Thor!
Birth nameThor Salden
Also known asThor!
Born (1997-11-28) 28 November 1997
Antwerp
OriginSchoten, Belgium
GenresPop
Occupation(s)Singer
Years active2006–2008
2017
2020
LabelsPolydor, EMI[1]

Thor Salden (born 28 November 1997[2]), better known as Thor!, is a former child singer. Salden rose to fame in 2006, being the Belgian contestant at the Junior Eurovision Song Contest 2006 with "Een tocht door het donker". The song topped the Flemish Ultratop charts for one week. Salden withdrew from the stage at the age of 11.

Life and career

Salden was born in Antwerp and lived in Schoten. In 2006, at the age of eight, he participated in the Belgian preselection for the Junior Eurovision Song Contest 2006 in Bucharest, Romania.[3] Salden won both the first semi-final of 17 September and the final of 1 October 2006 of the selection. In the opening of the shows, he performed together with Attic and Clouseau.[4]

Salden had first sung and recorded his self-written "Een toch door het donker" on a Fisher-Price toy recorder.[5] The eventual final version of "Een tocht door het donker" ("A Journey Through The Dark"), produced by Peter Gillis[6] was released as a single on 13 October 2006. Initially the song reached No. 1 in the Ultratop 50, No. 2 in Belgium's national download music chart and No. 8 in the Radio 2 Top 30. After 16 weeks in the Ultratop 50, Thor received a golden record on 30 January 2007 as a result of over 15,000 single sales and legal downloads of the song, making him the youngest Belgian artist to receive this award.[7][8]

In the run-up to his Junior Eurovision participation, Salden was honoured by the municipality of Schoten for his victory in the pre-selection. [9] Schoten city council also announced their plans surrounding the international Junior Eurovision final.[10] Locals were able to watch the international final of the song contest on a screen on the local market square.[11] At the contest, Salden eventually finished 7th, out of fifteenth.[12]

On 22 December 2006, Salden auctioned off the T-shirt he wore during the Junior Eurovision Song Contest for the Studio Brussel charity Music for life.[13]

Following his Junior Eurovision participation, Salden released only one more single, "We gaan naar de zee", in 2007. The song peaked at No. 20 at the Belgian Ultratop charts.[14] In 2008, Thor was one of the participants of the Ketnet programme Ketnetpop, in which he was coached to perform his song at a live concert.

In December 2008, Salden, then aged 11, announced that he was withdrawing from performing, citing a discontinued interest in singing.[15] In 2010, he made a short appearance during the Belgian pre-selection for Junior Eurovision 2010, being part of a jury of past contestants.

In 2017, he performed at a celebratory concert of Ketnet's 20th jubileum in the Antwerp Sportpaleis. It was Salden's first performance in a decade.[16]

In 2020, he co-presented one day on NRJ Radio, after the request of his cousin, who worked as a DJ at the station.[17] Meanwhile, he told Belgian media that he was not interested in making new music and revealed that he never had musical ambitions. "I've stopped doing music. I don't even know whether I had any ambitions as a child to do something with music. I had seen a commercial on television about applying to Junior Eurovision, that's why I took part. But the dream to become a pop artist, I didn't have."[18].

Discography

Singles

Title Year Chart positions
Ultratop
Flanders
"Een tocht door het donker" 2006 1
"We gaan naar de zee" 2007 20

References

  1. ↑ "Thor!". The Boy Choir & Soloist Directory. Retrieved 1 October 2010.
  2. ↑ Thor's birthday blog message on the Belgian Junior Eurovision website (in Dutch) Archived 5 December 2006 at the Wayback Machine
  3. ↑ "k ga niet verwaand worden". Het Nieuwsblad. 3 October 2006. (subscription required) (in Dutch)
  4. ↑ "Show details" (in Dutch). Belgian Junior Eurovision. Archived from the original on 15 November 2006.
  5. ↑ jdr (23 July 2019). ""Het is een misverstand dat ik een muzikaal talent ben"". Nieuwsblad.be. Het Nieuwsblad. Retrieved 25 August 2021.
  6. ↑ "Peter Gillis profile" (in Dutch). Belgian Junior Eurovision. Archived from the original on 6 February 2007.
  7. ↑ "Thor! krijgt gouden award voor 'Een tocht door het donker'". Gazet van Antwerpen (in Dutch). 31 January 2007. Retrieved 15 April 2009.
  8. ↑ "Gouden award voor Thor!". TV-Visie.nl (in Dutch). 31 January 2007. Retrieved 15 April 2009.
  9. ↑ Auman, Jan (26 October 2006). "Ti ti ti ti Schoten is fier!". Het Nieuwsblad (in Dutch). Archived from the original on 15 May 2011. Retrieved 1 October 2010.
  10. ↑ "Thor plechtig ontvangen op gemeentehuis Schoten" (in Dutch). Radio 2. Archived from the original on 27 September 2007. Retrieved 1 October 2010.
  11. ↑ "Call for support". (in Dutch)
  12. ↑ "Bucharest 2006". junioreurovision.tv. Junior Eurovision Song Contest. Retrieved 25 August 2021.
  13. ↑ "Music for Life: nog meer hulp" (in Dutch). RadioVisie. 21 December 2006. Archived from the original on 20 July 2011. Retrieved 1 October 2010. (Dutch)
  14. ↑ "Thor! – We gaan naar zee". Ultratop.be. Ultratop. Retrieved 25 August 2021.
  15. ↑ "Junior Eurosong-winnaar Thor stopt met zingen". Standaard.be. De Standaard. 12 December 2008. Retrieved 25 August 2021.
  16. ↑ van Tilburg, Robine. "PRIMEUR: deze 4 voormalige 'Eurosong For Kids'-finalisten komen ook naar het Sportpladijs". Flair.be. Flair. Retrieved 25 August 2021.
  17. ↑ Blarinckx, Dieter (7 December 2020). "Thor maakt comeback op de radio!". MSN.com. MSN. Retrieved 25 August 2021.
  18. ↑ TDS (7 December 2020). "Thor van 'Een Tocht Door Het Donker' maakt na 14 jaar eenmalige comeback op radio: "Muziek is een afgesloten hoofdstuk"". HLN.be. HNL. Retrieved 25 August 2021.

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