Ivar de Graaf was born in Amsterdam, and began playing drums at the age of 11.
De Graaf followed education at the Haags Montessori Lyceum in The Hague, and was taught to play drums by Charles Schouten who has been the drummer for Kayak for a short period of time.
He was asked to be the drummer for Within Temptation 1996, at that the time the band was relatively unknown and began working on their first studio album.
This was for musical reasons,[citation needed] he wanted to play more various and challenging drum fills instead of the more similar he experienced in Within Temptation, and develop himself more as a composer and arranger.
He accompanied singer Sharon den Adel on acoustic guitar for Within Temptation's Together at Home concert on March 24, 2020.