Beat Zimmermann, the 1967-born Swiss started his musical career receiving classical piano lessons starting at the age of 10 after having played the recorder for 4 years and showing significant musical talent. He soon was able to play some rather difficult pieces on the piano, such as pieces from Moussorgsky's "pictures at an exhibition" and Tchaikovsky's "seasons" or Beethoven Sonatas.
Despite wanting to join the conservatory of music at the age of 20 as a pianist, Beat reluctantly decided to pursue a career in aviation/air traffic control instead, mainly due to the lack of his family's support for his musical ambitions. In 1986, he co-founded the neo-prog rock band Carol with a friend, reaching the 1988 Swiss finals (8 out of over 300 bands) of the Yamaha Live-for-Tokyo contest.By 1994, Beat left Carol to explore new musical horizons. In 1996, he enrolled at the Swiss Jazz School (now part of Bern University of Arts), studying piano under Immanuel Brockhaus and drums as a secondary instrument. As a freelancer, he performed with various jazz bands, including his own trio with Lorenz Beyeler on bass and Martin Stadelmann on drums, averaging 80+ gigs annually. His talents took him to festivals in Jamaica, France, and Italy with the University of Bern’s Big Band.Fusion was Beat's main interest so he founded the 5-piece band "Actual Proof" with drummer Martin Stadelmann and fellow student André Rossier. Actual Proof played fusion tunes written by Dave Weckl, Steps Ahead, Al Jarreau, Scott Henderson, John Scofield and the likes. In the mean time the band had to be renamed to "Proof Coalition" as some other artist started to use the name "Actual proof". The band is however currently not active.
For his own educational institute in aviation, Beat produces instruction videos, for which he also writes and performs the music in his recording studio.Over the past two decades, Beat has lent his skills as a sideman to artists like Ronan Keating, the Bellamy Brothers, Matthias Reim, DJ Ötzi, and Nik P.. Though less active on stage in recent years, he’s remained prolific in his studio, producing music.
In 2024, Beat teamed up with a group of world-class musicians for a prog-rock album, Every Picture Tells a Story, featuring nine original compositions, tentatively set for release in mid to end of October 2025 under the project name Unicorn Umbrellas, featuring the legendary voice of SAGA, Michael Sadler, the incredible drummer Todd Sucherman of Styx, former Tangerine Dream guitar player Zlatko Perica and René Maurer on bass. “The songs blend my fusion influences with my prog-rock roots. I’m thrilled with the phenomenal musicians involved—they’re doing an outstanding job,” Beat shares.
