Jan Hammer

Jan Hammer
Jan Hammer in 1977
Jan Hammer in 1977
Background information
Birth nameJan Hammer
Born (1948-04-17) 17 April 1948 (age 76)
Prague, Czechoslovakia
Genres
Occupation(s)
  • Musician
  • composer
  • record producer
Instrument(s)
  • Keyboards
  • drums
  • synthesizer
  • keytar
Years active1968–present
Websitejanhammer.com

Jan Hammer (Czech pronunciation: [ˈjan ˈɦamɛr]) (born 17 April 1948) is a Czech-American musician, composer, and record producer.[1] He rose to prominence while playing keyboards with the Mahavishnu Orchestra during the early 1970s, as well as with his film scores for television and film including "Miami Vice Theme" and "Crockett's Theme", from the 1980s television program Miami Vice. He has continued to work as both a musical performer and producer.

Hammer has collaborated with some of the era's most influential jazz and rock musicians such as John McLaughlin, Jeff Beck, Billy Cobham, Al Di Meola, Mick Jagger, Carlos Santana, Stanley Clarke, Tommy Bolin, Neal Schon, Steve Lukather, John Abercrombie and Elvin Jones. He has composed and produced at least 14 original motion picture soundtracks, the music for 90 episodes of Miami Vice and 20 episodes of the television series Chancer.

His compositions have won him two Grammy Awards.[2]

  1. ^ Colin Larkin, ed. (1997). The Virgin Encyclopedia of Popular Music (Concise ed.). Virgin Books. p. 564. ISBN 1-85227-745-9.
  2. ^ Cite error: The named reference Huey was invoked but never defined (see the help page).