Hermanus Brood was born on November 5, 1946 in Zwolle, The Netherlands and embarked on a music career at the age of 17; he quit his study at the Arnhem Academy of Art to be keyboardist for the band The Arnhem Moans. Brood toured extensively in the German nightclub circuit, where he began a lifelong habit of excessive drinking and drug use. In the late sixties Brood was part of the legendary Dutch blues band Cuby + Blizzards. 

In the late seventies Brood started a highly successful solo career. Brood's manic lifestyle culminated in the now classic Nederpop albums Street and Shpritsz. An attempt to achieve success in America failed miserably and ushered in the decline of Brood's musical performance.

 
In the eighties and nineties Brood shifted his artistic production to visual art. His drawings, serigraphs and action paintings were devoured by a wide audience. Brood enjoyed building his image as an incorrigible “son of all mothers” and did not hesitate to make his private life a public affair in front of the tabloid press and on TV appearances. 

Due to Brood's continued high alcohol and drug use, his physical condition deteriorated to a grave state. In the last year of his life, the second part of Brood's biography was published by his friend Bart Chabot. It was significantly titled “Broodje Halfom," which is a type of Dutch sandwich but can also be read as halfway dead; because this book was published in the year of Brood's death, the book's title has an eerie ring. Brood himself surprised his listeners with an excellent last album called Ciao Monkey, which alludes to the end of his life. 

On July 11, 2001 Brood lost his zest for life and decided that his body was “finished.” Tragically, he ended his life by jumping from the roof of the Amsterdam Hilton.