Cyril Havermans is a Dutch musician, best known for being in the progressive rock band Focus.
Cyril Havermans (birth name Cyriel Havermans) was the bassist and vocalist for a number of Dutch pop bands in the 1960s, using the stage name Carel Hagemans: Peter and the Beats (1965–66), The Heralds (1966–67), Special Concept (renamed to Spatial Concept) (1967–68), and Big Wheel (1968–1969). In 1969 he began to perform as Cyriel Havermans in live concerts in the Netherlands with members of the nascent Focus (Thijs van Leer, Martijn Dresden, and Hans Cleuver) as his backing band.
His tenure as bassist with the progressive rock band Focus lasted from late 1970 until September 1971 during which time he played many live concerts with the group and recorded Focus II (aka “Moving Waves”). In 1971 this LP won the Edison award, the Dutch equivalent to the Grammy, for best album of the year. According to Melody Maker magazine, it reached No. 2 in the UK charts in 1973, and spawned “Hocus Pocus”, a top ten hit single in the US, UK, and many other territories worldwide. Aside from Cyriel’s plaintive, wordless wailing on “Pupillae” from the Focus II LP’s sidelong “Eruption” suite, his vocal talents found no other outlet on this mostly instrumental album.
He left the band to pursue a solo career playing melodic, acoustic guitar music with English lyrics. At this time Cyril dropped the ‘e’ from his first name. An eponymous album was released in 1973 with musical support from his old Focus bandmates Jan Akkerman, Thijs van Leer, and Pierre van der Linden. A second album, Mind Wave, followed in 1974, and Cyril’s group was sometimes featured as an opening act for Focus’ European concerts in 1975. He was a guest musician on Lucifer’s “Margriet” album, released in 1977.
In 1983 he replaced André Reijnen as bassist in the oft-reunited Brainbox. In 2007 he played bass in the Group Three Pianos with brothers Paul and Tim Krempel. That same year Cyril sang and played bass guitar with ex-Brainbox members Kaz Lux and Rudy de Queljoe at the Blues and Roots Festival in Oosterhout, Netherlands, and June 2011 he guested with rhythm & blues band Cold Shot for a gig in Breda. In September 2012 he and Kaz Lux performed as a duo, also in Breda. In October 2016 he was interviewed and sang and played blues tunes on acoustic guitar on the BredaNu television show, On Stage. (wikipedia)
Cyril is the first solo album by Dutch singer-songwriter Cyril Havermans. It was recorded in 1973 after Havermans left Dutch progressive rock band Focus. The parting was amicable and came about partly as a result of Havermans’ desire to include more vocal content (Focus are primarily an instrumental band). His erstwhile band-mates contribute much instrumentation to 
the album.
The songs are, for the most part, short acoustic guitar driven numbers and bear little resemblance to Focus material (Havermans did not write for the band). The lyrics are in English, apart from the traditional song “The Humpbacked Flute Player”. (wikipedia)
Cyril Havermans is a Dutch musician who began his career in various small groups in the 1960s, being remembered mainly for being part of Brainbox and later the legendary Focus, even recording Moving Waves, when he left to pursue a solo career.
Here I post his first and penultimate disc, which features all the members of Focus at the time, as well as other guests. It’s 10 short tracks of mostly acoustic folk rock, far from the great compositions of his former band, but still very well performed and arranged. The touches of the geniuses Akkerman and Thijs van Leer give several songs a more progressive feel, with passages of flute, organ, guitar and percussion.
A beautiful and interesting record not just for Focus fans, but progressive folk as a whole. Recommended! (http://rocknrollperolas.blogspot.com)
This album was never released on CD.
Personnel:
Jan Akkerman (guitar)
John D’Andrea (piano)
Chuck Domanico (bass)
Cyril Havermans (vocals, guitar, bass)
Thijs van Leer (keyboards, flute)
Pierre van der Linden (drums)
Emil Richards (percussion)
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background vocals:
Jackie Ward – Andrea Willis – Maxine Willard
Tracklist:
01. A Long Line Of Goodbyes 2.02
02. A Charm Of Love Can Be 2.45
03. Theme For An Imaginary Lady 4.25
04. Ev’ry Day (Just For You) 2.35
05. Share Those Dreams 2.53
06. Get Yourself By 2.04
07. The Humpbacked Flute Player 3.12
08. Lady Sad Song 3.26
09. There’s A Pain 2.33
10. Broken Dreams 2.34
All songs written Cyril Havermans
except 07.: Traditional
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