Gary Herselman, great musician and a prolific songwriter, has produced various albums, from the tight, alternative tunes of The Kêrels through to the star-studded Rigtingbefok (Die Lemme), to his recent 'House for Sale', a contemporary dance-oriented album. He worked at the legendary Hillbrow Records, was founding director of Tic Tic Bang, one of South Africa's first real independent record companies, and part of the Voëlvry movement as a member of Johannes Kerkorrel en die Gereformeerde Blues Band.

At the age of eleven, Herselman bought himself a guitar for R15, In addition to guitar, Herselman taught himself to play the piano, drums, and bass, playing in a few bands as a teen due to the demand for his multi-instrumentalism. Herselman, disillusioned with playing mainly covers then started his own band The Kêrels as an outlet to perform his own songs.

After The Kêrels broke up, Gary played drums in the Party Girls. Herselman was then approached by Jannie van Tonder to audition for the Gereformeerde Blue Band. After a successful audition, he was enlisted to play bass guitar for Kerkorrel’s band, adopting the monicker "Piet Pers".

Gary liked to party hard and legend has it that one night on the infamous Voëlvry tour, he turned into a dog and remained so until the tour ended. He even shared a dog bed with a particularly vicious dog, who accepted Gary as one of its own, the dog belonged to some people who had welcomed the band into their home one evening.

The partying turned into a decades-long battle with addiction which Gary eventually overcame, In 2014 he released the album “Rigtingbefok” to critical acclaim. The album features collaborations between Gary and some of the top musicians in South Africa, including Francois van Coke and Arno Carstens.

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