Robert Westerholt (born 2 January 1975) is a Dutch musician, known as the guitarist and co-founder of the

symphonic metal Symphonic metal is a cross-genre style designation for the symphonic subsets of heavy metal music subgenres. It is used to denote any metal band that makes use of symphonic or orchestral elements. The style features the heavy drums and guitars ...

band

Within Temptation Within Temptation is a Dutch symphonic metal band founded in April 1996 by vocalist Sharon den Adel and guitarist Robert Westerholt. They have been classified by critics as gothic metal and symphonic metal, although each album contains other infl ...

. He writes music for the band, which is fronted by his partner and band vocalist

Sharon den Adel Sharon Janny den Adel (born 12 July 1974) is a Dutch singer who is the lead vocalist of the symphonic metal band Within Temptation. She has been performing since age 14, and co-founded Within Temptation with partner Robert Westerholt in 1996. S ...

. Westerholt used to work in

human resource management Human resource management (HRM) is the strategic and coherent approach to the effective and efficient management of people in a company or organization such that they help their business gain a competitive advantage. It is designed to maximize e ...

before his career with Within Temptation.

Work prior to Within Temptation

Westerholt was born in

Waddinxveen Waddinxveen () is a town and municipality along the Gouwe river in the western Netherlands in the province of South Holland near Gouda. The municipality had a population of in and covers an area of of which is water. A small piece of artwork ...

South Holland South Holland ( ) is a province of the Netherlands with a population of over 3.8 million as of January 2023 and a population density of about , making it the country's most populous province and one of the world's most densely populated areas. ...

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 ...

. In 1992, Westerholt formed the band "The Circle" with future Within Temptation keyboard player

Martijn Spierenburg Martijn Spierenburg (born 30 January 1975) is a composer and arranger. He was also the keyboard player for the Dutch symphonic metal band Within Temptation from 2001 to 2024. In 2018, it was announced that he would be the composer for the musical ...

,
and he began writing his own music. The Circle's first demo, entitled 'Symphony No.1' was finished in December 1992. At this point, The Circle had a complete line-up, composed of Westerholt, Martijn, Jeroen van Veen (Within Temptation's bassist), Arjan Groenedijk and Ernst van der Loo, although Arjan and Ernst both left the band a while later. In a 1995 compilation album released by

DSFA Records DSFA Records was a Dutch metal record label. The name stands for "Doesn't Stand For Anything". DSFA was founded in the beginning of the 1990s by Anthony van den Berg and was located in Vlissingen. Known bands for the label are Within Temptation ...

, two songs, "Broken Silence" and "Frozen" by The Circle, were featured. Soon afterward, Westerholt left The Circle, and the band was renamed as Voyage. Voyage released their only album 'Embrace' in 1995, in which Sharon den Adel collaborated on the track "Frozen".

Within Temptation

After leaving The Circle, Westerholt began writing more music for a new musical project with his girlfriend, Sharon den Adel. Westerholt sent demo versions of their songs 'Enter' and 'Candles' to former Voyage bandmate Jeroen van Veen, who then left Voyage to join Westerholt's project, along with Michiel Papenhove. Their first drummer was Richard Willemse, who left and was replaced with Dennis Leeflang, with whom Within Temptation recorded their first demo. He left soon afterward and was replaced with Ivar de Graaf. Westerholt recalls that "we always had a little bit of a drummer problem, leaving and coming back again...". By 1997, their line-up had been completed, with Sharon (vocals), Westerholt (guitars and vocals), Westerholt's brother Martijn (keyboards), Jeroen (bass), Michiel (guitar) and Ivar (drums). In the same year, Within Temptation were signed to DSFA Records and released their debut album, Enter. As of 2011, Westerholt has stepped down from touring with Within Temptation in order to take care of his and Den Adel's children. He is still a recording band member, however, and will focus on songwriting and production. Stefan Helleblad, who has been working behind the scenes with the band, is his live stand-in.

Other appearances

In 1998, he had a small singing part as Death (along with George Oosthoek of

Orphanage An orphanage is a residential institution, total institution or group home, devoted to the care of orphans and children who, for various reasons, cannot be cared by their biological families. The parents may be deceased, absent, or abusi ...

) on the

Ayreon Ayreon is a musical project by Dutch songwriter, singer, musician and record producer Arjen Anthony Lucassen. Ayreon's music is described as progressive rock, progressive metal and power metal sometimes combined with genres such as folk music, f ...

rock opera A rock opera is a collection of rock music songs with lyrics that relate to a common story. Rock operas are typically released as concept albums and are not scripted for acting, which distinguishes them from operas, although several have been ad ...

" Into the Electric Castle", on which Sharon den Adel played one of the main characters.

Personal life

Westerholt and

became parents to Eva Luna on 7 December 2005 and Robin Aiden on 1 June 2009. The birth of their son, Logan Arwin, was announced on 31 March 2011.Sharon: Important news… , Within Temptation
/ref> Westerholt and den Adel eventually married in 2018.

References

External links

{{DEFAULTSORT:Westerholt, Robert 1975 births Living people Dutch heavy metal guitarists Dutch male guitarists Dutch male singer-songwriters Dutch singer-songwriters People from Waddinxveen Within Temptation members