Thijs van Leer 1975 Belgie Nederpop

Beschrijving

Thijs van Leer (pronounced: /tɛis vɑn lɪ:r/; born 31 March 1948) is a Dutch musician, singer and composer, best known for heading the Dutch progressive rock band, Focus, as primary vocalist, Hammond organ player, and flautist. He also yodels and whistles. In his later years, van Leer went on to release many solo albums which were also classical music and jazz-based.

Thijs van Leer was born in Amsterdam, and received his first flute at the age of eleven from his father, a classical flautist. He studied History of Art at Amsterdam University; after which he began studying flute and composition at the Amsterdam Conservatorium. He received a degree for flute from Geneva Conservatoire and also studied piano, orchestration (with Rogier van Otterloo) and organ (with Anthon van der Horst). While still at school, Van Leer led a jazz group on piano. He went on to play the flute and sing with the Shaffy cabaret group.

In 1969 he joined Martijn Dresden (bass) and Hans Cleuver (drums) to form a trio that covered songs by Traffic and backed other Dutch musicians, as well as playing their own material. Later in the year guitarist Jan Akkerman joined, completing the initial line-up of Focus. They released several albums in the 1970s, earning two gold records (for “Moving Waves” and “Focus III”) which spawned the international hit singles “Hocus Pocus” and “Sylvia”. Van Leer headed Focus through several line-up changes, and by early 1976 he was the only remaining original member; the group disbanded in 1978. To date over five million copies of Focus albums have sold worldwide.

Thijs van Leer ‘s 1973 “Introspection” solo album of classical flute supported by orchestra was also awarded gold record status, and the series of five Introspection albums has sold over a half million copies.He also worked and toured with  ..Sourse Wikipedia