Modern Talking - Biographie - , Portrait, pictures, biography, VIDEO and more
Modern Talking - Biographie
Modern Talking worked together from 1984 to 1987, when the band split up. In 1998 they reunited and made a successful comeback, recording and releasing music from 1998 to 2003. To accommodate central European music markets of the late 1990s, they changed their original 1980s mellow Europop sound to up-tempo Eurodance. The duo released singles which again entered the top 10 in Germany and abroad. Some of those singles were "You're My Heart, You're My Soul '98", "Brother Louie '98", and "You Are Not Alone".
History
The beginning
First formed at the end of 1984, they unexpectedly became immensely popular with their synthpop hit single "You're My Heart, You're My Soul" with which they occupied top-10 positions in 35 countries including their homeland where the single perched at the top for six consecutive weeks, the single eventually went on to sell eight million copies world-wide. The track was then followed by another number one hit "You Can Win If You Want" which was released in the middle of 1985 from the debut album The 1st Album.
The album went on being certified platinum in Germany for sellin over 500,000 units.
Soon after their second hit, Modern Talking released the single "Cheri, Cheri Lady" which also quickly climbed to the top of the charts in Germany, Switzerland, Austria and Norway, meanwhile entering the top-10 in Sweden and The Netherlands.The single, being the
only track released from their second album Let's Talk About Love, managed to push the album to a platinum status in Germany for sales of over 500,000. The success continued with two other number one singles such as "Brother Louie" and "Atlantis Is Calling (S.O.S. for Love)" both from the third album Ready for Romance. The duo also charted high with their sixth single "Geronimo's Cadillac" from the fourth album In the Middle of Nowhere and "Jet Airliner" from their fifth album Romantic Warriors.
During this era, Modern Talking were successful in Europe, Asia, South America, Middle East, particularly in Iran, where all Western pop music was banned after the 1979 Islamic revolution. In the United Kingdom, they entered the top-5 only once, with the song "Brother Louie". They were almost unknown in North America, never appearing in the US charts, although they did become one-hit wonders in Canada when "Brother Louie" peaked at number 34 in 1987. They released two albums each year between 1985 and 1987, while also promoting their singles on television all over Europe, eventually selling 65 million records within three years.
Between 1987 and 1998
Immediately after the duo split in the mid 1987, Bohlen formed his own project called "Blue System" and enjoyed several high chart positions, with tracks like "Sorry Little Sarah", "My Bed Is Too Big", "Under My Skin", "Love Suite" and "Déjà vu". Meanwhile, Anders went solo, touring under the name of Modern Talking on several continents, such as: Europe, Africa, Asia, South America, and Australia until the beginning of 1989, when he started to record some of his new pop-like material in LA and London, and also in his native country. Anders recorded five solo albums in English Different, Whispers, Down on Sunset, When Will I See You Again and Souled and one of his album was also recorded in Spanish Barcos de Cristal. He was more successful in foreign countries than his own country, yet he also reached several hits in Germany. Despite all the quarrels and disagreements that Bohlen and Anders experienced between themselves in the past, they began keeping in touch again after Anders moved back to Koblenz, Germany in 1994.
The Reunion: 1998–2003
In the beginning of 1998 the duo reunited, and had their first performance together in March on Germany's biggest TV show Wetten, dass..?. They released a re-packaged version of their '84 single "You're My Heart, You're My Soul '98". The single, however, no longer sounded like a mellow Europop track, instead it was a typical up-tempo Eurodance number, featuring rapper Eric Singleton on the rap vocals. Their first comeback album Back for Good, which included four new tracks, as well as all of the previous hits redone with modern techniques, stayed at number one position in Germany for five consecutive weeks and managed to top the charts in 15 countries, eventually selling three million copies in Europe alone. The duo won the award at World Music Awards for being the Best Selling German Band that year. The follow-up album Alone which also went straight to number one in Germany was very successful elsewhere as well; the album managed to sell well over one million units in Europe alone.
