Jazz legend Pia Beck dies

Dutch jazz pianist and singer Pia Beck has died. She suffered a heart attack on Thursday morning at her home in Torremolinos in Spain. Pia Beck, who was 84, is considered one of the best pianists the Netherlands has ever known.

She began her career shortly after the end of WWII playing the piano and singing in the Miller Sextet. A few years later she started her own combo. Her first composition, Pia’s Boogie, became a hit. She regularly toured Europe and had her own stage in the seaside resort of Scheveningen near The Hague.

In the 1950 and 60s she made regular appearances in the United States. New Orleans and Atlanta conferred honorary citizenship on her.

In 1965 Pia Beck emigrated to the Costa del Sol, where she lived with her partner Marga Samsonowski, who died in June. Earlier, Pia Beck was married to jazz pianist Pim Jacobs. 

Simon Schönbeck

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