Filip Topol

Filip Topol (12 June 1965 – 19 June 2013) was a Czech singer, songwriter, pianist and writer. He was best known as leader of the alternative rock band Psí vojáci (Dog Soldiers), but he also performed as a solo artist. Topol was the younger brother of the writer Jáchym Topol, son of the playwright and dissident Josef Topol and grandchild of the writer Karel Schulz. Topol was born in Prague. He started playing piano as a child and was introduced to the Czech intellectual and artistic underground movement while he was still very young. He has co-founded Psí vojáci in 1979, along with the drummer David Skála and bassist Jan Hazuka. The band was named after the warriors from Thomas Berger's novel Little Big Man.He made his solo public début at the age of 13, as an opening act before the first performance of the Plastic People of the Universe's Passion Play. The concert was held at Hrádeček, the private farm of Václav Havel. Topol played claviphone.When he was 14 years old, he played with Psí vojáci at another concert held in Hrádeček. The band and other Topol's activities, as well as his family background and ties with the illegal Charter 77, attracted the attention of StB, the Czechoslovak secret police. He was first interrogated when he was 14 years old, along with his mother. His band was banned by state authorities and was allowed to perform only in 1986. Before that, they performed illegally and released samizdat recordings. After the Velvet Revolution in 1989, Psí vojáci became a professional band.In the mid-1990s, Topol suffered serious health problems, partly due to alcohol abuse. He underwent several surgeries and a part of his pancreas had to be removed. His piano playing style was very expressive and wild during that period; sometimes he broke his knuckles during concerts and left his instrument dipped in blood. "Sometimes I feel that I tame the piano like a wild horse", he said.