drive” allowed him to nab a spot on AdamLevine’s team, though he was eventually eliminated from the competition.

Nearly four years later, Neal went on to compete on _America ‘s Got Talent _in2020. He auditioned with an original song called “Lost.” He was latereliminated in the Judges’ Choice section of the Quarterfinals.

Simon Cowell, Nolan Neal

Amy Sussman/Getty, Chris Haston/NBC/NBCU Photo Bank via Getty Simon Cowell(left) and Nolan Neal

RELATED: Simon Cowell Speaks Out After Death of Former AGT ContestantNolan Neal: ‘You’re Never Prepared’

Weeks after Neal died, Simon Cowell shared his thoughts on the tragedy withPEOPLE.

“Unfortunately, it happens too much over the years,” Cowell, 62, says ahead of_AGT_ ‘s live shows on Tuesday. “I was thinking about this the other day.People [who] passed too soon. Every time it happens, because you’ve gotten toknow them, it’s horrible.”

“At that moment, it’s like, ‘What can I say?'” he notes. “The unfortunatething is it’s happened too many times and every time it happens, it’s hard.”

Referencing the February death of fellow AGT contestant Nightbirde, who wasalso his Golden Buzzer selection in season 16, Cowell says: “After the lastthree years, it’s been tough. And then, you think everything’s okay and thensomething hits you like a story like that and it’s hard.”

“But all I can say is, what I’ve learned from this, is that you just takeevery day as it is and you try and stay positive, you try and stay healthy,”he adds. “That’s it. I mean, I was talking about this to someone earlier on,you’re never prepared for these days.”

adoption scandalThe TV program without a trace launches an externalinvestigation into a discredited Colombian intermediary and a Dutchcorrespondent who linked adoptees to the wrong biological parents. The editor-in-chief announced this this afternoon in a conversation with whistleblowerBarbara Quee. The Colombian victim confirms this against this site.

Last week crime journalist Kees van der Spek revealed that _without a trace_in the past matched Colombian adoptees with the wrong biological parents. Theprogram itself confirmed that there have been at least two mismatches and isstill investigating twelve other cases.

In the search of the adoptees for their biological family, the program used aColombian fixer and a Dutch correspondent to act as an intermediary. TheColombian, Edwin Vela, has now disappeared without a trace since the scandalcame to light. The website of the organization Colombian Roots is down.

In the past, the Dutch correspondent worked for the organizationWereldkinderen. She had to leave because of allegations of inappropriatepractices. Nevertheless, remained without a trace use its services. Theprogram hired Vela to search for biological parents of adoptees. Together theyselected sixteen cases for the program. The Dutch has so far not responded torequests from this site.

Quote >>> It was a positive and constructive conversation. I was able to put> everything on the table>> Barbara Quee, victim

Positive and constructive

Barbara Quee, the Colombian adoptee who revealed the mismatches together withVan der Spek, spoke this afternoon with the editor-in-chief of without atrace. She was ‘stunned’ about the reaction of presenter Derk Bolt, who inthe program Khalid & Sophie said he believes in Vela’s good intentions.

Quee joined the program in 2005. It stated that her biological mother had beenfound. The woman said she had gotten into trouble and asked not to contact heragain. In the end it turned out not to be her mother.

Quee has a good feeling about the conversation with without a trace. She ispleased that the program is launching an external investigation into the twointermediaries. “I’m happy,” said Quee. “It was a positive and constructiveconversation. I was able to put everything on the table. This is a first steptowards finding a solution for the victims. The ball is now in the court_without a trace_.”

A spokesperson for KRO-NCRV only wants to say that it was a pleasant andconstructive conversation. At the beginning of the broadcast of without atrace tonight Derk Bolt returned to last week’s news. He indicated that themakers are disappointed that mistakes were made in the past. He added that DNAtesting is now being used, which means that there is one hundred percentcertainty. Bolt called on former participants who have doubts to sign up forthe program.

