Jan Akkerman (born 24 December 1946) is a Dutch guitarist.[1] He first found international commercial success with the band Focus, which he co-founded with Thijs van Leer. After leaving Focus, he continued as a solo musician, adding jazz rock influences.
Akkerman performing on Dutch television (AVRO's TopPop) in 1974
The son of a scrap iron trader, Akkerman was born in Amsterdam.[1] He started playing the accordion before turning to the guitar. Around age ten he took guitar lessons and his first single, with the Friendship Sextet, was released in 1960, when he was thirteen years old. Akkerman won a scholarship to study at the Amsterdam Music Lyceum for five years, developing his composition and arranging skills.
Akkerman joined the Thijs van Leer Trio in late 1969 which, as the nascent band Focus, was the pit band for the Dutch theatrical production of Hair (recorded as an album in 1969). Under the name Focus, the band explored progressive rock, an amalgam of classical, jazz, and rock music, and had hits in the seventies such as "Hocus Pocus" and "Sylvia". The band's albums Focus II (1971) and Focus 3 (1972) were certifiedgold by the RIAA in 1973 for selling 500,000 copies each.[3][4] The live album At the Rainbow (1973) and the band's fourth outing, Hamburger Concerto (1974), were certified silver by the BPI for selling 60,000 copies each.[5]
In late 1973 Akkerman was voted Best Guitar by readers of UK weekly Melody Maker, beating favorites such as John McLaughlin, Jimmy Page and Ritchie Blackmore.[6] Akkerman and Focus were the only ones to challenge the bias toward American and British pop artists.[7] He placed in third a year later in MM's Polls, after Eric Clapton (#1) and Steve Howe (#2) from Yes. With manufacturer Framus he helped produce one of the first signature guitar models.[8][9]
Atlantic released his solo album Tabernakel, which contains his playing the lute.[2] His concept albumEli, recorded with Kaz Lux on vocals, won the Dutch Edison Award for best album in 1976.[10] On the album, Akkerman experimented with a 12-string guitar tuned in parallel fifths. In the early 1980s he began to experiment with a guitar synthesizer, as on the album Oil in the Family. In 1985, he reunited Focus with Van Leer for an album and accompanying concert. The band reunited again in 1990 for the Dutch television program Goud van Oud (Old Gold). During the 1990s and in the 2000s he continued playing with his own band, and also as a solo musician, accompanied by pre-recorded computer-generated background (Roland synthesizers and Linn drums).
In 1992, he was involved in a serious car accident, but he resumed playing in 1993. In the late 1990s, after an absence of nearly 20 years, he was persuaded to tour the UK again. He wrote for the Dutch magazine GitaarPlus. In 2013, Akkerman released the album North Sea Jazz.[11]
David Randall, In & out of focus: the music of Jan Akkerman and Focus, London: SAF Publishing, 2003, ISBN0-946719-44-6
Brigitte Tast, Hans-Juergen Tast: „be bop” - Die Wilhelmshöhe rockt. Disco und Konzerte in der Hölle. Verlag Gebrüder Gerstenberg GmbH & Co.kg, Hildesheim 2007, ISBN978-3-8067-8589-0.
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