Born Arthur Ridder Blanckaert on August 2, 1940, in Veurne, a Flemish municipality in Belgium, he scored his first hit single in 1963 with "Eenzaam Zonder Jou," a classic of Flemish popular music. Over the decades that followed, he experimented with a wide range of styles -- everything from Elvis (Will Tura Zingt Elvis Presley, 1984) and rock & roll (Rock 'n Roll in Mijn Hart, 1991) to symphony (Tura in Symfonie, 1992), gospel (Tura Gospel, 2000), and the London Philharmonic Orchestra (De Mooiste Droom, 2002) -- while still writing much of his own material. One of Tura's biggest hits came in 1989 with "Mooi, 'T Leven Is Mooi," released in the wake of a 1988 car accident. Among his latter-day album releases, he reached the Top Ten with Bloed, Zweet & Tranen (1995), Europa (1996), Puur Tura (1997), Alleen Gaan en de Mooiste Slows 1987-1997 (1998), Ware Liefde (2000), De Mooiste Droom (2002), Zoals die Zomer van Tien Om Te Zien (2004), Hitcollectie (2005), and Will Tura: 100 Hits (2008). ~ Jason Birchmeier