Piet Veerman

From HitStory, the pop encyclopedia of School of Rock · Artist

Piet Veerman is a Dutch pop musician, born in 1943 in the fishing village of Volendam. His father played many instruments and taught him music; his mother was a painter. At twelve he received his first guitar. With his cousin Jaap Schilder he performed as the Everly Kosters, a reference to The Everly Brothers. Then came The Mystic Four, which became The Blue Cats and eventually The Cats.

Music and breakthrough

From 1964 to 1985 Veerman was guitarist and singer of The Cats, and from the single Times Were When in 1968 he sang almost all of the singles. Until 1974 it was the most popular Dutch band, also in Belgium, Germany, Indonesia and Suriname. The band split up in 1974 and reunited in 1975, when Veerman made an album and a single, both called Rollin' On A River, which reached number nine in the Top 40. In 1980 the group stopped again. After the final break-up he started a solo career in 1987 with Sailin' Home, an adaptation of Zora je by Neda Ukraden. It reached number one in the Netherlands and Belgium and in the Netherlands was the best-selling single of the year. He received more than thirty gold records.

Influence

Later he tried reggae and soul, with covers of Willy DeVille, and recorded songs partly in Spanish, with influences of Latin pop and Tex-Mex. He also worked with other Volendammers, such as Anny Schilder, Jan Smit and George Baker. Veerman gave the Volendam sound a recognisable face: soft singing, melodic guitars and simple, warm songs.

Listening

Discography

Studio albums

• 1975Rollin' on a River
• 1980Back to You
• 1987Piet Veerman
• 1988Harmony
• 1989Cry of Freedom
• 1991Future
• 1992In Between
• 1993A Winter's Tale
• 1994My Heart and Soul
• 1995Dreams (To Remember)
• 2003Rollin' on a River