Rick van der Linden

Rick van der Linden (b. Badhoevedorp, August 5 1946 - d. Groningen, January 22 2006) was a Dutch composer and keyboard player. Van der Linden became famous as a member of Ekseption, but played in several other bands including Trace, as well as solo. His compositions were often popular reworkings of classical music by Johann Sebastian Bach and Ludwig van Beethoven.

Van der Linden grew up in Haarlem, and started learning to play the piano when he was 13 years old. After attending music school in Den Haag, he took up a professional education and graduated with honour for piano, church organ, harmony and counterpoint. After his graduation he became a music teacher at the Haarlem music school. He performed classical music with several symphony orchestras.

With Ekseption, Van der Linden toured mainly through Europe, and was also successful with his other band "Trace". As a soloist he released several albums, principally reworkings of classical music. He worked with artists like Joachim Kuhn, Deep Purple, Phil Collins, Vangelis, Jack Lancaster and Brand X. In the band "Mistral" he cooperated with Robbie van Leeuwen (ex. Shocking Blue), and had hits in the Netherlands.

Rick van der Linden was struck by a CVA, and was partly paralyzed as a result. He died on January 22, 2006 in Groningen, and was buried in Hoogeveen.