Presenter Derk Bolt in a broadcast of Spoorloos © kro-ncrv

Join the conversation. You can respond at the bottom of this article. Only respectful comments with afull name will be posted. We do this because we want to have a conversationwith people who stand for what they say, and who also put their name on it. Ifyou still need to enter your name, you can do so by clicking ‘Login’ at thetop right of our site.

Every week Aster Nzeyimana presents a new episode of Extra Time. Since histakeover of Frank Raes, the new presenter has received a lot of criticism.

One of the striking things is that Anderlecht gets a lot of time to bediscussed. “Extra Time is so bad, it is only about weak middle-classAnderlecht”, one of the viewers said on Twitter.

“Extra Time = Anderlecht TV” and “Sometimes we can talk about something otherthan the Mauves. Every episode is Anderlecht time”, let a number of otherviewers know via social media.

Another episode of Extra Time is scheduled for Monday evening. We are allcurious to what extent the record champion will be discussed tonight.

Liza da Silva prefers to call herself ‘detective’ than ‘fixer’. Her work hasbeen in the spotlight since it was revealed last week that the hit TV show_without a trace_ matched adopted children to the wrong biological parents.

The program receives a lot of “negative attention,” says Da Silva, who didbetween five and ten assignments for Spoorloos. The essence of what she doesis ‘investigate’ and ‘provide information’.

Last Wednesday, Colombian fixer Edwin Vela had an important role in thebroadcast of the TV program Scammers Tackled by journalist Kees van derSpek. The episode shows how he is involved in a mismatch twice. The storybegins with a young woman from Assen who, together with her friend, discoversthat her so-called biological mother is not her biological mother at all. Thetwo look for a second case together, which also turns out to be a wrong match.

The good news: in this second case they find – albeit ten years later – thereal biological mother of the adopted child, who is now an adult man. Thistime the man knows for sure, the match is confirmed with a DNA test. Since thebroadcast, KRO-NCRV has been investigating fourteen other matches made byfixer Edwin Vela. Those involved tell the NOS that it went wrong in at leastfive more cases.

How do these ‘fixers’ work? And how exceptional is a case like Vela’s? __

The work of these ‘researchers’ is anything but simple, says a fixer workingin East Asia, who does not want her name in the newspaper for privacy reasons.By telephone she tells about her experiences as a paid researcher forSpoorloos – years ago. Her last case for Spoorloos was around 2008. She nowworks for other media.

“Spoorloos sent me documents with names on them, sometimes even an address,”says the fixer. But often the addresses were no longer correct. Fixer Da Silvaagrees. Sometimes the names don’t even match. “I once had a case in Brazilwhere a minor mother at the orphanage gave her mother’s name.”

Da Silva did her assignments for Spoorloos voluntarily: “You should not wantto earn money from other people’s tears.” About ten years ago she started herown foundation with which she traces biological parents of adopted children.She works from the Netherlands and has many contacts in Brazil.

You shouldn’t want to make money from other people’s tears>> Liza da Silva ‘fixer’

The fixers pull out all the stops to trace the families of adopted children:local databases, street interviews, the local child protection, the orphanage,foundations involved in the adoption. The fixer in Asia: “And sometimes itstill doesn’t work. For example, because the employees of the orphanage havebecome too old to remember things well.” She thinks that in the years sheworked for Spoorloos she only solved about ten percent of the cases.”Spoorloos did not make a fuss about that, if in doubt: no match.”

Once the family member has been found, the work can be grateful, says thefixer in Asia. “It was very satisfying when I found someone’s mother.” Thefixer mainly operated alone, without the intervention of a correspondent.”Spoorloos asked me to report extensively on details and asked a lot ofquestions.”

The work has a dark side, says fixer Da Silva. “It is an absolute nightmare tomake a wrong pairing action.” Taking a DNA test is crucial, she says. Thefixer in East Asia agrees. Until 2008, when she worked for Spoorloos, theresearch usually did not involve DNA tests.

