While Jan Stam is always busy giving other musicians a platform, this time he himself is in the spotlight. The music lover from Noordscheschut will be rewarded next week for his many years of contribution to the northern music scene.
Stam (65) will receive an honorary award during the Pop Gala North on Tuesday for his unwavering commitment to the northern pop industry. As an advisor to Art & Culture, the former Pop Drenthe, he stimulates pop music in the Northern Netherlands. Which, by the way, Stam already started in the seventies, by having talented bands perform and helping them obtain subsidies.
“It is an honor, incredibly beautiful,” says Stam in the Radio Drenthe program Cassata about the ‘Lifetime Achievement Award’ that he receives. “I started about fifty years ago, when I was 15 or 16 years old. Then you are shocked at how long you have been working.”
Stam started in the youth center, where pop culture continued to take shape. “I walked in and was seated immediately in my world. It became my home.” He listened to English radio that broadcast pop and rock music on the air. Comparable to ‘sea stations’ Radio Noordzee and Radio Veronica. Stam sums up: “The Beatles, Stones, Deep Purple and Led Zeppelin, when I I was immediately sold.”
Stam focused on the development of pop music and started the festival ‘The North is not so dead yet’. In the Tamboer, bands from Drenthe, Groningen and Friesland saw their chance to prove themselves. In this way, Stam paved the way for big names such as Skik and Tangarine. “But,” Stam adds. “The band has to do it itself. It is a matter of hard work and perseverance. And you need some luck,” he also realizes. “The right people need to see you and pick you up.”
Stam didn’t need any luck for the honorary award. He enforced that himself. What does it mean to him? “Eternal fame,” concludes Stam. “And I get a nice statue or something.”