Jaap Boots

Born in 1961 in the artists' village of Bergen (NH), Holland, Jaap Boots studied Dutch Language & Literature at the University of Amsterdam in the 1980s. He then started writing and performing poetry as well as playing in local rock bands. Made a living working as pop journalist and reviewer and working for Dutch VPRO-television (the infamous youth-program ‘Firma Onrust’).
He finally found his vocation in radio, where he had a career as an enthusiastic radiohost/dj on public radio stations 3FM and Radio 6 between 1988 and 2014. Doing anything from pop to talk radio, as well as jazz– and punk–shows, he was best known for his club-radio-shows, where bands played before a live audience (Club Lek, Club 3VOOR12). In these years he also hosted many Pinkpop, Lowlands and Noorderslag / Eurosonic broadcasts, on radio, tv and onstage.
From 2014 – 2023 Jaap taught Radio and Media History at the Amsterdam University of Applied Sciences (HvA).
He now teaches Pop History at Amsterdam University of the Arts.
All the while he continued to write stories and poems and songs as well as perform before live audiences across The Netherlands.
He debuted with his first album (Zal De Hemel – Will Heaven) in the year 2000 and his 4th (Wilde Tulpen – ‘Wild Tulips’), was released on September 6, 2024.
In 2014, his debut story collection Donderweg (‘Thunderroad’) was published and in 2018 the acclaimed collection Bambalam (30 rock poems), illustrated by Erik Kriek was published.
Jaap Boots is living in Amsterdam, is married and has a 26 year old son. Go see him live! ("outstanding entertainer" – De Volkskrant)