Bohlen and Anders followed the 1980s Modern Talking pattern as they chose to release two singles from each album, as in the past. A series of singles and four more albums followed such as Year of the Dragon, America, Victory and Universe. After reaching the point where they had already collected over 400 gold and platinum awards worldwide, Bohlen and Anders decided to split up again in 2003 just before the release of another of their album compiled of best-songs. The second break-up seemed to have been triggered mainly from the negative portrayal of Anders by Bohlen written in his autobiographical book published on October 4, 2003. In the course of all the disputes which eventually drove the duo to its break-up, Bohlen was involved in Deutschland sucht den Superstar, the German edition of the UK's Pop Idol. The compilation album was released in 2003 entitled "The Final Album" which contained all of the duo's singles. Thomas Anders started another solo career immediately after the end of Modern Talking, while Bohlen had by now begun devoting most of his time to new talents, especially those he discovered on DSDS.
Production and sales figures
In 1984, Bohlen cited the hit single "Precious Little Diamond" (by Fox the Fox), as his inspiration for using falsetto choruses. The studio vocal line up of Rolf Köhler, Michael Scholz, Detlef Wiedeke and (on early albums) Birger Corleis, in addition to Bohlen and Anders, produced the high choruses characteristic of Modern Talking. Köhler, Scholz and Wiedeke later went on to work with Bohlen in Blue System, before joining with songwriter Thomas Widrat to form Systems in Blue. Köhler, Scholz and Wiedeke were never credited on the Modern Talking albums, and eventually went to court over the matter. They received an out of court settlement and Bohlen published a sleeve note for his next release (Obsession, by Blue System), acknowledging the trio's contribution.
Further influences include German-language Schlager music, disco pop (Bee Gees) and romantic English-language songs of Italian and French origin, like Gazebo's "I Like Chopin". After the 1998 reunion, Bohlen produced eurodance, as well as American-style MOR ballads.
Global sales of Modern Talking, after the duo's second and final break-up in 2003, had reached 120 million singles and albums combined,making them the biggest-selling German music act in history, so far outselling even Frank Farian's projects Boney M. and Milli Vanilli, Michael Cretu's Enigma, Sandra as well as Scorpions and Rammstein.
Dieter Bohlen also composed for other artists, during his Modern Talking time, like Chris Norman and Smokie, whose song "Midnight Lady" (1986) remains Bohlen's most popular composition. He also composed a large number of disco tracks for C. C. Catch, using an accelerated, less-romantic sound. Some English Bohlen songs such as "You're My Heart, You're My Soul" were also recorded with German lyrics by Mary Roos, using the same playback tracks. When Modern Talking split up in 1987, a number of tracks written for the last album were re-arranged and then transferred onto Dieter Bohlen's first solo album by Blue System. Modern Talking's 6th album was released about the same time as the 1st single from Blue System, "Sorry Little Sarah", where Bohlen competed in the charts against Modern Talking's "In 100 Years" hit song.
Solo careers
In 2006, Bohlen included a secret message in his song "Bizarre Bizarre" when played backwards: "There will never be an end to Modern Talking". Bohlen's response: "I meant to say that the music of Modern Talking will live forever". Anders has kept the Modern Talking songs in his repertoire and produced songs in a similar vein for his solo records ("Independent Girl"). In 2006, he produced an album Songs Forever of swing and jazz versions of popular songs (including Modern Talking's first hit). Bohlen has written two autobiographical books about Modern Talking's history from his perspective. The first book sold a million copies in Germany. The sequel was heavily criticised for his unfairness towards the people he worked with. As a result of that, Bohlen withdrew from the public for a year until 2006, when he said he regretted putting out the second book. Anders had not been the only one pressing charges against Bohlen and demanding that sections of the book be modified. Frank Farian was also angered by Bohlen's literary output and released a book in which he tried to expose Bohlen as a fraud. Bohlen's first book was the basis of an animated comedy film called Dieter - Der Film. The soundtrack of this film contains the previously unreleased Modern Talking song "Shooting Star" which had been written for the Universe album.