Da Silva was “stunned” when she heard that Spoorloos has only been using DNAtesting as standard since 2019. The tests have been available for much longer.“If there is no commercial laboratory or large hospital locally, you can havea cheek mucus sample sent to the Netherlands by registered post. All you needis a clean cotton swab from the drugstore, rubber gloves, a protectiveenvelope. I have often helped families with this.”

‘Time-consuming process’

Spoorloos has indeed tested for DNA as standard since 2019, says aspokesperson for KRO-NCRV. But even before that, since 2000, DNA tests wereused to verify a match. “At the beginning a few times a year in case of doubt,over time more and more.” Previously, DNA testing was “a very time-consumingprocess,” the spokesperson said.

Still KRO-NCRV

Various sources working in adoption research and a Dutch hospital confirm thatthe DNA tests based on cheek mucus became accessible since the turn of thecentury. Initially, this was only possible at the hospital and it cost around1,500 guilders. It now costs about 1,000 euros at the hospital and less than200 euros at a commercial laboratory.

Amanda Janssen of the Sri Lanka DNA Foundation helps adoptees and theirbiological family. She says about Spoorloos: “I was honestly very surprisedthat they did it without standard DNA tests for so long. DNA does not lie.”Her own foundation has been doing this from the start, in 2017. You can ordera test on the website for 69 euros.

Janssen himself was adopted from Sri Lanka, “with false papers”. Since shebecame pregnant herself, she has been looking for her biological family there.She has already had a mismatch twice, which came to light through DNA checks.

DNA testing is therefore the holy grail of research methods in the adoptionworld. Yet there are other ways to determine a match, say Da Silva and thefixer in East Asia. A common “trick” is not to reveal the child’s name anddate of birth to the birth mother, Da Silva says. “I’m just saying I have goodnews: your child is looking for you.” If the biological mother can confirm thename and date of birth, that says a lot. Another method, according to thefixer in Asia, is to interrogate an aunt or grandmother. In addition, physicalfeatures can make you feel uneasy.

With her foundation, Da Silva will soon offer two hundred biological mothersin Brazil the opportunity to donate DNA whose profile will be included in adatabase. They don’t have to pay for it. “Hopefully many more matches can becompleted in this way.”

With the collaboration of Wilfred Takken.

For the first time in decades, Bob Dylan is back on stage with a new album.The 81-year-old music icon is in Amsterdam for two performances around Roughand Rowdy Ways , which was released in 2020. Dutch critics embrace his newrecords, but are also critical of Dylan’s performance.

By our entertainment editors

de Volkskrant – 3 stars

“Dylan is apparently just as fond of this album as its critics. And it istherefore a joy in advance that Dylan focuses on a new album during hisperformances for the first time in about forty years. to do with two flaws.”

“First of all, the songs with which the new work is interrupted. The fact thatDylan chooses to mainly use songs from the years 1969-1971 is part of hisalways enigmatic repertoire selection. To Be Alone With You as a connectionbetween the two perhaps most beautiful songs of Rough and Rowdy Ways (Crossing the Rubicon and Key West (Philosopher Pirate) ) is a sin, justlike the somewhat affected I ‘ll Be Your Baby Tonight that precedes thistrio of songs.”

“This brings us to the biggest shortcoming: Dylan’s piano playing. He hasn’tplayed the guitar for years. But the way he hammers the same chords on hispiano in all songs is just as nice. But in the end it comes at the expense ofthe subtlety that are right. characterizes new work.”

Read the full review here

AD – 3 stars

“Whatever Dylan takes for his audience, he is averse to frills. There is nophoto or video camera in AFAS Live. So also no video screens with which fansare served in the back of the room. Quite a handicap for them, since his pianoDylan is largely hidden from view all evening.”

“Telephones are not allowed to be used – the devices are sealed in a specialcase on arrival – and there is no decoration whatsoever on the stage. Six menstand and sit on a stage in front of an immensely high curtain, that’s it.That is more than pure concert experience may seem old-fashioned, it actuallyfeels very nice.”

