Jan Akkerman, born on December 24, 1946, is a Dutch guitarist. He achieved international commercial success with the Dutch band Focus, which he co-founded with Thijs van Leer. Focus, who explored progressive rock, an amalgam of classical, jazz, and rock music, made a breakthrough in 1970, first in their home country and then elsewhere, even in England and America. Focus was an instrumental group, with Jan Akkerman on guitar and Thijs van Leer on flute and organ. They scored with instrumental tracks such as "House of the King," "Hocus Pocus," and "Sylvia," which was a common occurrence at the time. Other instrumental hits from that era included Fleetwood Mac's "Albatross" (1968) and Mike Oldfield's "Tubular Bells" (1973). "House of the King" was the title of two singles, the first of which was by Focus, and the second was by Focus guitarist Jan Akkerman, who also wrote the song. "House of the King" was recorded in London with the album but was not included on the first Dutch release of the album. However, the song became Focus's first hit and was subsequently included on later Dutch and international album versions. The song was notable at the time for its flute melody. Akkerman was voted Best Guitarist in the World by readers of the UK magazine Melody Maker. On April 11, 2009, he received the Eddy Christiani Award at the Arsenaaltheater in Vlissingen. The Award is an initiative of Poppuntzeeland. Akkerman, the guitarist, receives the award for his incredible virtuosity, versatility, and drive for innovation. Akkerman worked as a session musician with André Hazes and collaborated with Alan Price, Herman Brood, Peter Banks, Jack Bruce, Charlie Byrd, Phil Collins, Paco de Lucía, Ice-T, and B.B. King. This is the “House of King”-version of Jan Akkerman solo, recorded on March 18, 1974 for Toppop.
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This is to let you know that the video recording of the video clip was originally recorded by AVROTROS Broadcasting. AVROTROS Broadcasting hereby warrants and represents that it is the sole and exclusive owner of the physical film and/or videotape footage in this video clip.
The performance of the artist(s) in the clip was filmed and recorded with the written consent of the artist(s) and their representatives.
AVROTROS is a Dutch radio and television broadcaster, founded in 2014 from a merger of AVRO and TROS. From January 1st, 2014 the name of the merged broadcaster was used in joint programmes. AVRO was founded in 1923 as the Netherlands first public broadcaster. TROS started broadcasting in 1964. Toppop was a weekly AVRO pop program that was aired between 1970 and 1988.
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TopPop was the first regular dedicated pop music TV show in the Dutch language area. Dutch broadcaster AVRO aired the programme weekly, from 1970 to 1988. Presenter Ad Visser hosted the show for its first fifteen years.
World famous music artists performed on TopPop: ABBA, 10CC, Bee Gees, The Jacksons, David Bowie, Earth & Fire, Boney M, Smokie, KC & The Sunshine Band, Chick, Donna Summer, Rod Stewart, and many many more.