In August 1999, it was made public that Rob Hoeke appeared to be irreversibly ill. On the 22nd of that same month, he gave a farewell concert at Jazzclub Langs De Lijn in 't Gooi, together with his sons and a number of colleagues. He died in his place of residence, Krommenie, on 6 November. 1999.
In 1962, Haarlem-born Rob Hoeke participated in the Loosdrecht Jazz Contest backed by his brother Paul on drums and guitarist Wim Bitter. After the contest, Hoeke was contracted by Phonogram and immediately formed the Rob Hoeke Boogie Woogie Quartet. The band was active until 1966, when Hoeke decided to found several other groups with musicians who were later to become prominent in the Nederpop scene, such John Schuursma (later with Brainbox), Will de Meyer (guitarist with Jaap Dekker), Wim Schoone and the famous duo of Herman Deinum/Hans Lafaille (see Cuby and the Blizzards; Blues Dimension).
Hoeke garnered great popularity in the second half of the sixties, in the midst of the blues boom in the Netherlands. Two tracks by his band hit the charts right away: "Drinkin on my bed" (1966, No.11) and "Margio" (1966). The last hit from Hoeke was "Down South Pt.1" (1970). Due to the fact that the name Hoeke was no longer suitable for the times, he instead chose to stick with boogie and blues, but his popularity still plunged considerably during the first half of the '70s. Hoeke subsequently got into a serious car accident, which hurt one of his hands badly. He could no longer play piano the way he used to be able to before. This was when he traded his music career for that of a sports journalist.
Discography:
Boogie and Soul Philips - Boogie Hoogie Philips '64 Save our souls Philips '67 Robby's Saloon Philips '68 Celsius 232/8 Decca '68 Racing the boogie Decca '70 The Best Philips '72 Ten Years Philips '72 Rockin' the boogie (Hein van der Gaag & Rob Hoeke) Philips '73 Four Hands up Philips - Fingerprints Philips '75
Rob Hoeke (piano, harmonica and vocals) Born January 9, 1943
in Haarlem. Some boogie woogie artists of the day inspired Rob to take
active interest in this kind of music, so he formed his own quartet, with
which he scored a special jury award during a jazz competition, followed
by his first single record. Thereafter, the quartet started getting
a lot of live work and the Philips company provided them with an opportunity
to record an LP. Slowly Hoeke's musical preferences stared to change.
He became more interested in singing, quickly learned to play harmonica,
and made some changes within the band. Soon enough, the new Rob Hoeke
Rhythm & Blues Group scored big in new hit parade in 1966 with
‘Oh Baby Please’, ‘Margio’ and
‘Rain, Snow, Misery’. Rob’s preference continued
to be playing mainly the R&B (his faves are the old Animals and
Manfred Mann). He had not forgotten the jazz, however, as he
still liked Peterson and Garner. Rob was also impressed by Brian Jones
as a harmonica player.
John Schuursma (solo guitar) Born December 11, 1943 in Alkmaar.
He did two years on every school year and studied radiotechnics. John
started as a 11 year old to play the guitar and earned his first money four
years later. He played with many bands. For example ‘Ted Powder and
Four Lads’, was drafted in the meantime and is with Hoeke from 1965
on. His faves are Nina Simone, Phil Spector, Otis Redding, Dionne
Warwick, Buddy Guy, and Rene Thomas.
Frans Hoeke (vocals and rhythm guitar) Born November 21 1974
at Haarlem. He lived at Bandoeng (Indonesia) from 1949 to 1959. Did
high school in his native city and played in several groups "which are not
worth to call their names", before he joined his brothers band. Frans likes
to listen to records of the Byrds, Otis Redding, Ike & Tina Turner,
The Animals, Nina Simone and Cuby and the
Blizzards.
Wim Schoone (vocals and Basguitar) Born December 1, 1954 at
Wormerveer. He had been playing bass only since 1965 and worked with
‘The Peps’and ‘The Marks’ in Germany and
Switzerland. Wim was an exellent ice-skater prior to this, having won
two Dutch championships for youngsters, second only to the now-famous Jorretsma.
His musical preference went out to the Small Faces, The Animals
and the Graham Bond Organisation.
Martin Rudelsheim (drums) Born January 3, 1948 in Amsterdam.
He attended 13 different schools, after which he relocated to France.
Martin liked the old Hollies, Wilson Picket and James
Brown.
Oh Baby Please/So Blue (Because of You) - Philips JF 327 964 Margio/Rigmore - Philips JF 333 514 Rain, Snow, Misery/When People Talk - Philips JF 333 952 What is Soul/ Down Here- JF 333 833 Don’t Ask Me What I Say/ Babe Don’t Go - Philips JF 333 865 Jolita/Jolita - Philips 113 129 F
Save our souls - Philips XYP 855 039
1966 Ossekar (Dutch variation on The Oscar) 1967 Ossekar 1966 Muziek Express 1st R&B 1967 Ditto 1967 Hitweek 1st Gold