Wilhelmus Frederikus (Pim) Koopman (Hilversum, March 11, 1953 – November 23, 2009) was a Dutch drummer, producer, composer and voice actor.
In 1972 he founded the band Kayak together with Ton Scherpenzeel. Before that, they had played together in local bands (Balderdash and High Tide Formation) since 1968.
In 1976 Koopman left Kayak and focused on producing and composing. He had success with groups such as Pussycat, Maywood, Time Bandits and Sandy Coast. Koopman also composed the film music for the films Doctor Vlimmen (1978) and Kort Amerika (1979). In 1978 he founded the rock group Diesel together with Rob Vunderink. The song Sausalito Summernight became a hit in America. In 1981 Koopman left Diesel.[source?] From 1983 to 1985 he formed the band The President together with Okkie Huijsdens. He then produced albums by Pater Moeskroen (Homewee), Robby Valentine, Valensia and Petra Berger, and the comeback single by Shocking Blue The jury and the judge.
In the years 1988-1989 Koopman was again part of Diesel and the band had a minor hit with Samantha, which he produced. Koopman subsequently participated in Diesel reunions twice (in the years 1999-2000 and in 2006-2007). Kayak reunited in 1999 and released the album Close to the Fire. A year later, the group Diesel also recorded another album.
Pim Koopman died of cardiac arrest at the age of 56.
Pussycat / Toni Willé:
Blue Lights is an LP by Pussycat from 1981. This fifth LP of the group was produced and arranged by Pim Koopman. All ten songs were written by Werner Theunissen.Dutch singer Toni Willé was a member of Pussycat, with whom Pim had worked as a producer. As a solo artist, she recorded a couple of albums and singles with the help of Kayak members.
Light of a gipsy (1984) is a song by Pussycat. It appeared as their last single and was written by Werner Theunissen. The song You appeared on the B-side, which is also its own song. It was written by Henk Dragstra and Toni Willé.
It is the only single that was not released by EMI, but by Ariola and Polydor. The songs did not appear on a regular LP. Both songs later appeared on the 3 CD and DVD box The Complete Collection. This single was produced by Pim Koopman.
Privilege (LP, 1985). Ton Scherpenzeel plays keyboards, Edward Reekers sings backing vocals.
Working Girl (LP/CD, 1987). Produced and arranged by Pim Koopman and Ton Scherpenzeel. Ton plays bassguitar and keyboards. Pim sings backing vocals and plays drums and guitar. Max Werner plays percussion. Irene Linders and Ton Scherpenzeel wrote ‘Falling In And Out Of Love’, ‘Working Girl’, Out Of Reach’, ‘It Only Happens In Movies’, ‘Stay’, ‘Sweet Music To My Soul’.
New Words To An Old Love Song (LP/CD, 1989). Pim Koopman plays guitar, percussion and keyboards. Produced and arranged by Pim. Includes the singles ‘Incredible You’ and ‘Good Year For The Roses’. ‘The Writing On The Wall’ co-written by Pim.
The collection and more is a compilation album from 1994 with songs by Pussycat and Toni Willé. Will Hoebee produced the Pussycat tracks with an arrangement by Piet Souer and background vocals by Kees Buenen. Willé’s tracks were produced by Pim Koopman.
Love in a heatwave is the theme song of the film De flat (1994) by Ben Verbong starring Renée Soutendijk and Victor Löw. It was written by Patrick Seymour, produced by Patrick Seymour and Pim Koopman and sung by Toni Willé, the former singer of Pussycat (1975-85). The song did not appear on a Willé album but was released as a single. It was also included in the collection Complete collection (2004), which was published by Pussycat.
