Werner Ferdinande (9 March 1927 – 8 November 2022) was a Belgian singer. He became known with the songs Christine, Confession, The Dying, Seeth Gij Me Gere and Het Schrijverke, based on the poem of the same name by
Guido Gezelle. He was an example within the LGBT community, because he was the first known Fleming to come out of the closet.
A colleague recommended Ferdinande his stage name: "Choose Will, because you want it so badly." Werner Ferdinande first became Will Ferry and not much later Will Ferdy. He began his career as a professional singer in 1948. With Ziede Gij Me Gere he had his first hit in 1951. Ferdy was also known as a comedian. In 1953 he started his first conferences on his characters "Flup de Facteur" and "Peterke en Pepe" (later "Peterke en Pol"). In 1970, Ferdy caused a stir by being the first Flemish artist to express himself as a homosexual. In the seasons 1974-1975 and 1975-1976 he presented the shows of Bobbejaan Schoepen in Bobbejaanland. They also recorded some songs together. In 1971 the singer received a gold record for his LP Will Ferdy sings Armand Preud'homme, in 1979 a gold record followed for his LP Will Ferdy sings Jacques Brel and in 1983 he received a platinum record for more than 100,000 copies sold of his great successes. In 2001 he was given a place in the Radio 2 hall of fame for a life full of music. In 2004, the song Christine was included in the hall of fame of the Flemish classics of Radio 2 and Ferdy recorded it again under the name Mijn Vriend, because already in the original song he actually sang his lost beloved Raf.
In 2005 he finished at no. 644 in the Flemish version of The Greatest Belgian, outside the official nomination list. In 2006 he won the Gay Newspaper Award, a prize that was awarded every four years to those who, according to the newspaper's readers, had worked for gay emancipation. For the last ten years of his career, Ferdy performed with his regular pianist Jürgen De Smet, with whom he also wrote songs for his new CDs. There were 7 CDs in which Jürgen was involved, mainly as a composer: I thought I had my time (2005), And the years passed (2006), A life full of music (2007), Songs out of love (2007), For every moment (2008), Bis (2011) and Now and then (2013). In 2009, Ferdy played the leading role in the short film My Donna by filmmaker Nicolaas Rahoens, a role he played together with Jo Leemans. Ferdy toured the cultural centres for years with his regular pianist Jürgen De Smet. It is also the latter who in 2011 made a theater show around the life and work of Ferdy with lead singers Sonia Pelgrims and Marijn Devalck. The story in the show was written and performed by word artist Gladys De Mol. The show was shown until June 2012. In April 2013 he received the Golden Lifetime Award from the municipality of Aarschot for his 65-year career.
On November 17, 2013, Ferdy gave an exclusive concert at the Lindner Hotel in Antwerp that served as an official farewell concert and where a DVD was recorded that was released on March 9, 2014 (Will's 87th birthday). The DVD contains the entire concert and a documentary section about his life. At the end of June 2014 he stopped performing for good. In January 2015, Ferdy received the Çavaria Lifetime Achievement Award. Ferdy suffered from Parkinson's disease and had heart problems and spent the last years of his life in a service flat on the Antwerp Left Bank where he died at the age of 95. The funeral took place on 19 November 2022 in the Sint-Anna-ten-Drieënkerk on the Left Bank of Antwerp. Koen Crucke sang My Friend, the reworked version of Christine.
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