Bobbejaan Schoepen (a
pseudonym of
Modest Schoepen) (16 May 1925 – 17 May 2010) was a
Flemish pioneer in Belgian
pop music,
vaudeville, and European
country music. Schoepen was a versatile entertainer,
entrepreneur,
singer-songwriter,
guitarist,
comedian,
actor, and professional
whistler, as well as the founder and former director of the
amusement park,
Bobbejaanland. His musical career flourished from 1948 until the first half of the 1970s. He sold more than five million copies from his repertoire of 482 songs, which extended from
Twang,
cabaret,
instrumental film music,
chansons,
country, to
folk and
vocal music. Born in
Boom,
Antwerp,
Flanders,
Belgium, he worked his way up from a working-class environment to become one of the 200 richest people in Belgium.