Popular singing duo Nick & Simon have split up but denied they had parted on bad terms, the pair told talk show host Eva Jinek.

Nick Schilder and Simon Keizer, two of a host of Dutch pop artists to come from Volendam, performed as a duo for sixteen years, scoring numerous hits. They dismissed rumours the split had anything to do with recent online gossip about Keizer’s private life.

‘I have learned a long time ago not to be affected by what people say about me,’ Keizer said. ‘We started when we were in our early twenties and I am now 39. I just want to know what I will be without Nick and Simon,’ he said.

Commenting on the publicity that followed the decision, Schilder said: ‘it has apparently come as a shock to people that we are two separate individuals. We have been combining performing as a duo with doing our own thing for a long time.’

The duo will be appearing in a number of farewell shows at the Rotterdam Ahoy concert hall in Rotterdam in April.