°24/01/1928, Ostend – † 17/06/2010, Bredene
It wasn’t until she was fifty that Lucy Loes (Lucienne Vanbesien) took her first steps as a singer. After being a housewife for years, she opened a café, Staminee, where she began performing. She became the uncrowned queen of the fisherman’s song and sang her way straight into the heart of the city. In authentic dialect, especially Min zeekapitein and Bie uus an’t zeitje grew into local heritage. She was a fixture at (among others) the Paulus festivals and gave voice to the fishing culture with her songs: stories about the sea, the hard life, and the warmth of a community.
In 2010, Ostend bid farewell to Lucy Loes, but her music continues to sound – like the waves, always present. An icon with a heart of gingerbread, as only Ostend can say. At the fish ladder, there now stands a bust of Lucy Loes, permanently overlooking the Fisherman’s Quay. She will have seen every boat that sets sail.