Dieter Bohlen
Biography
Bohlen took his Abitur in Oldenburg. His father was a supplier to the construction business. In 1978 Dieter Bohlen was member of the band Monza. In 1981 he was member of trio Sunday, and they had a hit "Hale Hey Louise", which has been covered by Ricky King and others. From 1984 to 1987 and from 1998 to 2003, Bohlen was one half of the pop duo Modern Talking as producer, songwriter and composer. From 1985 to 1988 he produced and wrote songs for the disco singer C. C. Catch.
In 1988, Dieter Bohlen signed 15 year old singer Anna Garcia whose stage name was "Sheree". Her record did not make a great impression on the German charts.
After the first split-up of Modern Talking in 1987, Bohlen formed Blue System. For most projects Bohlen had session singers for background vocals to produce a high-pitched chorus. He frequently worked the studio with the producer Luis Rodríguez. Rivalen Der Rennbahn is a soundtrack written by Bohlen. It was one of the best-selling albums in 1989 in Germany. Bohlen produced the German boygroup Touché which was founded by one of the group's five members, Karim Maataoui. In 1986, Bohlen wrote and produced Chris Norman's "Midnight Lady" for an episode of the German crime show Tatort. This song that became a major hit in central Europe.
He has been a judge on all the seasons of the talent show Deutschland sucht den Superstar and has worked with acts discovered in the show to yield several major hits. He is criticized for controversial and insulting comments ("You sing like a garden gnome on ecstasy", "Your voice sounds like Kermit getting his ass kicked"). Bohlen has also released five books. Two of these are autobiographical and describe his career, romantic involvements and experiences with singers. The first book was an unprecedented success in Germany. Both books were also released as audio books.
In 2006, Bohlen released an album called Dieter: Der Film that was a soundtrack to the movie of the same name.
He has also been a judge the talent show Das Supertalent, the German version of Britain's Got Talent. He is the only judge to be in all the show's series.
Bohlen is the only foreigner ever given the title People's Artist of the USSR (in 1989).
Personal life
Dieter was the son of Edith and Hans Bohlen. He has a sibling, a younger brother named Uwe. He was educated in Oldenberg, Göttingen and Hamburg, culminating in an Economics degree. Bohlen was married to Erika Sauerland from 1983 to 1994 and has three children from this marriage, Marc, Marvin Benjamin and Marielin. Even before he was legally divorced, he lived with – but never married – his new girlfriend Nadja Abd el Farrag, nicknamed Naddel, a pharmaceutical laboratory assistant; she was a background dancer for Blue System at that time.
In 1996, he married model and singer Verona Feldbusch but divorced her after thirty days, propelling Verona to celebrity status (she went on to host television shows such as Peep and Veronas Welt). After breaking up with Verona, he eventually returned to Naddel, but the two split up again in 2000. Bohlen and Naddel both confirmed that Bohlen suffered a penile fracture at one of their encounters. Later, Bohlen lived with the 1979 born model Stefanie Küster until 2006. They have one son, Maurice, born mid-2005. He met his current girlfriend Carina in Majorca, Spain, where one of the casting events for Deutschland sucht den Superstar (the German version of Pop Idol) was held. Amelie, was born in 2011, their first child together and Bohlen's fifth child. Bohlen lives in the village of Tötensen near Hamburg.
Thomas Anders
Biography
Early years
Anders was born in Koblenz, West Germany. He began showing interest in music as a child, he did his first stage-performance at age of 7. Anders first studied music at Koblenz Eichendorff-Gymnasium, and then he studied musicology for five semesters at Johannes Gutenberg University in Mainz, Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany. After having performed at several clubs and discothèques, in 1979, he participated in a music contest organized by the radio station Radio Luxembourg which he walked away from without earning enough points. Two days after the contest, Anders was offered a record contract by the same jury members of the radio contest.
