Ralf J. J. Mackenbach (born 4 October 1995[1]) is a Dutch plasma physicist, artist and former child singer who rose to prominence after winning the Junior Eurovision Song Contest 2009 in Kyiv, Ukraine with the song "Click Clack".[2] He is the first and so far only Dutch winner of the contest.
Mackenbach was born in Best and has an older brother Rick (born 1993). As a child, he starred in the musicals Tarzan and Beauty and the Beast.[3] He attended Amsterdam's dancing academy Lucia Marthas, and studied acting at Centrum voor de Kunsten Eindhoven (CKE) in Eindhoven.[4]
In 2009, at the age of thirteen, Mackenbach won the 2009 edition of Junior Songfestival with the song "Click Clack".[5] As a result, he represented The Netherlands in the 2009 Junior Eurovision Song Contest in Kyiv, Ukraine, and finished in the top spot with 121 points. "Click Clack" peaked at #7 in the Single Top 100.[6] Subsequently, he appeared in both the 2010 and 2012 contests as part of an interval act.
Mackenbach's debut album RALF achieved a top 10 spot in the Dutch album charts and entered the Flemish album charts at #59.[7] In March 2011, it achieved gold status with over 25.000 sales.[8]
In 2011, he participated in the show Sterren dansen op het ijs. He was a judge on the 2011 edition of the Dutch talent show My Name is.... In 2019, he appeared as a judge on the Dutch adaptation of All Together Now.[9]
After graduating secondary school with a VWO certificate, Mackenbach studied at the TU Eindhoven. In 2019, he finished a master's degree in nuclear fusion, for which he wrote the dissertation Numerical Modelling of Mode Penetration in Cylindrical Geometries using M3D-C1.[10]
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Preceded by Marissa with "1 dag" |
Netherlands in the Junior Eurovision Song Contest 2009 |
Succeeded by Senna and Anna with "My Family" |
Preceded by![]() with "Bzz.." |
Winner of the Junior Eurovision Song Contest 2009 |
Succeeded by |
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