Max Werner (29 December 1953 – 9 April 2024) was a Dutch vocalist, musician, and drummer. He was the lead singer,
drummer
A drummer is a percussionist who creates music using drums.
Most contemporary western music ensemble, bands that play Rock music, rock, Pop music, pop, jazz, or Contemporary R&B, R&B music include a drummer for purposes including timekeepi ...
, and
percussionist
A percussion instrument is a musical instrument that is sounded by being struck or scraped by a beater including attached or enclosed beaters or rattles struck, scraped or rubbed by hand or struck against another similar instrument. Ex ...
of the progressive art rock band
Kayak
]
A kayak is a small, narrow human-powered watercraft typically propelled by means of a long, double-bladed paddle. The word ''kayak'' originates from the Inuktitut word '' qajaq'' (). In British English, the kayak is also considered to be ...
.
Life and career
Werner was born in
Hilversum
Hilversum () is a List of cities in the Netherlands by province, city and List of municipalities of the Netherlands, municipality in the Provinces of the Netherlands, province of North Holland, Netherlands. Located in the heart of the Gooi, it is ...
.
In 1972, Werner co-founded the band along with keyboardist
Ton Scherpenzeel
Ton Scherpenzeel (born 6 August 1952) is a Dutch keyboardist, composer, lyricist, and founding member of Dutch progressive rock band Kayak. Subsequent to Kayak, Scherpenzeel joined British progressive rock band Camel (band), Camel. He also play ...
, guitarist
Johan Slager, and drummer
Pim Koopman
Wilhelmus Frederikus "Pim" Koopman (11 March 1953 – 23 November 2009) was a Dutch musician best known as the drummer, percussionist and occasional lead singer of rock band Kayak.
Biography
Born in Hilversum, Koopman co-founded Kayak in 197 ...
. He sang lead vocals (and played
mellotron
The Mellotron is an electro-mechanical musical instrument developed in Birmingham, England, in 1963. It is played by pressing its keys, each of which causes a length of magnetic tape to contact a Capstan (tape recorder), capstan, which pulls i ...
) on Kayak's first five albums. He later switched to drums until the band split up in 1982. In 1999, he returned as singer for the Kayak album ''Close to the Fire''. After a short tour in 2000, he had to leave again due to health problems.
Werner also recorded four solo albums. In May 1981, he scored a hit single with "Rain in May", which peaked at No. 6 in the Netherlands and was a huge success in certain other European countries as well. In June of that same year, the song also peaked as high as No. 74 on the American ''
Billboard
A billboard (also called a hoarding in the UK and many other parts of the world) is a large outdoor advertising structure (a billing board), typically found in high-traffic areas such as alongside busy roads. Billboards present large advertis ...
''
Hot 100
The ''Billboard'' Hot 100, also known as simply the Hot 100, is the music industry standard record chart in the United States for songs, published weekly by ''Billboard'' magazine. Chart rankings are based on sales (physical and digital), o ...
charts.
In September 1981, the song peaked at No. 2 in Germany. In April 2005, Werner performed the song on the German TV show ''Die Hit-Giganten – die 30 größten Hits und Interpreten der coolen Achtziger.''
Werner died on 9 April 2024, at the age of 70.
Discography
Studio albums with Kayak
(as lead singer):
* ''
See See the Sun'' (1973)
* ''
Kayak II'' (1974)
* ''
Royal Bed Bouncer'' (1975)
* ''
The Last Encore'' (1976)
* ''
Starlight Dancer'' (1977)
* ''Close to the Fire'' (2000)
(as drummer):
* ''
Phantom of the Night'' (1979)
* ''
Periscope Life'' (1980)
* ''
Merlin
The Multi-Element Radio Linked Interferometer Network (MERLIN) is an interferometer array of radio telescopes spread across England. The array is run from Jodrell Bank Observatory in Cheshire by the University of Manchester on behalf of UK Re ...
'' (1981)
* ''
Eyewitness'' (1981) ("Live" studio album)
Solo albums
* ''Rainbow's End'' (1979)
* ''
Seasons
A season is a division of the year based on changes in weather, ecology, and the number of daylight hours in a given region. On Earth, seasons are the result of the axial parallelism of Earth's axial tilt, tilted orbit around the Sun. In temperat ...
'' (1981)
* ''How Can It Be... Like This?'' (1988)
* ''Not the Opera'' (1995)
Singles
* "
Rain in May" (1981)
* "
Summer in the City" (1981)
* "Stop and Start" (1982)
* "Roadrunner" (1983)
* "Throw the Dice" (1984)
* "Dim the Light" (1985)
* "And the Rain" (1986)
* "Fortissimo" (1995)
References
External Links
Line-up page on the Kayak official website*
*
1953 births
2024 deaths
Dutch rock singers
Entertainers from Hilversum
Dutch rock drummers
Dutch male drummers
Kayak (band) members
{{drummer-stub