1. Herman Brood was born in Zwolle, and started playing the piano at age 12.
13 Facts About Herman Brood
1. 2.
Herman Brood founded beat band The Moans in 1964, which would later become Long Tall Ernie and the Shakers.
3.
Herman Brood was asked to play with Cuby and the Blizzards, but was removed by management when the record company discovered he used drugs.
4.
Herman Brood was romantically involved with the German singer Nina Hagen, with whom he appeared in the 1979 film Cha-Cha.
5.
Herman Brood is reputed to be the subject of her song "Herrmann Hiess Er" from the 1979 Unbehagen album, a song about a drug addict.
6.
Herman Brood relished the media attention and became the most famous hard drug user in the Netherlands.
7.
Herman Brood's art is best described as pop-art, often very colorful and graffiti-inspired screen prints, and he achieved some commercial success and notoriety by, for instance, creating murals in various public spaces in and around Amsterdam.
8.
Herman Brood continued to remain in the public eye, by appearing in the media and by his cooperation with biographical films such as 1994's Rock'n Roll Junkie.
9.
Toward the end of his life, Herman Brood vowed to abstain from most drugs, reducing his drug use to alcohol and a daily shot of speed.
10.
Herman Brood's popularity was confirmed by the fact that his name turned out to be the strongest brand of the year.
11.
In 2007 the film Wild Romance, a movie about Herman Brood's life, premiered in the Netherlands, with Herman Brood portrayed by Daniel Boissevain.
12.
Herman Brood continues to inspire other artists: the 2007 album Bluefinger by Black Francis is based on Brood's life and works.
13.
The opera's first performance, with Matt Kelly portraying Herman Brood, was on 12 November 2010 in Houston, Texas.