It was then that his career officially began when in 1980, at age of 17, he released his debut single "Judy". Anders released several other singles produced by Daniel David including "Du weinst um ihn", which he performed on Michael Schanze's TV show Hätten sie heut' zeit für uns. In 1983, he met Dieter Bohlen who produced "Was macht das schon", the German cover version of F. R. David's "Pick Up the Phone" and also "Heißkalter Engel", the German cover version of Real Life's "Send Me an Angel". From late 1983 to the mid of 1984 Bohlen produced other tracks for Anders including "Wovon träumst du denn", "Endstation Sehnsucht" and "Es geht mir gut heut' Nacht". The success, however, came when in late 1984, Anders and Bohlen formed the successful duo Modern Talking, which they started things off by a worldwide hit single "You're My Heart, You're My Soul".
Solo career
In late 1987, Anders and Bohlen decided to terminate Modern Talking and go their separate ways due to constant quarrel between the two. Shortly after which Anders went on a long tour performing before as many as 85,000 fans, the tour involved cities like Cape Town, Johannesburg, Hong Kong, Singapore, Taipei, Viña del Mar and MoscowThis drove Anders to leave Germany for the United States, where in 1989, Anders released his first solo album Different with more pop style rather than dance, which he produced together with Elton John's producer Gus Dudgeon and a-ha's producer Alan Tarney. The first single "Love of My Own" released in the same year is considered the biggest success of his solo career at that time. The second album Whispers was released in 1991, three singles were released off Anders' second solo album "The Sweet Hello, The Sad Goodbye" written by Roxette member Per Gessle, "I Can't Give You Anything (But My Love)" and "True Love".
In 1992, Anders released his third album Down on Sunset, the singles "How Deep Is Your Love" and "Standing Alone" (Duet with Glenn Medeiros) found some success both in Germany and Austria. Anders released his fourth solo album When Will I See You Again in 1993. The first single "When Will I See You Again" featured the original singers of the song, The Three Degrees. Also, in 1993, Anders experienced something new as he got a part in a Swedish movie Stockholm Marathon. He also wrote the title-song for that film "Marathon of Life", which is one of the tracks in his 1993's album When Will I See You Again. In 1994, he came back with an album Barcos de Cristal, which he released in Spanish only for U.S., South America and Argentina, this album contained songs from albums of 1992 and 1993, all redone in Spanish. Anders released one more album in 1995 called Souled, which he produced together with Peter Wolf, this album contained a duet featuring The Pointer Sisters "Feel for the Physical". Things for him then were quiet until March 1998 when Thomas Anders and Dieter Bohlen announced the reunion of Modern Talking. The duo released six studio albums between 1998 and 2003 and split again in 2003.
Subsequent years
In 2001, Anders produced the song, " My Heart It Feels Like (Dub Dub ...)" together with Gerd Count Bernadotte for the pop girl duo It-Girl. In late 2003 Anders signed a contract with BMG international as a solo artist after their final album of Modern Talking. The first single, "Independent Girl" released in November 2003 reached No.17 on the German single chart and No.5 in Russia. His album, This Time released in 2004 entered the top-20 as well.The second single "King of Love" reached the top-40 in Germany. At this point, Anders was working with his new producer Peter Ries, who previously had worked with such artists as Sandra and No Angels.
Thomas Anders received an offer from NDR to host the Eurovision Song Contest 2004, 11 million viewers who already knew Anders as a singer watched him announce the German voting points. Also, in 2004, Anders was asked to record the ballad "Just Dream" which was to be the official anthem for the ballet Holiday on Ice which reached No.64 in Germany. The song can be heard during the international three-year Holiday on Ice tour.