“The backing band is perfectly fine. The five are fully at the service oftheir boss, there is no room for solos. They operate almost cautiously,apparently afraid to offend Dylan. As a result, the playing pleasure nevershines through. they make the evening musically, by lovingly disguising theshortcomings of their leader as the musically weakest link.”

Read the full review here

Het Parool – gives no stars

“Would it have to do with old age that Dylan uses a fixed set list during hiscurrent tour? In the past, even his accompanists did not know what he wasgoing to do at his concerts.”

“Despite that fixed program, it is sometimes quite a mess on stage. Dylan thenjust messes around on his piano, while his four-piece band also doesn’t seemto be fully focused. But there are plenty of moments that make up for that.Especially the songs by Rough and Rowdy Ways be inspired.”

“Beautiful is for example I Contain Multititudes with a text featuring awhole series of celebrities: from Anne Frank and Indiana Jones to ‘ themBritish bad boys the Rolling Stones. And also very beautiful, also from thatlast album: My Own Version of You in which the music steers in the directionof Tom Waits (talking about raw voices).”

‘Sometimes the highly personal is not distasteful but impressive’, I wrote in2008 in response to Marijn Frank’s NFTA graduation film: Daddy ‘s gone…and Iwanted to ask you some questions. Due to the content and form of that filmabout a war-damaged father, whose silence passed on trauma, the title alonestrikes me again. Partly because, apart from trauma, death leaves all unaskedquestions forever unanswered. Then bitter realization: too late. My openingsentence without context is somewhat bizarre: as if the highly personal weregenerally distasteful. But at the time, I contrasted Frank’s film with theavalanche of largely unwelcome intimacies that flooded us, even then, ininterviews, talk shows, some documentaries. Voyeurism as a viewer’s right.

Now Frank made another documentary about death and mourning: Surrender.Again it goes to the bone and her pain is almost unbearable. But ‘I justwanted to ask you something’ no longer applies. This time she asked almost allthe questions and got an answer as well. Illness and death hit her best friendAnnemarie, and everything that never worked out with ‘dad’ in his life becamereality with Annemarie. Girlfriends from school and everything, everythingshared with each other, from girl to mothers with child. From adolescent toadult relationship problems. Even the secrets that partners can’t access. Ifthe basso continuo under life already seems heavier than average, then such aloss is disastrous. Mourners often find that there is initially compassion andunderstanding, but these prove to be limited. Especially if the grief is notabout a partner or child, but about a friend. So ‘good luck with it’ and thequestioning about well-being stops. Understandable perhaps but it makes youvery lonely.

We follow this process of mourning and attempts to come to terms with it,because Frank is a film maker and the filming itself is therapy to a certainextent. It is not entirely clear to me who initiated the filming of the sickgirlfriend. Annemarie found it unbearable at the worst-case scenario to haveto say goodbye to life, to her loved ones and above all to little daughterAnna, who would then hardly get to know her in her thirties. Courageously, sheapparently also calculates the worst at an early stage of the disease and hasherself filmed and interviewed. For her child. This opens the film, but if shedoesn’t know what to say, it is Marijn who urges: ‘Talk to Anna.’ Annemarie:’So I have to imagine, say, that I am dead? Okay.’ And a laugh. So there is athreat, but there is also hope. We are even there when she gets the phone callinforming her that the exact spot of the tumor (apparently already diagnosedbefore) has been found. Plus ‘treatable’ and ‘we’ll fix it for you, sweetie’.(The doctor is female.) Which brings a moment of relief, which is muffled whenit becomes apparent how severe the procedure is.

The film is not chronological: shortly after this opening we are standing withMarijn and both children at Annemarie’s grave. After which we promptly seeAnnemarie crossing the finish line in a half marathon. For she also did notlive lightly, and walking had made her life blossom. Then Marijn puts onAnnemarie’s running outfit: her inheritance. And we go with Marijn to theathletics track to meet Hesdy, her future running coach. She hates running,she says, but he has to help her finish the Berlin Marathon. This Hesdy isgreat, as a coach, but also as a wise man: she should not think that she cansolve underlying problems by walking. They are neatly waiting for her at thefinish, so to speak. But she’s going for it. They go for it.

