"Ad Vanderveen sings with understated but real emotion. He is an inventive guitarist. He writes with true poetic sensibility. Yet he never sings or plays to merely show off. His music has an honesty and humility that is remarkable". (Singer/songwriter David Olney, Nashville 2003)
"Ad asks the big questions in his lyrics, and goes for the big love in his life and the large melodies in his music. He leaves out the extraneous notes on his guitar and avoids musical overstatement in his songs....What remains is what counts; the essence of the music, the pure feel, the arrow to the heart". (Singer/sonwriter Eliza Gilkyson, Austin 2002).
"AV's songs are life itself. No hidden agendas and no punches pulled. He has both the love and adoration of his growing army of convertees and the unwavering respect of his peers".
(Singer/songwriter Iain Matthews, Amsterdam 2001)
biography by Arthur Wood, founding editor of FolkWax, U.K.
[ edited by Will Eagle ]
Ad Vanderveen is a singer/songwriter and guitarist whose star has been rising over the European and American musical landscape throughout the past decade. Although born a Dutchman (September 21, 1956 in Hilversum), half of his family is Canadian and that may be one of the reasons why Vanderveen's music is firmly rooted in a style nowadays known as Americana. His mother had played organ in church when she was a young woman, and at home his father played piano. Ad was given his first guitar at the age of seven, and would also attempt to play the family piano. When he began listening to records, it was to The Beatles, Rolling Stones and the Kinks. Later, Ad discovered the music of Neil Young and numerous other singer/songwriters. Around 1970 Ad and a group of school friends would jam as The Young Neils [a quarter of a century later they became The O'Neils]. His high school band was called Room Service, and changing the name to Brinker they cut a pair of pop singles in the late 70s. Vanderveen formed his first Alt Country Rock band, The Cotton Brothers, in 1980 and they subsequently mutated into Personnel.
Personnel's debut album on the Boni Records label was titled On Strike. Three years later C&W Records issued Off The Record, which was credited to Ad Vanderveen and Personnel. After numerous Personnel changes and with fellow singer/songwriter Philip Kroonenberg on board, the band recorded Personnel Only, their breakthrough cd, in Switzerland. This Polydor release featured the hit single Everybody Knows. The follow-up album, Continuing Stories, recorded in Nashville and produced by Bill Halverson, featured guest appearances by Al Kooper, Flaco Jiminez, Al Perkins and Leland Sklar. Ad then decided to leave the band.
Vanderveen launched his solo career in 1993 with the mini-album Travel Light, a Polydor release. The full-length recording, Sooner Or Later, on Via Records, was greeted with critical acclaim, while David Olney was a guest on >Brand New Everytime. Wonders Of The World closed with a fourteen minute long rendition of Neil Young's Cortez The Killer. The latter cut presaged Vanderveen's next project, which was to re-form The O'Neils, his garage band with three old friends - Roel Overduin [drums], Martijn Van Donk [bass] and Hans Minkema [guitar]. The quartet's self-titled 1998 album on the Dutch imprint, Inbetweens Records, featured eleven songs penned by Ad, most of which were performed as hard rock numbers - all rattle and hum - in the vein of a Neil Young electrically charged excursion with Crazy Horse. Well almost, as a couple of lighter acoustic numbers topped the set off. The following year Vanderveen released a couple of CD EP's. The title track of Eyes Never Lie, featuring Ad and The O'Neils, was teamed with two solo cuts and a live recording, while the three track Star Of Bethlehem by Ad and Sonya Hunter, was a special Christmas single.
Working out of his home studio, and sub-titled Songs From The Basement, Ad's next project Here Now, recorded in 19
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