Assorted People - Biography

ASSORTED PEOPLE

B I O G R A P H Y

Assorted People (APmusic) is a group/duet that formed around 1977 in Staten Island, New York.
It is a collaboration of two brothers Lee Boos & Hans Boos, stage names Lee Sommers & Hans Von Bous.
Lee, being the elder of the two was the first pioneer.
His main talents being guitar and a powerful voice were later and continuously embellished by his adding further instrumentation and production ability.
These talents span composing, multi-track mixing, keyboards, basslines, arrangements, web input via sound click, and more.
Lee is nine years older than Hans and cut his teeth in the Staten Island music scene.
His most famous and impressive group in the mid to late 1970s was a group called Mountain Ash.
In 1977, when his younger brother Hans (11 years old at the time) was a silly, roller rink disco "Dan"
Lee could be heard in the bedroom next door singing and playing John Denver songs and other popular artists at the time.
Hans was still wrapped up in the disco music, but was secretly influenced, and of course Lee was his big brother / mentor.
One day, on a family trip to a New Jersey amusement park called Great Adventure, Lee at the wise age of 21 and younger Hans 12, something magical occurred.
I suppose younger Hans was tapping out beats or singing, to the radio, songs like Horse with No Name, Bee Gees, Led Zeppelin, Pink Floyd, etc
Older Lee saw something in his younger brother and said "You got it man!, you should try to be a musician" , and that is all she wrote.
Younger Hans went to a couple shows with Lee making that guitar sing, playing live,
with Mountain Ash in Staten Island Richmond Town & Wolfs Pond Park.
The energy, the "Presence", the music was irresistible.
Hans then hung up his skates and his John Travolta polyester suit and started to play and listen to REAL music.
So marks the birth of a 30 year creative bender.
Lee, being the mentor first worked with Hans with vocals, duet type situations.
They would perform at family get togethers and holidays, Lee on acoustic and Hans adding back-ups.
Later Hans would add a beat (sticks on an old banjo skin, minus the neck).
At the same time, Hans with his new found "taste" became obsessed with Led Zeppelin, 1980,
"All of My Love" reaching deep into his soul.
The influences grew later.
The skills between the two brothers grew over time and equipment and other instruments joined the party.
Hans then inspired by John Bonham began developing drumming.
Beyond the banjo skin a "paint can kit" was created in the attic of their Staten Island home (30 Bard Ave)
where there was a bass kicker, maybe a snare and paint cans attached to the walls
with various amounts of paint in them and it sounded good!
Anyway, the years went by and the two developed skill on multiple instruments.
Hans then picked up guitar playing, taught by Lee, 1st song "Horse With No Name", and bass playing
(later became the focal instrument by Hans, not really by choice,
whenever he could have been a drummer for any group,
no bass player could be found so Hans was given that job, later becoming his main).
Hans Von Bous had a history of playing in the New Jersey area with a band called "Consept" doing 80s type music up to 1990.
Later and most successfully joined "Circle the Sun" (1994-2004) when he migrated to Southwest Florida.
He was honored to be a part of two albums "Legalized" 1997, and "Music for the Biz" 2000.
They enjoyed opening for Cheap Trick, Cory Stevens, Marshal Tucker and The Radiators, as well as headlining.
When technology became an element both Hans and Lee had developed home studios
with multi track capabilities and that is what is featured within this page.
Life moves forward, personal situations change and people get older so the entity "Assorted People"
lives mainly in the annals of time represented here in professionally
and not so professional recordings that add up to well over 100.
This historical "timeline" shows the lifetime stages, developments, ups and downs,
progression and growth and will remain a multimedia presence and journey through memory lane.
Hans Von Bous & lee Sommers still dabble musically.
Hans and his wife Sherry enjoy a little folk duet called "Fireflies" that have yet to record their contributions,
other than the self-titled track herein.
We hope you enjoy this musical placard spanning 30 years.
Rock on and God Bless.

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