I’m surprised: would I leave my best friend my running gear if he hatedrunning? And, as a former runner: what an insane ambition to want to go fromzero to a marathon. But she means it: throughout the film we see progress andsetbacks. The process is so arduous that it sometimes reminds me of theflagellants. With them guilt (and fear of the plague as a punishment from God)is much more important. Marijn hopes to experience what Annemarie derived fromit, relief, but on the way it often seems more like she is looking forphysical pain to supplant the other.

Besides, she sometimes feels guilty too. When she realizes richly late thatAnnemarie consoled her more often about the approaching end than the other wayaround. (We had already felt and seen that: wouldn’t Annemarie have partlyfilmed for Marijn, out of love?) And guilty, because she wonders: why notAnnemarie and I? And guilty because she is still alive but can enjoy it toolittle (which Annemarie also blamed herself for). Hesdy says somewhere thatMarijn should be a little bit nicer to herself. A cliché perhaps, but no lesstrue.

© Victor Horstink

There are touching, deeply sad scenes between the girlfriends: poignant, forexample when little Anna looks around the cemetery with papa and Annemarie.When Annemarie writes several birthday cards for Anna far in advance to stayin her life. Even looking at it hurts, but Annemarie allows it. And shesucceeds because she is so brave and honest and so clearly before illness andfilm, totally devoid of coquetry or attention seeking. Although I keep seeingand feeling Marijn (and myself) balancing on a thin rope.

In addition, you wonder about the choices that are made not about the film butin the lives of these people. Even if you have no idea how you would do ityourself. That they involve Anna in what is about to happen seems very good tome. But sometimes your heart breaks and you don’t know whether that is becauseof the terrible reality, and because of the inimitable questions and reactionsof the child, or also because of their measurements. And who are you to judgethat?

Outrageously, I sometimes wonder what all this must be like for theirpartners. Was Anna’s dad as convinced of participating in the film project ashis ailing wife and the maker? Or was he also doing it out of love, forAnnemarie? Or for Anna? Marijn continues to talk to Annemarie throughout thefilm, even after death. That’s completely right. But if she has to keeptelling her that sadness and pain remain, despite the walking project that shesticks to faithfully but that has hardly any effect, and that she is not anice mother among other things, then I think that those endless hours ofwalking from a initially untrained should also be at the expense of lovedones. (This is never said about men – but does that make it less true?) And ifat a low point Marijn suddenly knows what Annemarie would have advised her(seeking professional psychological help in addition to running help), thenthe viewer would have thought of that before. Because Marijn’s grief is,horribly enough, out of the ordinary. We see her meditating after beingadvised to do so. That seems difficult enough to me, but with a camera rightin front of your face almost mission impossible. We do not follow that pathany further.

So very heavy film, but the title Surrender God’s praise comes true. Timeand distance bring some relief. Distance figuratively and literally, measuredin endless kilometers. That justifies this project, despite cinematic andextra-cinematic reservations. In my view (many will not have thosereservations at all). I’m happy for her. ‘Not distasteful but impressive’, isthe conclusion. Despite doubts along the way.

This piece should have been about the Putin documentary that was broadcast onCanvas on Sunday evening, Putin master of the game. Russian oligarchs andAmerican ministers and French politicians (including French PresidentHollande) tell what drives Vladimir Putin: revenge. Revenge on the West thatdespises him. He is neither a strategist nor a chess player, he wages war asif he were playing black jack. Unpredictably ominous.

But just before I switched on the Belgian channel, I just caught up StudioSport on that Feyenoord captain Orkun Kökçü had refused to wear the rainbowband. All Premier League captains would wear one this weekend for the annualNational Coming Out Day. Small gesture, big effect. But the reverse is alsotrue: such a band not putting it on immediately makes a huge statement. Inany case, there were religious objections between Kokcü and the coloredcaptaincy. Just put something in there.

