I
arrived in Amsterdam, in early March, 1979.
It was as if I had come home. The life here was a completely different
pace than I had experienced in New York, or the United States for that matter.
In those first years, I met some of the local heroes of the time
Herman
Brood and his Wild Romance (Danny
Lademacher, Cees Meerman, Freddie
Cavalli) Harry Hartholt, (Houseband) The
Lau, (the Scene) Hans
Waterman (Solution), and so many others who were then very active in the
music scene way back when. Some of these people are still friends, but
time moves on and so do people, moving in and out of ones life
In 1980 I made my first single The Shady Side of Town with Hubert
Bredt (Bass), Harrie Hardholt (Guitar) and Dennis Whitbread (drums).
In 1985 Caught by Surprise with again Harrie Hardholt and Bas
Eble.
I did many support acts, for Bands like the Grateful
Dead, Solution, Van
Morrison, Joan Armatrading,
Melonie, Stevie Ray Vaughn,
Richie Havens, Ten
Years After, and so many others, I really cannot remember.
In 1987, I hooked up with Tom Agterberg (bass) and together we played all
over Europe, Festivals like Roskilde and so many others that I have now forgotton
most of them. I was never very good at keeping a scrapbook.
Tom & I recorded Two LP length Cassettes Shell never Forget
and Cindy Peress and the Big Sky Rhythm Devils.
In 1990 I got a thing happening with Shamrock Records in Austria. Tom
and I then recorded a cd single, Somewhere in Switzerland
with Henri from Himalaya studios. We had Joolz Hodgson playing guitar
in those days. He was from Leeds and very loud.
It was 1991, Tom was gone (serious trauma) and I had a band happening with
Gerard Bouwmeester (drums). In those days there was a another great
band around town, called Men without Heads with Calder Spanier
on Sax, and Lorentz Persson on Trombone. It was then that I recorded "The
World is Watching", with those two guys making fabulous horn arrangements.
With different guests such as Mike Wilson, Dirk
Scheele and Dominic Sprenger, all on lead guitar, Tom Lyne & Morgen
Pugh played some bass parts, & we made an interesting mozaic of music.
Time marched on as it does, and somewhere soon after that CD was released,
I met Alen Svetopetric, who played bass with me from 1993 until about 2001.
Together with Gerard we started a project in 1996 that was finally released
in 2000. That was the CD "The Magic of Music". For myself
it was a truly magical happening and the development of my musical self.
We had many guests playing on this CD. Like Vinnie Fazarri, Fay
Lovsky and Leo Bouwmeester.
In 2000, the band consisted of Jimmy Griego, Alen Svetopetric, Wil Sophie
and myself. We played a lot of fab gigs, and with this band, played some of
the nice festivals in Holland. (Bospop,
Culembourg Blues, Texel
Blues).
It is not easy to get to a commercial level, especially when music is coming
from a free spiritual place.
In 2001 I had to stop playing because of a physical illness, called Carpel
Tunnel Syndrome, it is a nervous disorder that affects the hands and from
2001 to 2004 I had to recover from two operations. In the meantime,
I picked up playing the piano and discovered a new side of myself and
I am out again playing and have a brand new band
You
can see them here on the website.
I hope to see all of you at one of my next concerts, feel free to
.
and anybody wanting to add a piece of history that I may have forgotten, please
do so. Send me an e-mail! Anyway,
I hope you all enjoyed reading this short summary of a long and still ongoing
musical tale
.