Herman Brood

Who was Herman Brood?

Hermanus "Herman" Brood was a Dutch musician and painter. As a musician he achieved artistic and commercial success in the 1970s and 1980s, and was called "the Netherlands' greatest and only rock 'n' roll star". Later in life he started a successful career as a painter.

Known for his hedonistic lifestyle of "sex, drugs and rock 'n roll," Brood was an enfant terrible and a cultural figure whose suicide, apparently caused by a failure to kick his drug and alcohol habit, only strengthened his controversial status. His suicide, according to a poll organized to celebrate fifty years of Dutch popular music, was the most significant event in its history.