Homage to famous street musician in The Hague

Did you know that the people of The Hague loved the late street musician Chuck Deely so much that he was posthumously honored with a public mural?

Keep on rocking in the free world

Chuck Deely, nicknamed Neil Young of The Hague, was born in 1954 in Detroit, Michigan. He left home at a young age and lived in Germany and Spain before coming to the Netherlands.

For two decades the popular American street musician sat singing and playing his guitar at the Grote Marktstraat in the city center of The Hague or at the train station. He played covers from the Rolling Stones, Neil Young and Bob Dylan as well as his own work. His anthem was ‘Rockin’ in the free world’.

After Charles Edward Deely III passed away January 2017 at the age of 62, the municipality of The Hague commissioned a wall painting. In a poll locals could cast a vote for their favorite mural design. The colorful design by artist Sophia den Breems received 65% of all votes. For two weeks Sophia and friends worked on the 20 meter wide mural at the Turfmarkt tram tunnel, opposite AH supermarket. They could only work for three hours per night, from 01.30 to 04.30am, when the tram was not running.

Special value for The Hague

In 2008 the mayor of The Hague grated Chuck with a ‘permit for life’ after a police officer gave him a ticket for playing in the street without a license. Because Chuck had been playing there for many years, people began to raise money to pay this fine. Only a day later the police withdrew the €100 fine when they recognized that the musician had a special value for the city of The Hague.