Duncan de Moor, professionally known as Duncan Laurence, is a Dutch singer-songwriter. He began his music career in 2014 and became a semi-finalist in the fifth season of The Voice of Holland. Laurence represented the Netherlands in the Eurovision Song Contest 2019 with the song "Arcade" and went on to win the competition, giving the Netherlands its first Eurovision win since 1975.
Career
Early career
Born in Spijkenisse, Laurence grew up in Hellevoetsluis. He has been writing his own songs since he was 13 years old, as an escape from being bullied. He started his musical career at the Rock Academy in Tilburg, playing in a number of school bands, including his own, The Slick and Suited. Formed in 2013, the band went on to perform at Eurosonic Noorderslag. In an Instagram post in February 2020, he revealed he had oxygen deprivation at birth, and thus had a motor disorder affect his right hand.
2014–2018: ''The Voice of Holland''
Laurence participated in the fifth season of The Voice of Holland, choosing Ilse DeLange as his coach. He advanced to the Cross Battles/Semi Finals before being eliminated. In March 2016, he decided to stop as lead singer of The Slick. Laurence graduated from the Rock Academy in 2017. He, with Jihad Rahmouni, wrote the song "Closer" on K-pop duo TVXQ's 2018 album .
In January 2019, Laurence was internally selected to represent the Netherlands in the Eurovision Song Contest 2019. He was nominated by Ilse DeLange, with whom Laurence still had contact after The Voice. His song "Arcade" was first revealed in March 2019. On 18 May 2019, Duncan Laurence won the event in Tel Aviv, Israel with 498 points from 41 international juries and the public vote. The juries gave him 237 points, while the public vote gave him 261 points. He finished 26 points ahead of Italy and 128 points ahead of Russia, the two runners-up. He is the fifth Dutch entrant to ever win the competition, and the first since Teach-In won the Eurovision Song Contest 1975 with the song "Ding-a-dong". Laurence will tour the Netherlands and Europe in late 2019 with one concert also scheduled for Amsterdam in March 2020. On 10 June 2019, he performed at the 50th anniversaryPinkpop Festival in Landgraaf, the first Dutch Eurovision winner to perform at the event. He replaced Swedish duo First Aid Kit on the bill, who dropped out due to health reasons. On 23 October 2019, Laurence released his second single "Love Don't Hate It". It was also announced that he signed a deal with Capitol Records. In 2020, the artists' entrance at Rotterdam Ahoy was re-named "Door Duncan" in his honor. On 29 April 2020, Laurence announced the release of his first EP, Worlds on Fire, it was released on 13 May 2020 and includes the singles "Arcade", "Love Don't Hate It" and "Someone Else".
Personal life
As stated on his personal Instagram in October 2018, Laurence came out as bisexual "a couple of years ago". In a press conference shortly before the Eurovision final, Laurence affirmed his sexuality: "I am more than just an artist, I am a person, I am a living being, I'm bisexual, I'm a musician, I stand for things. And I'm proud that I get the chance to show what I am, who I am." In June 2019, he confirmed in an interview with Sergiusz Królak for Plejada.pl that he was in a relationship with a man. In September 2019 he announced that he and his boyfriend were no longer dating. Duncan is currently dating Jordan Garfield as of 2020.
