Rob Hoeke - The Golden Years Of Dutch Pop Music (A&B Sides 1963-1979) (2016)

Robert Jan Eduard (Rob) Hoeke (Haarlem, January 9, 1939 - Krommenie, November 6, 1999) was a Dutch singer-pianist-songwriter who gained fame by taking second place in the Loosdrecht Jazz Competition four times in a row in the early 1960s . He also participated in the groups The Rob Hoeke Rhythm & Blues Group and Rob Hoeke's Boogie Woogie Quartet. In the 1960s he recorded a promotional record with the Philips Philicorda, an electronic organ. Rob Hoeke's formations were characterized by multiple changes in the line-up.

Rob Hoeke's well-known titles are Drinking on My Bed (No. 11 in 1968), Down South (No. 8 in 1970), Margio (No. 15 in 1966), What is Soul, When People Talk, Double Cross Woman and Gettin Higher.

Unfortunately, in 1974, after attempting a minor repair to his car, he had to miss two fingers. Besides music, Rob Hoeke had a lot of interest in technology. He had followed a training in automotive engineering at the IVA Driebergen and he also got his pilot's license.

Rob Hoeke has also performed a lot abroad, including in Sweden, Germany, Belgium, USA, Canada and Denmark. The single What Is Soul is also released in England in 1967. In 1977 Rob Hoeke records the album Two of a Kind with Alan Price.

Rob Hoeke died in 1999 after a short illness from stomach cancer. Just before his death, he gave a farewell concert in café Langs de Lijn in Bussum, where many musicians befriended him. Among them were Herman Brood, Jan Akkerman and fellow pianists Eric-Jan Overbeek, Jaap Dekker, Henk Pepping and Gerbren Deves. His sons Ruben and Eric Hoeke also performed here. Ruben has his own band, the Ruben Hoeke Band. Rob Hoeke is the father of journalist Eva Hoeke.