Thijs van Leer

Thijs van Leer (born 31 March 1948, Amsterdam, Netherlands) 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.

Biography

Van Leer went on to release many solo albums which were also classical music and jazz based.

His main instruments are flute and different types of organs. He also sings, yodels and whistles.

Van Leer received his first flute at the age of eleven from his father, a classical flautist. He studied History of Art at Amsterdam University; after when 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 early 1970s.

Van Leer headed Focus through several line-up changes, and by 1977 he was the only remaining original member. The group disbanded in 1978. In 1985, van Leer briefly reunited with Akkerman to make Focus 1985. In 2002, van Leer created a new Focus line-up, which has since released the albums Focus 8 and Focus 9 / New Skin. A British tour was undertaken in spring 2006.

He also appeared as a guest musician on the album, Into the Electric Castle, by Arjen Anthony Lucassen's musical project Ayreon.

In 2008 Explore Multimedia released van Leer's first solo album in nearly a decade, The Home Concert. The album featured recordings made in his living room as he played material for Focus 9. The album is exclusively available via the internet, and at concerts.

Discography

Focus

• In and Out of Focus (January 1971)
• Moving Waves (October 1971)
• Focus III (November 1972)
• At the Rainbow (October 1973)
• Hamburger Concerto (May 1974)
• Mother Focus (October 1975)
• Ship of Memories (September 1977)
• Focus con Proby (January 1978)
• Focus (August 1985)
• Focus 8 (January 2003)
• Focus Masters From The Vaults Classic Rock Productions CRP1112 (2004)
• Live at the BBC 1976 (May 2004)
• Focus 9 / New Skin (September 2006)

Solo artist

• 1972 Introspection
• 1975 O My Love
• 1976 Introspection 2
• 1977 Nice to Have Met You
• 1978 Introspection
• 1980 Introspection 4
• 1981 Reflections
• 1986 Renaissance
• 1987 I Hate Myself (For Loving You)
• 1992 Introspection 92 (Posthumous tribute to Rogier van Otterloo)
• 1994 Musical Melody
• 1996 Bolero (CD version of the Reflections album with two extra tracks)
• 1996 Summertime
• 1997 Instrumental Hymns
• 1999 The Glorious Album
• 1999 Bach For A New Age
• 2000 12 Mooiste Liederen (re-release of The Glorious Album under the name of Jan Mulder, piano)
• 2006 Etudes Sans Gêne (limited edition DVD)
• 2008 The Home Concert

Thomas Blug Band

• 2005 Guitar From The Heart/Live (DVD)
• 2005 Guitar From The Heart - Live in Raalte, NL
• 2009 Soul & Pepper

External links

• - Official Focus website
• - Thijs Van Leer discography
• - Yahoo Focus group