Arnold Charles Ernest Hintjens (21 May 1949 – 23 April 2022), better known by his stage name Arno, was a Belgian singer. He was the frontman of TC Matic, one of the best-known Belgian bands of the 1980s. After the band split in 1986 he enjoyed a solo career.
Career Arno sang in a mixture of English, French, Dutch and his native Ostend-Flemish dialect. For TC Matic, a band which achieved moderate artistic success throughout Europe, he wrote or co-wrote all the band's material, much of it together with guitarist and producer Jean-Marie Aerts. After going solo he released more than a dozen albums during a successful career. In 2002 he received the title "Chevalier des Arts et des Lettres" (Knight in the Arts and Literature) of the French government. A 2004 biography by Gilles Deleux was translated in Dutch as Een lach en een traan ("A Smile and a Tear").
In the Belgian film Camping Cosmos he played the homosexual lifeguard Harry who does not pay attention to Lolo Ferrari who is incarnating a caricature of Pamela Anderson.
At the beginning of 2020, Arno postponed his upcoming tour after being diagnosed with pancreatic cancer. Until the end of his life he was performing and recording music. Opex was his last record, recorded while he was very ill. He died from the disease on 23 April 2022, in Brussels, at the age of 72.
Discography
Solo Arno (album) (1986) Charlatan (1988) Ratata (1990) Tracks From The Story (1992) Idiots Savants (1993) Water (1994) with the Subrovnicks À La Française (1995) Live À La Française (1997) Give Me The Gift (1997) European Cow Boy (1999) À Poil Commercial (1999) Le Best Of (2000) Arno Charles Ernest (2002) Longbox (2002) French Bazaar (2004) Live in Brussels (2005) Jus De Box (2007) Covers Cocktail (2008) Brussld (2010) Future Vintage (2012) Le coffret essentiel (2014) Human Incognito (2016)*' Santeboutique (2019) Vivre (2021) Opex (2022) (His last album was posthumously released)
Freckleface Freckleface (1972)
With Tjens Couter Who Cares (1975) Plat Du Jour (1978) Singles 1975-1980 (1978) If It Blows (Let It Blow) (CD compilation, 1991)
With TC Matic TC Matic (1981) L'Apache (1982) Choco (1983) Yé Yé (1985) The Best Of (Ça Vient, Ça Vient, Change Pas Demain) (1986) Compil Complet! (2000) TC Matic - The Essential (2003)
As Charles Charles Et Les Lulus (1991) with Roland Vancampenhout, Adriano Cominotto and Piet Jorens. Charles and the White Trash European Blues Connection (1998)
Filmography 1987: Skin (by Guido Henderickx) as Chico 1996: Camping Cosmos (by Jan Bucquoy) as Himself 1997: Alors voilà (by Michel Piccoli) as Himself 1999: Surveiller les tortues (Short, by Inès Rabadan) as André 2006: Komma (by Martine Doyen) as Peter De Wit / Lars Ericsson 2007: Ex Drummer (by Koen Mortier) 2007: Parade nuptiale (by Emma Perret) 2007: I Always Wanted to Be a Gangster (by Samuel Benchetrit) as Himself 2009: Petites vacances à Knokke-le-Zoute (TV Movie, by Yves Matthey) as Maurice 2014: Le goût des myrtilles (by Thomas De Thier) as Eric Dessart 2015: Prejudice (by Antoine Cuypers) as Alain (final film role)
Honours
Knight in the French Order of Arts and Letters: 2002 Grand Prix du Disque for French Song (Charles Ernest): 2002 Honorary citizen of Brussels: 2017 Honorary citizen of Ostend: 2018 Music Industry Awards Lifetime Achievement Award: 2019 Ostend Film Festival Lifetime Achievement Award: 2022. Officer in the Belgian Order of the Crown: 2022
References
External links
Official website
Review of 'Brussld' (English)