Jan Hammer, born 17 April 1948, in Prague, Czech Republic, as son to well-known Czech singer Vlasta Průchová. He started learning piano at the age of four. He firstr wanted to follow his father into medicine until a family friend convinced him to develop his musical talents instead. Jan formed a jazz trio in high school, performing and recording throughout Eastern Europe at the age of fourteen. His studies at the Prague Academy of Musical Arts was disrupted with the 'Prague Spring' in 1968, when many Eastern Bloc governments invaded Czechoslovakia to assist their communist regime to violently end the protest and liberty movement. He moved to the US, continuing his studies at the Berklee College of Music in Boston. In the late 70s, Jan moved to New York and became involved in several Jazz projects, which would get him noticed and led to collaborations with a wide variety of famous artists: Jimmy Page, Joe Cocker, Eric Clapton, Mick Jagger, to only name a few. He beagan to write film music and, in 1985, won a Grammy for 'Best Rock Instrumental Performance' for contributing 'Escape', a track included in Jeff Beck's album 'Flash'.
Don Johnson (left)
Jan Hammer (middle)
Philip Michael Thomas
In 1984 he was contracted to write the soundtrack to the then enormously popular TV series Miami Vice. The most famous piece, which propelled him to worldwide fame was 'Crockett's Theme'. The name Crockett refers to Don Johnson's character, Sonny Crockett. It appeared for the very first time in Episode 4 (Calderone's Return: Part 1 - The Hit List) of the first Series of Miami Vice, first aired on 19 October 1984. The full version was released and successfully charted two years later. Although the TV series ran on until 1989, Jan moved on from Miami Vice a year ealier.
Miami Vice, Series 1, Episode 4 'Calderone's Return: Part 1 - The Hit List' (19 Oct 1984)
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