During his time studying, van Leer participated in plays including those by William Shakespeare and John Webster. Van Leer also received tutoring on the piano, orchestration and arrangement with composer and conductor Rogier van Otterloo, and organ with Anthon van der Horst.

This was followed by a degree in the flute and composition at the Conservatoire de Musique de Genève. He then learned harmony and counterpoint at the Conservatorium van Amsterdam, but disliked the lessons and left early. After graduating, van Leer did not feel confident enough to attend a music school, so he studied art history at Amsterdam University which he found 'very dry'. He then joined the Bob de Lat Quartet, who once came fifth in the annual Hilversum jazz contest. He joined the Raoul Angenot Quintet, and at eighteen, won an award at inter-school contests for playing Andante in C Major by Mozart on flute, singing an original love poem to ' Stella by Starlight' by Davis, a drama improvisation featuring his own poetry, and an original piano composition titled 'Nooit Zal Ik Vergeten (De Nachten Samen met Jou)' ('Never Shall I Forget (The Nights Together with You)'. His father was the conductor of the school orchestra, for which van Leer played the harpsichord. Van Leer attended Hilversum Grammar School where he learned English, French, German, Latin and Ancient Greek. Van Leer also took up painting, modelling, and performing in plays. But then I thought the combination of jazz and classical music could be used in rock.' With his parents and two brothers, eldest Frank and youngest Maarten, who played the bassoon and piano and flute, respectively, the family would often play music at home together. He said, 'I suppose I wanted to reject what I was brought up on. At eleven, van Leer was given a flute by his father who began teaching his son two years later after he discovered van Leer wished to instead pursue jazz music after he discovered the genre particularly through Miles Davis albums. When he was six, van Leer wrote his first composition 'Uncle Willy', a tribute to family friend and keyboard teacher Willy Buard who helped pay for his father's flute studies at the Conservatoire de Musique de Genève in Geneva. Van Leer began playing the piano at age three, taught by his mother, and later received lessons from famed pianists Maria Stroo (later Marja Bon) and Gerard Hengeveld. His father Ed, a Jewish refugee from the Netherlands, was a classically trained flautist and businessman his mother Mary was a singer and involved in the Sufi Movement. Van Leer was born on 31 March 1948 in Amsterdam. In 2008, van Leer was made a Knight of the Order of Orange-Nassau for special services to music. He has collaborated with various artists, and continues to release albums and perform in various capacities. His first two solo albums featuring classical flute, Introspection (1972) and Introspection 2 (1975), sold an estimated 1.2 million copies. Van Leer achieved success as a solo artist in the Netherlands.

After several albums with various line-ups, van Leer disbanded Focus in 1978 he reformed the band in 2002. Focus achieved international success following the release of Moving Waves (1971) and its lead single, ' Hocus Pocus', which features van Leer's yodelling and whistling. He formed Trio Thijs van Leer, a three-piece rock band which evolved into Focus in late 1969 following the addition of guitarist Jan Akkerman. Born and raised in Amsterdam among a musical family, van Leer took up the piano and flute as a child and pursued them at university and music academies.įrom 1967 to 1969, van Leer performed in a theatre cabaret act headed by Ramses Shaffy as his backing vocalist and musician, recorded singles as a solo artist, and produced, arranged, and conducted music for Bojoura. Thijs van Leer (pronounced: /tɛis vɑn leːr/ 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.

Hocus pocus jan akkerman