Jan Akkerman

Jan Akkerman gained international fame with Focus from 1969 – 1976 with whom he recorded a number of breakout albums including ‘Focus Plays Focus / In and Out Of Focus’ (1970), ‘Focus II/Moving Waves’ (1971) which reached the album chart in the UK #2, Netherlands #4 and #8 in the US going Gold. This album spawned the mega-hit ‘Hocus Pocus’ which had international chart success and more recently has been heard on numerous TV shows such as Top Gear, Skins and Shameless. It has been used in the in the films Hot Fuzz, Robocop (2014) and Baby Driver. and numerous TV advertisements including Nike. 

In 1973 Akkerman was named ‘World’s Best Guitarist’ by Melody Makes in a Top 10 that included Eric Clapton, Steve Howe, Jimmy Page, John McLaughlin and Mick Ronson.   

Including live albums, Jan has released 30 solo albums and has collaborated with a number of musicians ranging from Alan Price, Jack Bruce and Ice T. Acknowledgments from his peers include:

‘Jan Akkerman is totally a hero of mine. There are some people in life that no matter how old you are, you feel nervous if you meet someone, he’s one of those, he’s a real role model’. Brian May

‘How can you forget a guy like Jan? Usually with people that are as great as he is, you know of them, but you don’t always get to know them or their music, but you know their reputation. The nights that we played together was great, I wish I could play the things that he did’. B.B. King 

Yes’ guitarist Peter Banks has also lauded him calling him ‘An almost perfectly formed musician. His classical playing was tremendous and his improvising was second to none’.

Jan Akkerman’s 26 CD retrospective Box Set was released in 2020 closely following his acclaimed pre-Covid album ‘Close Beauty’.