With that in mind, I immediately packed up and went to _changing the game_watched (KRO-NCRV), a documentary about three American teenagers. They are topathletes and transgender. It certainly wasn’t the first time I’d watchedrunners, skiers and wrestlers struggle, literally, with their gender.Apparently, in sports, all the unfairness and emotion surrounding genderdysphoria coalesces. We see wrestler Mack from Texas, who would rather fightagainst men, but for the wrestling association his gender counts at birth, sohe is obliged to work all women against the mat in the women’s competition.The hatred that will be poured over this child if he wins again. wow. Not fromadolescents, but from adults who shout from the stands that ‘he is not a realhe’ and that ‘it’ better ‘kill itself’.

Luckily he has a bad ass Granny, Republican, deputy sheriff in Dallas withtons of guns around her hips. No, she had never heard of transgender peopleuntil she had a grandchild who is one. She’s willing, she says, to step on alot of Republican and religious toes to get Mack in the right place. How theworld looks at her grandchild forces her to look at the world differently.

It started to look like a theme evening, because late in the evening the EOcame with the first episode of a new series Do you know me? Micah (30) andBram (58) are coupled together. Micah, formerly Marco, is a bi-gender person.“A non-binary transgender person who feels both male and female.” Bram isgender fluid. He is a married man who wants to dress as a woman.

Both have to go to great lengths to explain themselves to others. Micah andfather Theo wash the campervan together, they go camping. Father Theo sayshonestly that he finds it uncomfortable to answer the camping owner with whomhe will come later. “Do I say: with my son?” And then surely Micah gets out ofthe camper, in a dress? But once at that campsite, they ask each otherquestions that seem simple, but are difficult. Micah to father: “Why was Ionly allowed to change in my room in the past?” Father to Micah: “How did youfeel when you got dressed.”

Micah was “accepted” by his church, and then he wasn’t. They wanted to prayfor his healing. Bram was allowed to be after coming out continued to attendchurch, but he had to relinquish his spiritual duties. His brother Harry wentin search of what the bible says about Bram’s ‘identity’. A man in women’sclothes is not the intention, is his preliminary conclusion.

Micah and Bram have no problem with God or their faith, they say. They caremore about people. “The people of god”.

Nobody likes to be looked in the wallet and DJs are no exception.Nevertheless, we think we can make a reasonable estimate of the wealth of therichest DJs in the world and in the Netherlands. We used various sources forthis, such as the Quote 500 and Forbes.

Time needed for capital

Calvin Harris is the richest DJ in the world with an estimated net worth of300 million euros. The richest Dutch DJ is Tiësto, who has collected about 170million euros in the past twenty-five years.

“What is striking is that the top five is not automatically at the top of theDJ Mag Top 100”, says Marten van Garderen, chief economist at ING. The DJ MagTop 100 is a ranking of DJs compiled by the audience. From 2002 to 2018, aDutch person was very often at the top of the list. “You need time toaccumulate capital. The DJs with a long successful career are the highest,”says Van Garderen.

Calvin Harris and Tiesto

Let’s start with the top five in the world. The number 1, Calvin Harris(Scotland, 1984), is the youngest of the bunch. He released his debut album in2007 and things went fast after that. Harris became a popular DJ within thepop world and earned a lot of money from his regular performances in Las Vegasfor a number of years.

Number 2, Gianlucha Vacchi (Italy, 1967), is a somewhat strange duck. Yes, heis a DJ and earns well worldwide, but he made most of his wealth as abusinessman and in particular as a shareholder of IMA , an Italian packaginggiant.

At number 3 we find our compatriot Tiësto (Breda, 1969), who has beenprominently active in the dance scene since the mid-nineties. “Tiësto hasearned a lot in Las Vegas in the last ten years, just like Calvin Harris”, VanGarderen explains Tiësto’s 170 million euros.

