He spent a short time in a Jesuit college that he left at 17 to pursue a career in music.
His first successes came from the writing and recording of jingles for television commercials, including Stella Artois and Coca-Cola.
Throughout the 1980s he joined the musical comedy Brel en mille temps, touring in Dakar and Moscow, and then Leningrad and Saint Petersburg.
The song "Cœur de loup" was his first big hit and launched his career once and for all in Europe.
He represented Belgium in the Eurovision Song Contest 1990 in Zagreb with his own composition "Macédomienne" dedicated to his Macedonian wife, ending in 12th place.