Max Werner

Max Werner Born On 29 December 1953 Died 9 April 2024 Was A Dutch Vocalist Musician And Drummer Remembered As The Lead Singer Drummer And Percussionist Of The Progressive Art Rock Band Kayak. The Second Of Five Children In A Family Of Musicians His Father Was A Cellist And His Mother A Pianist. Both Of His Grandfathers As Well As Two Of His Aunts Made A Living With Classical Music. When Werner Was Three Years Old His Mother Decided To Teach Him The Secret Of "getting Some Civilized Noise" Out Of A Huge Thing Called - Of All Things - A Grand Piano. Up To This Point Young Werner Had Shown A Remarkable Ability To Create Noise With Common Kitchen Utensils. Even At This Young Age It Was Clear That Werner Would Somehow End Up A Musician. Werner Was Six When His Parents Found A Teacher Who Successfully Taught Him The Basics Of Being A Drummer. When Werner's Dad Convinced The Child's Grandfather To Craft A Small Cello For Him Disappointment Followed - Werner Really Wanted To Be A Classical? Percussionist. He Was Quite Sure His Dad Never Forgave Him For That. In 1971 He Started His Study At The Academy Of Music In Hilversum With Percussion His Primary Study And Piano A Secondary. However He Soon Felt Trapped By Everything Classical - In His Own Words Werner Said "there Were Too Many Rules And Restrictions. But That Was Just My Opinion At That Time." The Young Musician Simply Wanted Total Freedom With No Established Boundaries To Constrain His Budding Creativity. Soon Werner Was Creating His Own Style. In 1972 Pim Koopman And Ton Scherpenzeel Both Students At The Same School Were Interested In Starting A Band - But They Lacked A Singer. When Asked To Try Werner Had Some Second Thoughts But Finally Gave In And Decided To Try It Out. Just For Fun That's All. The Style Of Music Appealed To Werner And It Seemed Like A Good Thing To Do To Pass The Time. Werner Became Lead Singer Drummer And Percussionist Of The Dutch Prog-Rock Band Kayak. Other Members Were Keyboardist Ton Scherpenzeel Guitarist Johan Slager And Drummer Pim Koopman. He Sang Lead Vocals And Played Mellotron On The First 5 Kayak Albums Later Switching To Drums Until The Band Split Up In 1982. In 1999 He Returned As Singer For The Kayak Album "Close To The Fire". After A Short Tour 2000 He Had To Leave Again Due To Health Problems. Werner Recorded 4 Solo Albums. In May 1981 He Scored A Big Hit In Holland Reaching #3 And Germany #1 With His Solo-Single "Rain In May". Discography Studio Albums With Kayak As Lead Singer See See The Sun 1973 Kayak II 1974 Royal Bed Bouncer 1975 The Last Encore 1976 Starlight Dancer 1977 Close To The Fire 2000 As Drummer Phantom Of The Night 1979 Periscope Life 1980 Merlin 1981 Eyewitness 1981 "Live" Studio Album Solo Albums Rainbow's End 1979 Seasons 1981 How Can It Be... Like This? 1988 Not The Opera 1995 read less