Performances are lucrative

David Guetta (France, 1967) has also been at the top for a long time. LikeCalvin Harris, he is a much sought-after producer within the pop world; heproduced the mega hit I Gotta Feeling by Black Eyed Peas. In addition, thenumber 1 DJ of 2020 and 2021 cashed in last year with the sale of his musiccatalog, reportedly for 100 million euros.

Last in the top 5 of richest DJs worldwide is Steve Aoki (United States,1977), who, like Tiësto, founded his own record label in the 1990s. Aokicollaborated extensively with popular acts such as Backstreet Boys and LinkinPark. He amassed much of his fortune through lucrative tours of North America.

“There is a huge demand for top DJs, they can ask a lot for a performance,”says Van Garderen. “In dance, ninety percent of the turnover comes fromperformances. The years 2010 to 2020 in particular were golden years forperforming DJs.”

The Netherlands

This is also reflected in the Dutch figures. Up to and including 2014, theexport value of Dutch dance grew by approximately twenty million euros to avalue of 133 million euros, eventually stabilizing around 150 million euros in2018 and 2019, the last pre-corona year.

And most of it comes from gigs, a whopping 94 percent of sales over the pastdecade were earned behind the turntable.

After the absolute Dutch number 1, Tiësto, we see another successful veteran:Armin van Buuren (Leiden, 1976). The five-time number 1 DJ in the world is co-owner of dance label Armada Music and also earned a lot with his A State OfTrance tours.

Martin Garrix

Number 3 Martin Garrix (Amstelveen, 1996) is by far the youngest among thehigh earners. He scored worldwide pop hits with In The Name Of Love and ScaredTo Be Lonely (with Dua Lipa). “And he takes a smart approach,” explains VanGarderen.

“Garrix has chosen to only do a hundred performances a year. If you makeyourself scarce, you can ask for more.”

Numbers 4 Afrojack (Spijkenisse, 1987) and Ferry Corsten (Rotterdam, 1973)also have an estimated net worth of 26 and 25 million euros respectively. Inaddition to attractive fees for performances, Afrojack collected money as amuch sought-after producer in America in the 2000s; Ferry Corsten made a lotof money in the pre-streaming era with hits in England.

READ ALSO. Scandal around Dutch TV program ‘Spoorloos’: at least three’recovered’ biological families are incorrect

For more than 30 years, the Dutch public broadcaster has broadcast Spoorloos,good for more than 600 episodes and a Gouden Televiziering, one of the mostimportant TV prizes in the Netherlands. The makers look for lost relatives ofthe participants – often people who were once adopted and now looking fortheir biological parents, or children of single mothers who want to know whotheir father was. Often the program makers also succeed in finding familymembers, which leads to emotional television.

But now it turns out that the fixer that works for the program in Colombia wasnot always reliable. That came the RTL5 program Scammers tackled on the track.

The man is said to have been involved in at least 16 investigations. They areall now being re-examined. A ‘mismatch’ has already been discovered in atleast four cases, the news site Nu.nl knows. Mistakes with major consequences.For example, a man paid for his brother’s studies in Colombia for years, whileit was not his brother or stepbrother at all. And a woman with a heavy hearthad to realize that the woman she thought was her biological mother, had noconnection with her.

According to KRO-NCRV, that without a trace broadcasts, it only concerns onemismatch, says spokesman Matthijs de Bruijn.

Colombian fixer

But also in at least another case the reunification seems to have gone wrong,Isabel’s story shows that the makers of without a trace published on theirwebsite. That story dates from before the fuss about the fixer in Colombia andcame to light this summer, says De Bruijn. He said it was published a fewweeks ago.

Isabel (a fictitious name) was adopted in 2006 by without a trace broughttogether with her biological mother. But now, sixteen years later, her dreamhas burst like a bubble. The woman she thought was her mother all those yearsturns out to be a complete stranger.

