While in Liverpool, you’ll be able to spot Belgium’s Eurovision 2023 representative Gustaph by his distinctive, fashionable hats, but as ESC United’s Connor Terry found out in his interview with him last week, it is not just his knowledge of the host city, the inner workings of the Contest from past involvements, or his both deep and broad understanding of American disco music from the 1970s on that gives him a huge advantage at the contest.
The Gustaph iceberg is deep, and the artist himself very meme-able, as Connor discovered when he chatted with the singer of “Because of You” about Belgium’s postcard, showing off his husband to Europe, duckwalking and other elements of voguing, and of course, his hats.
“I think I’m close to 40, 50 hats, but that includes caps and beanies and all that kind of stuff,” Gustaph told Connor. “So it is a passion of mine, I’ve always been wearing hats on stage I think it started because I was touring with Hercules and Love Affair and we had to sometimes go, literally from the plane to the gig, and when you have a bad hair day with sleeping on the plane, I bought one nice hat that’s how it started. It just was a great way to like pump up an outfit without having to work too much.”
Check out our interview above for more humorous musings from Belgium’s witty performer.
Who is Gustaph?
Born Stef Caers on July 5, 1980 in Leuven, Belgium, Gustaph is a well-known singer, songwriter, producer and vocal coach in his native Belgium.
Shortly after graduating from the Royal Conservatory of Ghent, Gustaph launched himself on the scene, scoring a charting hit with “Gonna Lose You” on the Flemish Singles Charts in 2000.
Gustaph became a backing singer for several acts during the next decade, including Lady Linn and Willy Sommers. He was also one of Hercules and Love Affair’s lead vocalists in 2012, Andy Butler’s dance music project.
Gustaph is also no stranger to Eurovision, having performed backing vocals for Sennek at Eurovision 2018 and Hooverphonic at Eurovision 2021.
He earned the right to represent Belgium by narrowly winning Eurosong 2023, edging out Televote winner The Starlings and Jury winner Gala Dragot to snatch victory. Gustaph will perform in the first half of Semi-Final 2 on May 11, 2023, in Liverpool.
What did #YOU like most about our interview with Gustaph? Let us know on social media @ESCUnited, on our discord, or on our forum page!
