Hermanus “Herman” Brood (November 5, 1946 – July 11, 2001)

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Pronounced “Hairmon Broat”, Herman Brood has been called “the Dutch personification of sex, drugs and rock and roll,” “the Dutch Elvis” and was named by the Dutch Broadcast Foundation as “The Netherlands’ greatest and only rock star”. He was born in Zwolle, Netherlands and started playing the piano at the age of 13. In addition to being infamous for his self-indulgent lifestyle, he was also known for being a painter, writer, poet and performer. His influence in Holland was so pronounced that he was the subject of multiple biographies, documentaries, books, and a biographical movie, all highlighting his art and photographs of his rock and roll career.

Brood also struggled with multiple addictions: heroin, alcohol, speed, gambling, and sex. He was quite outspoken about his habits and not ashamed of them.  According to friends, he rarely slept (on average 2 hours per night) while he spent his waking hours doing drugs, playing music, being engrossed in his art or writing, having sex, and being social at bars with others.  He experimented with every drug he could find before realizing that speed and alcohol created the perfect balance for him mentally and physically.  One of his most famous drug experiments was combining heroin and LSD, which he preferred to take regularly when he entered major depressive episodes. Brood made multiple attempts at sobriety and at one point was in the same rehab facility in London as Tom Waits. 

His initial musical influences were Fats Domino and Little Richard. In 1975 he formed his first band, The Moans, which was later changed to Long Tall Ernie and the Shakers. After that he joined the Dutch blues combo called Cuby and the Blizzards and was ultimately fired by the record company due to his drug use. After a long stint of depression, he began to experiment with singing and songwriting. In 1976 he formed a band called  Herman Brood & His Wild Romance, which earned an American Top 40 in 1979 with the hit “Saturday Night”.  During this period of time he went on tour as the opening band for The Cars, The Kinks, and Foreigner. 

Brood entered art school when he was 17, yet never became serious about it until the 1990’s with his pop-art style of painting. Brood found more critical and financial success as an artist than as a musician and was quite well known within the Amsterdam art community; since his death his paintings have increased substantially in value.



Brood had a high sex drive and claimed to have started seeing prostitutes since the age of 15 and continued to do so throughout his life. Even though he was married, he still maintained a girlfriend, his most famous being the German singer Nina Hagen.

Years of drug and alcohol abuse took a serious toll on his liver and kidneys which caused him to spend the last year of his life in poor health. Although he cut down substantially on his drug use, he became increasingly depressed at his inability to stop altogether.  Brood jumped from the roof of the Amsterdam Hilton Hotel at the age of 54.  Thousands of people lined the streets in Amsterdam during his funeral procession. The 2nd floor art studio he worked out of on Spuistraat in Amsterdam has remained untouched since his death.




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