Jan Russell Schelhaas (born 11 March 1948) is an English musician, mostly known as the keyboard player from the bands

Caravan Caravan or caravans may refer to: Transport and travel *Caravan (travellers), a group of travellers journeying together **Caravanserai, a place where a caravan could stop *Camel train, a convoy using camels as pack animals *Convoy, a group of veh ...

and

Camel A camel (from: la, camelus and grc-gre, κάμηλος (''kamēlos'') from Hebrew or Phoenician: גָמָל ''gāmāl''.) is an even-toed ungulate in the genus ''Camelus'' that bears distinctive fatty deposits known as "humps" on its back. C ...

Biography

Schelhaas was born in

Liverpool Liverpool is a city and metropolitan borough in Merseyside, England. With a population of in 2019, it is the 10th largest English district by population and its metropolitan area is the fifth largest in the United Kingdom, with a popul ...

, where he started his career playing bass for several bands and releasing a single on Decca's Deram label as the soul band Bernie & the Buzz Band in 1968 before finally turning to keyboards and starting the soft rock band, National Head Band, in 1970 with Neil Ford on guitar and future Uriah Heep's

Lee Kerslake Lee Gary Kerslake (16 April 1947– 19 September 2020) was an English musician, best known as the longtime drummer and backing vocalist for the rock band Uriah Heep and for his work with Ozzy Osbourne in the early 1980s. Biography Early life a ...

on drums. They released the album ''Albert One'' in 1971 produced by Yes producer

Eddie Offord Eddy Offord (born 20 February 1943) is a retired English record producer and audio engineer who gained prominence in the 1970s for his work on albums by the progressive rock bands Emerson, Lake & Palmer and Yes. Life and career Offord studied phy ...

, but without any success. Next stop for Schelhaas was the

Gary Moore Robert William Gary Moore (4 April 19526 February 2011) was a Northern Irish musician. Over the course of his career he played in various groups and performed a range of music including blues, blues rock, hard rock, heavy metal, and jazz ...

band and the recording of the album ''

Grinding Stone Millstones or mill stones are stones used in gristmills, for grinding wheat or other grains. They are sometimes referred to as grindstones or grinding stones. Millstones come in pairs: a convex stationary base known as the ''bedstone'' and ...

'' from 1973. After the recording, he left Moore to do solo projects including an organ session on

Thin Lizzy Thin Lizzy are an Irish hard rock band formed in Dublin in 1969. Their music reflects a wide range of influences, including blues, soul music, psychedelic rock and traditional Irish folk music, but is generally classified as hard rock or some ...

's 1973 ''

Vagabonds of the Western World ''Vagabonds of the Western World'' is the third studio album by Irish hard rock band Thin Lizzy, released in 1973. It was the band's last album with original guitarist Eric Bell and the first to feature the artwork of Jim Fitzpatrick, whose work ...

'' album. In July 1975, Schelhaas was asked to play keyboard in the band

after

Dave Sinclair David Sinclair (born 24 November 1947) is a British keyboardist (organ, piano, harpsichord, electric piano, Mellotron, Davolisint, etc.) associated with the psychedelia/progressive rock Canterbury Scene since the late 1960s. He became famous ...

left them. Jan Schelhaas toured the world around with the band and recorded three albums: ''

Blind Dog at St. Dunstans ''Blind Dog at St. Dunstans'' is the seventh studio album by Canterbury Scene rock band Caravan. It was released in 1976. This album has a lighter feel than Caravan's previous releases, shifting toward shorter, " poppier" songs. The lighter fee ...

'' (1976), ''

Better by Far ''Better by Far'' is the eighth studio album by Canterbury scene rock band Caravan. Track listing All songs composed by Pye Hastings, except where noted. ;Side one ;Side two Personnel ;Caravan * Pye Hastings – vocals, guitars * G ...

'' (1977) and '' Cool Water'', which was not released until 1994. In 1978, Caravan had a break and Schelhaas accepted an offer to join

on their world tour for their album '' Breathless'' (1978). At that time, the band also included cousins

Richard Sinclair Richard Stephen Sinclair (born 6 June 1948) is an English progressive rock bassist, guitarist, and vocalist who has been a member of several bands of the Canterbury scene. Biography Born in Canterbury, England, both his father (Dick Sinclair) ...

(bass and vocals) and

(keyboards) with whom he had already played in Caravan. Schelhaas worked with Camel until 1981, when he contributed to ''

I Can See Your House from Here ''I Can See Your House from Here'' is the seventh studio album by English progressive rock band Camel. Released in 1979, a new line up was introduced with founding members Andrew Latimer (guitar) and Andy Ward (drums) joined by bassist Coli ...

'' from 1979 and the album ''

Nude Nudity is the state of being in which a human is without clothing. The loss of body hair was one of the physical characteristics that marked the biological evolution of modern humans from their hominin ancestors. Adaptations related to h ...

'' from 1981. From 1982 to 1989, he played on two of Lee Fardon's albums: ''The God Given Right'' and ''The Savage Art of Love'' and the EP ''Palestine''. Schelhaas had met Fardon when they both played with Ross Stagg in the early 1970s. In 2002, Schelhaas was once again asked to join Caravan due to Dave Sinclair having left because of musical differences. He recorded ''

The Unauthorized Breakfast Item ''The Unauthorised Breakfast Item'' is the thirteenth studio album by progressive rock band Caravan, released in 2003. Track listing All songs by Pye Hastings, except "Nowhere to Hide" (Dave Sinclair), "Linders Field" (Doug Boyle) and "For Rich ...

'' with them in the same year plus a tour. Although there was a hiatus in the band's activities from 2005-10 (during which he released his first solo album, ''Dark Ships'', in 2008), Schelhaas remains a member of Caravan and appears on their latest albums, 2013's ''Paradise Filter'' and 2021's ''It’s None of Your Business'.

References

External links

Jan Schelhaas' credits on different albums
at

Discogs.com Discogs (short for discographies) is a database of information about audio recordings, including commercial releases, promotional releases, and bootleg or off-label releases. While the site was originally created with a goal of becoming the l ...

{{DEFAULTSORT:Schelhaas, Jan 1948 births Living people English keyboardists Musicians from Liverpool Caravan (band) members The Gary Moore Band members Camel (band) members Progressive rock keyboardists