In the following year, Anders was involved in a legal battle which he had brought against his Modern Talking partner, Dieter Bohlen. Anders claimed that Bohlen had slandered about him in his autobiographical book. In the Spring of 2005, the court rejected to have Bohlen pay the one million Euros which Anders had sued Bohlen for.
In March 2006, Anders got involved in Eurovision Song Contest again; however, he was one of the three contestants to represent Germany in the Eurovision Song Contest 2006 alongside with the Greek-born Vicky Leandros (Eurovision Song Contest 1972 winner) and country band Texas Lightning featuring comedian Olli Dittrich. However, the spectators chose the latter.
Also in the same year, Anders left BMG and joined Edel Records and released his swing-album Songs Forever which was commercially unsuccessful peaking only at No.43. In April 2006, his The DVD-Collection arrived in stores, which contained 20 videos of his solo career as well as some hits taken from Modern Talking period. In July 2008, Anders was featured on two of download singles by Sound-Chateau, "Ibiza Baba Baya" and "For You".
Anders announced the German Eurovision voting results once again in 2009. In the Spring of 2009, Anders was featured on the song called "The Night Is Still Young for which he collaborated with Sandra, the single peaked at No.46. Anders released his next solo single, "Why Do You Cry" in 2010 which peaked at No. 21 on Russian Airplay Chart.In the Spring of 2010, Anders released his next studio album, Strong for Russian market only.[1] The album reached the platinum status in Russia for sales of 10,000 units. In 2011, Anders came back collaborating with Uwe Fahrenkrog, German musician and songwriter. The duo's first single together called "Gigolo" was released on May 27, 2011 in Germany which peaked at No.40 there.Their second single "No More Tears On The Dancefloor" failed to enter the charts. Their album, Two was released on June 10, 2011 which debuted at No.11 on the German album chart. The single "Gigolo" is written and produced by Uwe Fahrenkrog-Petersen Thomas Troelsen. The duo appears under the name Anders | Fahrenkrog.
Personal life
His parents are Helga and Peter Weidung. He has one brother, Achim, and one sister, Tania. He was married to Nora Balling from 1984 to 1999. Since July 2000 he has been married to Claudia Hess, with whom he has a son, Alexander Mick, born 27 June 2002.
Luis Rodríguez (producer)
Biography
Rodriguez was born in Fuente el Fresno, Ciudad Real, Spain in 1948. Started as Bassist / Guitarist in the band "Los Esclavos" performing in one of the most important Flamenco Clubs in Hamburg. He became singer in mid-seventies, creating his own Recording Studio in Hamburg "Star 33". Luis Rodriguez co-produced such artists as C. C. Catch, Blue System, Chris Norman (ex-Smokie), Bonnie Tyler, and others. In the 1990s he worked on numerous projects like New Baccara, Mike Mareen, Chicano, T. Ark, Sweet Connection, and others. He had big success as producer with the music project Fun Factory.
With vocals of his wife Lian Ross, Rodríguez produced some dance-projects as such as: Creative Connection, Josy, Lian Ross, Jobel, Dana Harris, and others.
Eric Singleton
Biography
Singleton has worked since 1994 with different music producers. He worked with unknown bands in Germany, like Face II Face, Deep Down and Cool Cut. He gained fame mainly through his appearances as rapper for Modern Talking. He appeared for the first time on the comeback version of "You're My Heart, You're My Soul" in 1998, then for the next few years he was heard on every single Modern Talking song released, until "Last Exit to Brooklyn" in 2001 (except "Win the Race").
In 2000, he released his first solo single, "Sexy Girl", featuring Shaggy.
After his last single with Modern Talking, he moved back to Georgia, U.S.
He came back to Germany in 2006 to continue his solo rap career while undertaking the UEFA C license program in order to pursue his interest in football. He has recently been linked to the vacant position as assistant manager of Karlsruher SC after the recent sacking of Jørn Andersen.
Source: wikipedia
Keine Kommentare:
Kommentar veröffentlichen