(b:  5 November 1946 in Zwolle, Netherlands; d: 11 July 2001, Amsterdam)

AMSTERDAM, Netherlands (AP) – Herman Brood, a well known artist and a top musician on the Dutch rock scene for 30 years, jumped to his death from the roof of an Amsterdam hotel on Wednesday, police said. He was 55. Brood, who spoke about the difficulty of ending his daily drug habit, had been complaining of poor health and depression, and had told a close friend he didn’t want to fade away. Brood entered art school at 17 and joined musical groups beginning in the 1960s. He became a sensation with his 1978 hit single “Saturday Night,” which he wrote as leader of the band Wild Romance. Over 25 years he recorded nearly 20 albums, on his own or with a variety of groups, and also acted in Dutch movies. He briefly withdrew from recording in the early 1990s to focus on painting and poetry. But in one year, 1994, he released a book, a new CD and a film. As his success grew, Brood became known as much for his drug-based wild life style as for his art. He quit drugs last summer after his doctor warned him his life was at risk, but the television reported his mental and physical health quickly deteriorated.