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.