De Gendt had been struggling with health problems for some time: in September he underwent an urgent medical procedure. In 2011 he suffered a cardiac arrest and ended up in a coma. Seven years later, he spoke candidly in an interview about how he still suffered the consequences. “I have suffered brain damage,” he said at the time Hello everyone. “My memory plays tricks on me sometimes it beeps and suffer from balance disorders.” He died at his home, not long after returning from a holiday in Spain. According to the public prosecutor’s office, it is a suicide.
READ ALSO. Get Ready! stops performing after 30 years: “Our concert for Michael Jackson was not necessarily the most pleasant”
Together with Jimmy Samijn, Jean-Marie (JM) Desreux and Koen Bruggemans, Glenn De Gendt formed the Flemish boy band Get Ready! in the nineties. Marc Debouver, manager and founder of the band, responds to reports on behalf of the band. “We heard the news last night. This really hits hard. We are really devastated. It may be silly, but those four boys are my children. We have come a long way, with many ups and downs.”
Glenn was once again struggling with his health, which meant he had to miss several performances. “He could no longer function on stage,” says Debouver. “A nerve was pinched between his cervical vertebra, he could no longer move and was really in pain. He had an operation for this, after which the pain and the problem disappeared. We were really shocked, suddenly we saw the cheerful, alive, energetic Glenn that we knew in those early days, but who seemed to have disappeared a long time ago.” At the beginning of October, Glenn posted on Facebook that he was recovering.” (Read more below the Facebook post)
Boyband
In the 1990s, De Gendt formed the Flemish boy band Get Ready! together with Jimmy Samijn, Jean-Marie Desreux and Koen Bruggemans. The band scored nine number one hits in the Flemish top 10 in three years, but never reached first place in the Ultratop 50. They were stuck in second place no fewer than three times, with Late, Firework in Waiting for you. That last song was a cover of Right here waiting by Richard Marx. Their most famous song is Marjolijn.
After 30 wonderful years, the band announced last year that they would stop in 2025. “All four of us have reached the point where we have made the most of it. After (almost, ed.) thirty years, we think it’s time to say goodbye,” he said. They would say goodbye to their fans during a farewell tour that started at the end of June.
“This is not the ending we had in mind,” says Debouver. “They had another performance next weekend, there was a big farewell on April 26. I have no idea what that’s going to be now – or if it’s going to happen at all. I absolutely can’t think about it yet.”
Anyone with questions about suicide can contact the Suicide Line on the toll-free number 1813 and on suicide1813.be.
One of Get Ready!’s biggest hits: Diep (so deep), from 1996:
VIEW ALSO. Get Ready provided nostalgia at Leive Vloms in Leuven last year
From left to right: Koen Bruggemans, Jimmy Samijn, Jean-Marie ‘JM’ Desreux and Glenn De Gendt. Right: De Gendt had been struggling with health problems for some time.
© robtv
