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Composer/producer Perquisite - real name Pieter Perquin - was born in
Amsterdam, the Netherlands in 1982. Having played the cello since his early
youth, he has always been involved with and inspired by all kinds of music,
ranging from classical music and sixties to hip-hop and jazz. He started creating
beats at age fourteen and in 2001, he founded record label Unexpected Records
to release his first EP Outta Nowhere. This collection of jazzed out instrumental
hip-hop tracks featuring saxophonist Benjamin Herman became a big hit in Japan.
After releasing two more EPs, Perquisite started working with rapper/vocalist Pete
Philly in 2004, and formed the hip-hop duo Pete Philly and Perquisite. Besides composing and producing
their music, Perquisite also handled the duo’s management. With their refreshing mix of hip-hop, soul and
jazz, they gained major success and started touring worldwide with their live band. Two critically acclaimed
studio albums were released: Mindstate (2005) and Mystery Repeats (2007), and they won several awards
including the Amsterdam Award of Art, alongside nominations for the 3FM Awards, Edison Pop Awards
and MTV European Music Awards.
After Pete and Perq parted ways in 2009, Perquisite started working on the album Across (2010), a
collaboration with twelve different vocalists including Torre Florim (De Staat) and Cato van Dijck (My Baby).
His next project was a partnership with singer Kris Berry on their 2013 album Lovestruck Puzzles. The
album by Kris Berry and Perquisite was highly praised by the press, and the single Let Go became 3FM
Megahit.
In 2015, Perquisite met Surinamese-Dutch singer-songwriter Jeangu Macrooy during an audition at the
conservatory, after which they decided to collaborate. Perquisite produced and arranged Jeangus debut-
EP Brave Enough (2016), which was nominated for an Edison Pop Award. The collaboration continued for
his debut album High On You (2017), for which Perquisite also took on the role of co-writer. High On You
met with critical acclaim and was nominated for an Edison Pop Award in the category Best Album. They
collaborated again on Jeangus second album, Horizon (2019). The album was presented at the sold-out
grand hall of Amsterdam pop temple Paradiso and was followed by club tours in the Netherlands and
Germany.
In early 2020, it was announced that Jeangu Macrooy would represent the Netherlands at the Eurovision
Song Contest with his song Grow, which was produced by Perquisite. Due to the pandemic the event was
cancelled, but Jeangu would nevertheless represent the Netherlands at Eurovision 2021. His new song
Birth Of A New Age was written and produced by Jeangu Macrooy and Perquisite and was performed in
the final of the Eurovision Song Contest in Ahoy, Rotterdam.
In 2022 Perquisite started a collaboration with upcoming Alternative RnB singer and songwriter Swan. Her
debut album ‘Underneath My Façade’, which was produced by Swan and Perquisite, was presented in The
Melkweg on March 8th 2025. A succesfull combined single with GINGE, which was co-written and
produced by Perquisite, was released in April 2025.
At the beginning of 2023, Pete and Perq decided to collaborate again. This resulted in a major reunion
concert at AFAS Live in Amsterdam on November 17, 2023, of which Dutch magazine OOR proclaimed
that the duo was ‘back on top’, and in their third studio album Eon, released on May 3, 2024. After a
successful European tour that year, in which Pete and Perq performed in London, Berlin and Paris, amongst
other cities, the duo announced a new tour for 2025: the Time Flies Theater Tour. During this tour, Pete
Philly and Perquisite performed in eleven Dutch theaters from April to June.
Since 2009, Perquisite has also been active as a film composer. For his first endeavor, the music for the
film Carmen of the North (Jelle Nesna, 2009) he won a Gouden Kalf (Dutch Oscar). More recent work
includes the music for the feature films Open Seas (2018) by Michiel van Erp, Sonne (2020) by Jelle Nesna
and Zina (2021/2022) by Michaël Middelkoop. For the music of Open Seas, he was nominated for a second
Gouden Kalf at the 2019 Dutch Film Festival.
In 2015, Perquisite and a group of like-minded songwriters founded BAM!, the Dutch Songwriters Society,
of which he was chairman until 2020. By now, BAM! Popauteurs has more than 500 members and is the
biggest songwriter society in the Netherlands.
Music composed and/or produced by Perquisite has gained more than 95 million streams on Spotify.
