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Pierre van der Linden 19.2.1946 Amsterdam

Pierre v.d. Linden was almost born with drumsticks in his hand. At the age of three he was already drumming on a drum-set that belonged to his father, who is a rather well-known person in Showbiz. After following classical lessons he discovered the art of Jazz drumming. Max Roach, Sunny Murray and especially Elvin Jones became his mentors in the swinging world of Jazz. But the real truth is that you couldn't make a decent living out of Jazz in the sixties and especially in Holland.

So Pierre decided to join the group Brainbox in 1968 when guitar-player and old friend Jan Akkerman asked him to sit in. Jan and Pierre had been playing together since they were nine! After a few years in Brainbox, Jan Akkerman asked Pierre in 1970 to make the switch to the second edition of Focus, the group that became world famous after they had joined it.

Focus had several world-hits in the seventies, but at a certain moment Pierre realized that this was not the kind of music he wanted to make day in day out. Pierre left Focus in 1973 and started a real career in Jazz, he played with a number of jazz groups till in 1985 he met saxophone player Rinus Groeneveld and joined his band. Rinus was also playing with the Herbert Noord quartet and in 1989 Pierre was asked to do some tracks on their new album 'HiFi Apartment'. After this first encounter Pierre became the drummer of the newly formed group 'Advanced Warning' that released their first album in 1991. Since then Pierre is a member of this group with whom he has already made five cd's.