Johan (band)

Johan (stylized as JOHAN or JHN) is a Dutch indie rock band. The band has released 6 albums to date, and has had a rotating lineup over the years, with de Jacco de Greeuw being the only consistent member.

Jacco de Greeuw founded Thank God For Us in the late eighties, after having played in several other bands. The band was renamed Little Mary Big when joined by Marike Groot. With this band, he reached second place at the Grote Prijs van Nederland, a Dutch music competition. However, arguments with vocalist Marike Groot led to the band breaking up. De Greeuw subsequently formed the band Visions of Johanna, named after the Bob Dylan song of the same name. In 1992 the band competed in the Grote Prijs competition and reached the semi-finals.

After some changes in the lineup, the band signed with Excelsior Recordings in 1995 and released the single "Swing". One year later, the band's name was shortened to Johan, a reference to footballer Johan Cruyff. Under this name the band released its self-titled debut album. The album was received well by Dutch critics and became a modest commercial success.

SpinART Records signed the band for the US region. When record executive Seymour Stein heard the band's music he became interested, and traveled to the Netherlands to hear the band play. He wanted to release the album on Sire Records. The CDs had already been pressed with the Sire label, but for unknown reasons the deal was cancelled at the last moment, and the CDs were destroyed.

The band planned to record a new album in 1998, but De Greeuw's clinical depression took its toll. Three more years would pass before Pergola was released in 2001. The album received positive reviews and got a lot of airplay on national radio stations. That summer Johan performed at music festival Pinkpop. The following year the band won an Edison Award for Best National Pop Group.

After an international tour, hardly any news was heard from Johan until 2004, when members Wim Kwakman and Diederik Nomdem left the band. Jeroen Kleijn became the band's new drummer, and Diets Dijkstra became the band's bassist. After this, Johan started playing live again, and recorded its third album, Thx Jhn, which was released in May 2006.

The first single of the album, "Oceans", became a commercial success. This was helped by the song's video, in which an actual fan from Argentina travels from her home country to the Netherlands to see Johan play live. The theme of fans thanking Johan is also applied to the album's booklet, where various fans from other countries appear. The single peaked at 67 on the Dutch Single Top 100, and stayed on the chart for 6 weeks.

Johan played a sold-out club tour and released two more successful singles, "Walking Away" and "She's Got A Way With Men". Through a deal with V2 Records the album was also released in Germany and Italy.