Boudewijn de Groot was born in wartime occupied Dutch East Indies in 1944 in a Japanese concentration camp close to Batavia (today known as Jakarta) where his mother died in June 1945.

In their last year, Nijgh made the short movie "Feestje Bouwen", for which De Groot wrote two songs.

During one of the presentations of the movie, television journalist Ed Lautenslager became impressed with De Groot's talent, and subsequently helped him to get a contract with record label Philips.

The single "Noordzee" in February 1964 was a much bigger hit, but the huge breakthrough came in 1966 with Lennaert Nijgh's adaptation of a song from Charles Aznavour's "Une enfant de seize ans", retitled "Meisje van 16".

Much of Nijgh's lyrics included social criticism, so after the release of his first album in 1966 De Groot was labeled as a protest singer, an image confirmed for the mainstream audience by the success of his song Welterusten Meneer de President ("Goodnight, Mister President") on the Vietnam War.

However, during carnival 1967, "Het Land van Maas en Waal" was released and became De Groot's third hit.

By this time, De Groot had already recorded songs like "Verdronken vlinder", "Testament" and "Beneden alle peil", which would later become successful but would never enter hit charts.

De Groot and Nijgh became influenced by the Flower Power movement during that time and created the album Picknick.

Two other songs, "Waterdrager" and "Als de rook om je hoofd is verdwenen" were minor hits in 1968.

In 1968, De Groot decided he didn't want to perform live anymore and stopped his collaboration with Nijgh and his band, The Names and Faces.

In 1969, De Groot worked with Eelco Gelling, the guitarist of Cuby and the Blizzards and, under the name Tower, they recorded the single "In Your Life", which became a hit.

Under the pseudonym "Frank de Groot", he has translated seven Stephen King novels and in 2011 Scott Turow's Presumed Innocent into Dutch.

In 2016 De Groot formed the supergroup Vreemde Kostgangers (Strange Boarders) with Henny Vrienten (bass-player of Doe Maar) and George Kooymans (guitarist of Golden Earring); they successfully released two albums in 2017 and did sold-out tours consisting of collective songs and solo-material.

[1] De Groot continued to record and in November 2022 he released the album Windveren, with contributions by The Kik and George Kooymans (himself retired from performing after being diagnosed ALS) as well as a long-lost piece by Lennaert Nijgh.

The album was preceded by the single Aarde in which De Groot chronicled the distorted relationship between Mother Earth and mankind.