Biography

Piet Botha
18 July 1955 to 2 June 2019

Much-loved and sorely-missed, Piet Botha was a South African musician who fronted the band Jack Hammer from 1984 to 2019, and also released critically-acclaimed solo albums. He has left us with a legacy of great music.

Piet Botha was born in 1955 and shared his birth date of 18th July with Nelson Mandela. He was the son of the former South African Minister of Foreign Affairs Pik Botha (not to be confused with P.W. Botha). Pik Botha, who served during the last years of the apartheid era was considered to be a liberal, at least in comparison to others in the ruling National Party and among the Afrikaner community at the time.

Piet Botha began writing songs and forming bands while still at school. He hooked up in 1974 with Abner Smith at the University of Pretoria to develop an acoustic duo. “They used to play at the Keg and Tankard in Pretoria”, remembers roadie Hendry Jackson. Botha recalls this as being their first professional gig.

Botha then connected with the members of Tusk (Doc Barendse, Dino Salvatori, and Derek Riley) to establish the band Raven and later added keyboardist Gabi le Roux to fill out the sound. This hard-rocking band won the ‘Beat 79’ nationwide competition for new rock groups, and released the Uriah Heep-styled single, ‘Wheel Of Fortune’, on David Marks’ 3rd Ear Label.

Botha (known as JP Botha at that time and playing mainly bass) then formed the three-piece Catherine Wheel with Karlien van Niekerk and Doc Barendse. At this time violinist Dave Tarr and drummer Colin Pratley (ex-Freedom’s Children) were in a duo called Wildebeest. “We amalgamated our two bands” says Botha. Doc Barendse left and Boet Faber joined as guitarist.

From 1981 to 1983 Piet Botha was involved with Wildebeest which was one of the first bands to mix rock music with Afrikaans lyrics and recorded ‘Bossies’, a song about the South West African / Angolan Border War, which was very much a no-no during those Apartheid times.

In November 1984 he co-founded the Blues Rock group Jack Hammer which was more than just a band, it was a collective of musicians that somehow survived the strange machinery that is the South African music industry and produced some sterling original albums over the years. Since their first performance the one constant factor in the band had been the man affectionately known as “Hammer”, Piet Botha.

During 1985, Piet Botha lived in Los Angeles, working construction, and other immigrant jobs by day, and writing and recording by night.

During the 1990s Jack Hammer opened for Deep Purple and Uriah Heep on their “Masters of Rock” tour in 1995, and were also privileged to be the supporting act for ZZ Top (one of Botha’s prime influences) on their 1996 South African tour.

During 1997 Botha was asked to write and record an Afrikaans album. The result was the all-Afrikaans ‘‘n Suitcase Vol Winter‘ album, which is considered a classic by many and a superb example of the ground-breaking Alternative Afrikaans genre. A second Afrikaans album ‘Jan Skopgraaf‘ followed in 1999. The Jack Hammer ‘Anthology‘ album was released in early 2000.

Botha was one of the first musicians inducted into the South African Rock Hall Of Fame in January 2002.

In August 2003, another Afrikaans album, ‘Die Mamba‘, was released and received much critical acclaim, including being voted the best album of 2003 by the influential SA Rock Digest e-mag.

In February 2006 a “Tribute To Piet Botha” gig was held in Pretoria to celebrate the music and life of Piet Botha. This whole day event included performances by many South African artists, all paying tribute to the influence, friendship and mentorship of this humble musician.

On the 6th May 2006 Piet Botha was awarded a South African Music Awards Lifetime Achievement Award for his contribution to South African music. He was also awarded a Prestige Award by the FAK in September 2006 for his contribution to the Afrikaans language.

In May 2008 at the annual STRAB festival in Mozambique, Jack Hammer released the critically-acclaimed album, ‘Highway 13‘.

In 2011 Botha appeared in the television series “Wie Lê Waar” (Who Lies Where) on the Afrikaans TV channel kykNET. In the programme he visits the graves of famous Afrikaner icons and tells about their lives. The series led indirectly to the recording and release of the very popular ‘Spookpsalms‘, Botha’s first solo album in 8 years.

In 2012 Piet Botha cemented his over two decades of friendship and brotherhood with the Akkedis band, by releasing a collaborative album under the name “The Lyzyrd Kyngs”. The name comes from a Jim Morrison poem, “The celebration of the Lizard King”. The weird spelling is a combination of ancient English and a serious reference to Lynyrd Skynyrd, a band that has been a source of inspiration for more than thirty years.

A second Lyzyrd Kyngs album ‘A Few Grains Of Sand‘ was released in October 2014.

Jack Hammer’s ‘Handful Of Rain‘, released January 2016, came after many years spent touring, and is an ode to the road, a book of songs, a collection of quiet reflections of a man looking back on his life as a touring musician. Songs of rivers, highways and impossible love: these are the main motifs of this album.

In February 2018 Piet Botha released ‘Die Middernagtrein‘, an album of gypsies, ghosts and other stories of life and living.

Piet Botha played as often as he could. Sometimes solo or as a duo (with Johnathan Martin or Jake Gunn), sometimes with Jack Hammer or Akkedis (under the moniker The Lyzyrd Kyngs). He played not only because his fans loved to see him, but as John Lee Hooker sang, “it’s in him and it got to come out”.

Piet Botha passed away on the 2nd June 2019 after a short battle with cancer.

A limited edition double vinyl compilation album was released in 2019.

On the 18th July 2020, to celebrate Piet Botha’s birthday, a digital live album ’13 Towns’ was released, with a Vol. 2 being released in December the same year.

To commemorate Piet’s birthday in 2023, his complete discography was made available for downloading and streaming.

In honour of Piet’s 70th Birthday on the 18th July 2025, a tribute concert was planned.

The legend lives on…

by Brian Currin

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