Cyril Havermans is a Dutch musician, best known for being in the

progressive rock Progressive rock (shortened as prog rock or simply prog; sometimes conflated with art rock) is a broad genre of rock music that developed in the United Kingdom and United States through the mid- to late 1960s, peaking in the early 1970s. Init ...

band

Focus Focus, or its plural form foci may refer to: Arts * Focus or Focus Festival, former name of the Adelaide Fringe arts festival in South Australia Film *''Focus'', a 1962 TV film starring James Whitmore * ''Focus'' (2001 film), a 2001 film based ...

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 (pronounced: ; 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 famil ...

, 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), or simply known as the Grammys, are awards presented by the Recording Academy of the United States to recognize "outstanding" achievements in the music industry. They are regarded by many as the most pre ...

, 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. It was founded in 1926, largely as a magazine for dance band musicians, by Leicester-born ...

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. Biography Van der Linden was influenced by his childhood hero Buddy Rich. He finds inspiration in French philosophers and classical comp ...

. A second album, ''

Mind Wave ''Mind Wave'' is a studio album by Cyril Havermans. Track listing All songs written by Cyril Havermans side 1 #"Mind Wave (vocal)" #"Can't Go Back There" #"There's a Woman" #"Consultation Song" #"Blue Eyed Lady" side 2 #"Blue Boy" #"Fools Got ...

'', 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 Brainbox is a Dutch rock group from the late 1960s/early 1970s. The band was founded in Amsterdam by guitarist Jan Akkerman , drummer Pierre van der Linden and singer Kazimir Lux (Kaz). Their debut single was "Down Man", which established their ...

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

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

Netherlands ) , anthem = ( en, "William of Nassau") , image_map = , map_caption = , subdivision_type = Sovereign state , subdivision_name = Kingdom of the Netherlands , established_title = Before independence , established_date = Spanish Netherl ...

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

Breda Breda () is a city and municipality in the southern part of the Netherlands, located in the province of North Brabant. The name derived from ''brede Aa'' ('wide Aa' or 'broad Aa') and refers to the confluence of the rivers Mark and Aa. Breda has ...

. 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 name Κύριλλος (''Kýrillos''), meaning 'lordly, masterful', which in turn derives from Greek κυριος (''kýrios'') 'lord'. There are various varian ...

'' – MGM 2315 261 (1973) * ''

'' – MGM 2315 311 (1974)

References

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