Erik was born August 5, 1969 in Wapenveld, The Netherlands. He has studied at the Hogeschool Constantijn Huygens (1986-1991) but continued his musical education at the Amsterdam School of the Arts, where he studied jazz- and leadtrumpet, later followed by jazz arranging. In 1996 he finished his schoolyears. During his college-years Erik had already played with the Metropole Orchestra, the Skymasters, the Dutch Jazz Orchestra, the Glenn Miller Orchestra and various popbands.