Douwe Bob Posthuma was born on 12 December 1992 in Amsterdam in the Netherlands. He was born into a Frisian family.[2] His father, Simon Posthuma, is known for being a member of The Fool design collective.
Douwe Bob started playing piano at the age of 6, initially concentrating on classical music and jazz. He took up the guitar at age 14. As a singer he was inspired by country, folk and pop music from the 1950s to the mid-1970s.
In 2012, he competed in the Dutch TV talent show De beste singer-songwriter van Nederland (The Best Singer-Songwriter of the Netherlands). He played the songs "Standing Here Helpless", "Icarus", and in the finale, "Multicoloured Angels". In the finale, he was joined by Dutch singer Tim Knol and the latter's band. He won the finals[3][4][5] and "Multicoloured Angels" reached number 17 in the weekly music chart Dutch Top 40. His debut album, Born in a Storm, was released on 3 May 2013. The bulk of the songs were written during a holiday in Morocco with Matthijs van Duijvenbode [nl]. In June 2013, Douwe Bob played at the Pinkpop Festival.[6][7] At the end of 2013, he appeared in the documentary Whatever Forever: Douwe Bob to talk about his relationship with his father Simon Posthuma, during IDFA.[8]
In 2014, Douwe Bob became one of the Ambassadors of Freedom for the Bevrijdingsfestival [nl].[9] In January 2015, he released the single "Hold Me", produced in collaboration with Anouk.[10] In February 2015, Douwe Bob announced his new album Pass It On. The album was released on 15 May 2015 by record company Universal Music Group.[11][12]
On 6 May 2016, he released his third studio album Fool Bar by record company Universal Music Group. The album peaked at number four on the Dutch Albums Chart. Douwe Bob represented his country in the Eurovision Song Contest 2016 in Stockholm,[13] where he performed the song "Slow Down" in the semi-finals and finals on 10 and 14 May 2016. He placed eleventh in the final, racking up a total of 153 points. He was the Dutch spokesperson for the Eurovision Song Contest 2017.[14]
On 21 April 2017, Douwe Bob was announced as the fourth coach of the seventh season of The Voice Kids,[15] which started on 23 February 2018. In the following season, he did not return and was replaced by Anouk. On 9 November 2018, Douwe Bob released his fourth studio album The Shape I'm In, which he described as being a break-up record. In 2019, he composed the title song for the Dutch feature film Singel 39.[16] He also played a small role in the film.[16] The film won the Golden Film award after having sold 100,000 tickets.[16]
On 10 March 2016, in an interview with OutTV, Douwe Bob revealed that he identifies as bisexual.[17]
Posthuma has three children with three different women: a daughter with Loes van Delft; a second daughter with an unknown woman; and a son with former girlfriend Anouk.[18]