Isabel was overjoyed when the team of without a trace found her biologicalmother in Colombia in 2006. After that first meeting, she traveled to Colombiatwice more, staying there for a longer period of time and getting to know hermother better.

“Isabel and her brother were of toddler and preschool age when they wereadopted to the Netherlands from a children’s home in Colombia. Unfortunately,the adoption was not a success story and Isabel has always dreamed of Colombiaand hoped to see her biological mother again. In 2005 she wrote without atrace at. With only little data, the search initially came to a dead end,” saythe program makers.

Emotional Reunion

But Isabel did not give up and later came up with the name of an employee ofthe children’s home where she stayed in her first years of life. “This ladywas found and be a local employee of without a trace on to the mother. Thiswoman, Maria, did indeed say that she gave up a son and a daughter underdifficult circumstances. She indicated that Isabel and the older brother areher children and wanted to see her daughter again. The emotional reunionfollowed in 2006 and aired that fall.”

Although the contact in the following years was often very difficult due tocultural differences and the language barrier, Isabel met her mother severaltimes and cherished the contact with her.

Yet Maria began to have doubts, she admitted. Because their stories or whatthey remembered from the past didn’t seem to match completely. “Denna wastaken from both this year. The result turned out to be negative, so there isno mother-daughter match.”

Since 2019, DNA research has been carried out in every file, say the makers ofwithout a trace.

The new Dutch nature film Wild Port of Europe , an ode to the flora andfauna in the port area of ​​Rotterdam and Moerdijk, is causing a lot of angeramong environmental organizations. Greenpeace, Extinction Rebellion and DeJonge Climate Movement, among others, believe that the film, which will beshown in at least 90 cinemas throughout the country from Thursday, is’greenwashing’. The makers are biting off.

Willem Berents and his wife Melanie Kutzke have been working almost day andnight for the past four years Wild Port of Europe. Their mission: to showthat industry and nature are not necessarily mutually exclusive. “And thatpolecats, larks and hares that choose this terrain deserve to be seen,” saidKutzke. A large part of their time, they say, was spent approaching andgaining the trust of countless companies in the port area, so that they couldactually go everywhere with the camera.

The fact that oil companies are also included is not a good idea for 24environmental organizations that previously made a joint statement against thefilm on this website. ‘Nature flourishes under the smoke of the pollutingpetrochemical industry. That, in short, is the message of the documentary’,they say. ‘It will therefore come as no surprise to anyone who the proudsponsors of this film are: BP and Shell. Wild Port of Europe is thedefinition of greenwashing.’

Willem Berents is the director of Wild Port of Europe, which is set in theports of Rotterdam and Moerdijk. © Frank de Roo

Documentary maker Willem Berents thinks the fuss is unjustified. ,,Filmmakerslike us do not receive a cent from the Netherlands Film Fund for their firstmajor production. Then you have to look for municipalities, provinces, natureorganizations and companies to raise money. Because we wanted to film on theirsite, we also asked BP and Shell to participate. And yes, we got some fundsfrom that too. Without that help we would not have been able to give a face tonature in the port. By the way, they promised not to influence our work andthey kept that.” Berents emphasizes that institutions such as Staatsbosbeheerand the Dierenbescherming have also contributed to the film.

Climate issues

Don’t you run the risk of people saying that it is apparently not too bad withall the climate problems with a nature film that takes place in the port?Berents: ,,That could be, but first watch the film and then make your ownjudgment. Nature struggles to survive, while humans intrude everywhere. Youcan also read it that way. We try to seize something without prejudice.” Hiswife adds that probably not a cent is left with the film. “We even took out anextra mortgage on our house to complete the budget. We thought it was soimportant to make this current, relevant and nuanced film.”

Wild Port of Europe with a voice-over by Sacha de Boer and music by thewell-known trumpeter Eric Vloeimans, will also be the subject of debatetonight in De Balie in Amsterdam, where the makers and the protestingenvironmental organizations will talk to each other.