The expressive, multi-lingual and kleinkunst-loving jazz vocalist Herman Otten was born in Antwerp, Belgium and graduated his Bachelor studies of vocal jazz in 2021 at The Royal Conservatoire of The Hague. As a child he studied classical violin and while listening to Billie Holiday's album 'Lady In Satin', the first jazz album his mother at the time had bought and put on randomly during a rainy car drive when he was 19, he became hooked on jazz singing. From that moment on he started to take up various classical, jazz and improvisational singing courses and summer schools. He followed lessons at the Conservatory of Antwerp and Jazz Studio in 2014 and 2015. In 2016 he moved to The Hague, The Netherlands to start his vocal jazz bachelor studies. Here he discovered his true artistical identity and started writing his own music, exploring a combination of jazz standards, close harmony, Brazilian music and more modern music such as Jacob Collier's and exploring Dutch lyrics as a mode of expression in his writings. It is here that he discovered his true artistical identity. His vocal timbre has been likened to Chet Baker's and his love for Dutch and French poetic lyrics and expressive, sometimes theatrical style of singing has combined into a characteristic mixture of influences. 

In The Netherlands he collaborated in various projects such as a close harmony project based on arrangements of The New York Voices together with 3 singers of the Royal Conservatoire as well as with Rotterdam's Codarts Young Talent Big Band, and also a project with the Koncon Big Band. He has performed in various Dutch theatres, venues and events, including Jazz In De Gracht, Rietveld Theater Delft, Theater Koningshof Maassluis, De Twee Spieghels in Leiden, PJPJ in Voorschoten, De Gekke Geit, Murphy’s Law and Savannah in The Hague,  as well as in various Belgian venues such as Jazz Studio Antwerpen, De Kleine Hedonist, Café Boekowski and Café Hopsack.