About

Tim Treffers (1988) is a Dutch singer/songwriter in blue eyed soul. So far he recorded 3 albums, critically acclaimed by famous music magazine OOR, to name one. He signed to P-Vine Records in Japan and lately did his first Japanese tour. Veronica Magazine named him one of the most promising upcoming Dutch talents; the mayor of his hometown Utrecht named him one of the new musical ambassadors of his city.

Tim was born into a musical family, with singer Arnie Treffers, who scored a lot of European hits with ‘Long Tall Ernie & The Shakers’ in the 1970’s, as the best- known example. After starting piano lessons at the age of 9, he sang in local bands. At the same time, he started to take vocal coaching from respected Dutch singers such as Lisa Boray (American Gypsy). Meeting composer Tim Vermeulen, back in 2012, marked the start of his professional career as a singer.

Vermeulen and Treffers started to write songs together and in 2013 Eric Van Den Brink (Yoko Ono, Gerry Beckley, David Paton,a.o.) joined the team. Recordings began for what was to become Tim’s first album. ‘Never trust a man in a fur coat’ was released in Holland in 2015 and received much acclaim in his home country. Like one of the many reviews said: “I am sure that anyone that makes the effort to pick this up, will love it. It is that good!” The record combines pop sensibilities with funky grooves and jazzy soul and throws in a dash of rock here and there. Besides a lot of new material, it also included covers of songs by Eric Tagg and Tony Joe White. P-Vine Records decided to release the album in Japan one year after its original release.

Meanwhile, Tim joined the tour of a theatrical rockshow called ‘Invitation to the sound of Earth and Fire’, directed by Jan-Hein Sloesen, performing songs of this famous Dutch band. Also, he recorded 2 duets with Japanese singer Mimlus Naito Akiko for her album ‘Squame’ (Kwaz label).

More developed as an artist and packed with a bunch of added experience, he released his second album ‘Carnival of life’ in Europe and Japan in October 2017. This record contains 8 newly written songs by Treffers, producer Eric Van Den Brink, and Tim Vermeulen (who also signed for production duties). Two covers of songs by Michael Franks (‘Monkey See, Monkey Do’) and Jimmy Webb (‘Another Lullaby’, initially recorded by Art Garfunkel) are also included. The sound of the new songs, influenced by pop-, soul-, jazz- and even electronic music, is more daring than the songs on Tim’s first album. More than ever, this album has ‘West Coast’ written all over it. And again, famous Dutch session musicians contributed to the record. To name a few: Julya Lo’ko (Cheyenne), Taco Gorter and SaraLee Vos, Eddie Conard and Ruud Breuls who also joined in on the first one. Last but not least, mastering was done at the internationally acclaimed Wisseloord Studios. Marleen Kuipers, one of Holland’s finest photographers, made the artistic sleeve. The title ‘Carnival of life’ stands for the ‘rollercoaster of life’. Lyrics on the record describe life in all its colors, fears, hopes and milestones. – “Come and join the carnival of life!”

January 2018 marked his first tour in Japan, starting in the capitol of Tokyo.

His 3th album, ‘Young and determined’, recorded with his brand new producer Mathijs Duringhof and musicians as Julia van der Toorn (The Voice) and Lo van Gorp, was released in the early summer of 2020. It contains pop-, jazz- and soul-influenced tunes such as ‘Fair-weather friend’, ‘Osaka moon’ and ‘Keeping up your guard’.