Cyril Havermans is a

Dutch Dutch or Nederlands commonly refers to: * Something of, from, or related to the Netherlands ** Dutch people as an ethnic group () ** Dutch nationality law, history and regulations of Dutch citizenship () ** Dutch language () * In specific terms, i ...

musician, best known for being in the

progressive rock Progressive rock (shortened as prog rock or simply prog) is a broad genre of rock music that primarily developed in the United Kingdom through the mid- to late 1960s, peaking in the early-to-mid-1970s. Initially termed " progressive pop", the ...

band

Focus Focus (: foci or focuses) may refer to: Arts * Focus or Focus Festival, former name of the Adelaide Fringe arts festival in East Australia Film *Focus (2001 film), ''Focus'' (2001 film), a 2001 film based on the Arthur Miller novel *Focus (2015 ...

Life

Cyril Havermans (birth name Cyriel Havermans) was the bassist and vocalist for a number of Dutch pop bands in the 1960s, using the stage name Carel Hagemans: Peter and the Beats (1965–66), The Heralds (1966–67), Special Concept (renamed to Spatial Concept) (1967–68), and Big Wheel (1968–1969). In 1969, he began to perform as Cyriel Havermans in live concerts in the Netherlands with members of the nascent

(

Thijs van Leer Thijs van Leer (; born 31 March 1948) is a Dutch singer and keyboardist, best known as the founding member of the rock band Focus as its primary vocalist, keyboardist, and flautist. Born and raised in Amsterdam among a musical family, van Leer ...

, Martijn Dresden, and Hans Cleuver) as his backing band. His tenure as bassist with the

band

lasted from late 1970 until September 1971 during which time he played many live concerts with the group and recorded ''

Focus II ''Focus II'' (better known by its international title, ''Moving Waves'') is the second studio album by Dutch progressive rock band Focus, released in October 1971 on Imperial Records. Following the departure of original bassist Martin Dresden and ...

'' (aka "Moving Waves"). In 1971 this LP won the

Edison award The Edison Award is an annual Dutch music prize awarded for outstanding achievements in the music industry. It is comparable to the American Grammy Award. The Edison award itself is a bronze replica of a statuette of Thomas Edison, designed by ...

, the Dutch equivalent to the

Grammy The Grammy Awards, stylized as GRAMMY, and often referred to as The Grammys, are awards presented by The Recording Academy of the United States to recognize outstanding achievements in music. They are regarded by many as the most prestigious a ...

, for best album of the year. According to

Melody Maker ''Melody Maker'' was a British weekly music magazine, one of the world's earliest music weeklies; according to its publisher, IPC Media, the earliest. In January 2001, it was merged into "long-standing rival" (and IPC Media sister publicatio ...

magazine, it reached No. 2 in the UK charts in 1973, and spawned "Hocus Pocus", a top ten hit single in the US, UK, and many other territories worldwide. Aside from Cyriel's plaintive, wordless wailing on "Pupillae" from the ''

'' LP's sidelong "Eruption" suite, his vocal talents found no other outlet on this mostly instrumental album. He left the band to pursue a solo career playing melodic, acoustic guitar music with English lyrics. At this time Cyril dropped the 'e' from his first name. An eponymous album was released in 1973 with musical support from his old

bandmates

Jan Akkerman Jan Akkerman (born 24 December 1946) is a Dutch guitarist. He first found international commercial success with the band Focus (band), Focus, which he co-founded with Thijs van Leer. After leaving Focus, he continued as a solo musician, adding ja ...

, and

Pierre van der Linden Pierre van der Linden (born 19 February 1946) is a Dutch drummer, songwriter and member of the band, Focus. Early life Pierre van der Linden was born in Amsterdam in 1946. His father was Dutch actor Ab van der Linden, who was known in the Ne ...

. A second album, '' Mind Wave'', followed in 1974, and Cyril's group was sometimes featured as an opening act for

' European concerts in 1975. He was a guest musician on Lucifer's "Margriet" album, released in 1977. In 1983, he replaced André Reijnen as bassist in the oft-reunited Brainbox. In 2007, he played bass in the Group Three Pianos with brothers Paul and Tim Krempel. That same year Cyril sang and played bass guitar with ex-

Brainbox In human anatomy, the neurocranium, also known as the braincase, brainpan, brain-pan, or brainbox, is the upper and back part of the skull, which forms a protective case around the brain. In the human skull, the neurocranium includes the calv ...

members Kaz Lux and Rudy de Queljoe at the Blues and Roots Festival in

Oosterhout Oosterhout (; from ''ooster'', "eastern", and ''hout'', "woods") is a Municipalities of the Netherlands, municipality and a city in southern Netherlands. The municipality had a population of in . Population centers The municipality of Ooste ...

Netherlands , Terminology of the Low Countries, informally Holland, is a country in Northwestern Europe, with Caribbean Netherlands, overseas territories in the Caribbean. It is the largest of the four constituent countries of the Kingdom of the Nether ...

, and June 2011 he guested with rhythm & blues band Cold Shot for a gig in

Breda Breda ( , , , ) is a List of cities in the Netherlands by province, city and List of municipalities of the Netherlands, municipality in the southern part of the Netherlands, located in the Provinces of the Netherlands, province of North Brabant. ...

. In September 2012 he and Kaz Lux performed as a duo, also in Breda. In October 2016 he was interviewed and sang and played blues tunes on acoustic guitar on the BredaNu television show, On Stage.

Discography

Focus * ''

'' (aka "Moving Waves") – Imperial 5C 056 24385 (1971) Solo Work * ''

Cyril Cyril (also Cyrillus or Cyryl) is a masculine given name. It is derived from the Greek language, Greek name (''Kýrillos''), meaning 'lordly, masterful', which in turn derives from Greek (''kýrios'') 'lord'. There are various variant forms of t ...

'' – MGM 2315 261 (1973) * '' Mind Wave'' – MGM 2315 311 (1974)

References

Focus biography

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Havermans, Cyril Dutch rock bass guitarists Year of birth missing (living people) Living people Focus (band) members