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Thijs van Leer

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

Thijs van Leer, born in 1948 in Amsterdam, is a Dutch musician and the founder of the rock band Focus, in which he sang and played organ and flute. He grew up in a musical family. His father was a classically trained flautist, his mother a singer. Van Leer was already playing piano at the age of three and was given a flute at eleven. He discovered jazz, above all through records by Miles Davis, and thought that jazz and classical music could be combined in rock. He studied art history, took lessons at the Conservatorium van Amsterdam and studied flute and composition in Geneva. Rogier van Otterloo taught him orchestration and arranging.

Music and breakthrough

From 1967 to 1969 he sang and played in the cabaret of Ramses Shaffy. Then he formed Trio Thijs van Leer, which at the end of 1969 continued with the guitarist Jan Akkerman as Focus. The group broke through internationally with Moving Waves in 1971 and the single Hocus Pocus, with its yodelling and whistling. After several albums with changing line-ups he disbanded Focus in 1978, and in 2002 he started the group again. As a solo artist, too, he was successful in the Netherlands, with Introspection in 1972, among others, and he collaborated with other artists. In 2008 he was made a knight in the Order of Orange-Nassau for his services to music.

Influence

Van Leer's mixture of classical music, jazz and rock gave Dutch pop music an international face. His flute, his organ and his idiosyncratic voice made Focus unmistakable in the early 1970s.

Listening

Listening tip. Listen to Hocus Pocus by Focus. Notice the flute, the yodelling and the whistling of Thijs van Leer, and the hard guitar playing of Jan Akkerman around them.

Discography

Studio albums

In School of Rock

The chapters, maps and magazine stories of School of Rock are currently available in Dutch only.

Mentioned in other articles

Categories: Artists