Frans de Kok taught himself to play the piano, the accordion and the bass. In the 1940s and 1950s he played and arranged music for the Joe Andy Orchestra, which toured the Netherlands, West Germany and Switzerland with considerable success. From 1957 onwards he worked in various capacities for Dutch television. In 1962, he was asked by TV host and singer Rudi Carrell

Rudi Carrell

Rudi Carrell , born Rudolf Wijbrand Kesselaar, was a Dutch entertainer. Along with famous entertainers such as Johannes Heesters, Linda de Mol and Sylvie van der Vaart, Carrell was one of the most successful Dutch personalities active in Germany.He worked as a television entertainer and hosted his...

 to accompany his shows with a big orchestra. In the years after, De Kok wrote the arrangements for Carrell's shows and many more TV programmes. Moreover, he worked with a couple of famous Dutch artists in the recording studio, amongst others Boudewijn de Groot

Boudewijn de Groot

Boudewijn de Groot is a famous Dutch singer/songwriter. He is known for the songs "Welterusten Meneer de President" , "Land van Maas en Waal" , "Jimmy" and "Avond" among others...

. In 1969 he stepped in for Dolf van der Linden

Dolf van der Linden

David Gysbert van der Linden was a Dutch conductor of popular music with a reputation which extended beyond the borders of the Netherlands....

, when the latter refused to go to Spain to conduct the orchestra for the Dutch entry in the Eurovision Song Contest

Eurovision Song Contest

The Eurovision Song Contest is an annual competition held among active member countries of the European Broadcasting Union .Each member country submits a song to be performed on live television and then casts votes for the other countries' songs to determine the most popular song in the competition...

. De Kok thus helped Lenny Kuhr

Lenny Kuhr

Lenny Kuhr is a Dutch singer-songwriter.In 1967 she started a singing career in the Netherlands, performing songs in the French chanson tradition. In 1969 she represented the Netherlands in the Eurovision Song Contest with her own composition De Troubadour...

winning the contest with her song "De troubadour".

Around the same time, De Kok decided to withdraw from his broadcasting work. He set up a business of record stores in the Netherlands. Later he specialized in computer software. Frans de Kok died in Belgium on Wednesday May 4, 2011.