Arno

Arno Hintjens was born in Ostend, Belgium on the 21 May 1949. When discussing the acting career of Arno, one can be brief. His acting has been limited to three movies. He played his first part in Skin (1987), a Belgian movie directed by Guido Henderickx for which he also composed the music. Ten years later he also appeared in Camping Cosmos (1996), directed by Jan Bucquoy, the terror of the Belgian movie scene and in _Alors voilà (1997)_, directed by Michel Piccoli. It is no surprise that his filmography as an actor is so limited, since Arno is basically a rock musician. So he deserves more credits as a composer. He wrote his first soundtrack for the Belgian movie Le concert d'un homme seul in 1978. Later, he composed soundtracks for some French movies such as Merci La Vie (1991) and Personne ne m'aime (1994). In 1996 Arno also sang the Flemish versions of the main tracks of the Disney animation movie Toy Story (1995). But he is most famous as a singer. He joined his first group 'Freckle Face' in 1970 and later formed a duo with Paul Decoutere as 'Tjens-Couter'. In 1980 he formed the famous band 'TC Matic', which was very influential in Europe. Classic TC Matic songs include 'Oh la la la', 'Putain putain' and 'Elle adore le noir'. The band split in 1986 after releasing four albums. In 1988 he released his first solo album. During the following years he launched several records, including 'Ratata' (1990) and 'Idiots savants' (1993). He became very famous in France after the release of 'Arno à la française' (1995) and 'A poil commercial' (1999). 'Charles Ernest', his latest record released in 2002, contains a duet with French singer Jane Birkin and a cover of the Rolling Stones song 'Mother's little helper'. In 2002 he received the very prestigious French decoration of the Legion d'Honneur for his whole career. Recently he has been given a honorary citizenship of his native city Ostend.