Van Derrick was led to music by his father, a Dutch cornetist. He attended the Conservatory in Brussels and had classical music lessons until the outbreak of World War II. In London, he played during the war first with Louis Mexano’s Accordion Band, before he worked in the merchant marine . In the post-war years, he first played as a trumpeter in dance bands by Maurice Winnick and Lou Preager, eventually he took violin lessons with his mentor Sascha Lasserson and played in the Halle Orchestra, before he worked from then on as a freelance musician. He appeared with Roy Fox and Geraldo and he played in the early 1960s in Diz Disley’s String Quintet, with the first recordings emerged ( At the Jazz Band Ball ), also with Tubby Hayes , Gary Potter and the Jack Togood Swing set . In 1976 he was able to work again after a serious illness.