Hennie Bekker
| Hennie Bekker | |
|---|---|
| Born | Nkana, Northern Rhodesia |
| Genres | Electronic, instrumental, new-age, ambient |
| Occupation(s) | Composer, producer |
| Instruments | Piano, Synthesizer |
| Years active | 1959–present |
| Labels | Abbeywood |
| Website | henniebekker |
Hennie Bekker (born 1934) is a Juno-nominated,Zambian-born composer, arranger, producer and keyboardist based in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. His work includes jazz fusion, film scoring, new-age and techno. Bekker won a Juno Award for his work with techno-driven trio BKS.
Bekker composed, arranged (in the case of the public domain classical works), and performed the soft melodies and the nature-driven environmental music on the first 14 albums of Dan Gibson's Solitudes - Exploring Nature With Music series, including the 1989 best-selling, quadruple-platinum Harmony. He was named “one of the most prolific and successful figures in contemporary Canadian pop music” by Billboard. Over a period of more than sixty years, Bekker has recorded over 60 albums, most recently on his own Toronto, Ontario-based Abbeywood Records label.
Bekker was born in the Zambian Copper Belt mining town of Nkana Kitwe, and raised 48 km down the road in Mufulira. Bekker first became enamored with piano when, at the age of six, he heard his aunt Ria play the instrument. After his parents bought him a small piano, Bekker taught himself to play, at first studying pianists Carmen Cavallaro, Eddy Duchin and later the sounds of the jazz greats Art Tatum, George Shearing, Oscar Peterson and Bill Evans for inspiration. In 1945, the family relocated to Bulawayo, Southern Rhodesia (later christened Zimbabwe). He attended Milton Junior School and then the Bulawayo Technical High School.
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