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 Joachim Witt:Joachim Witt, born Feb. 22, 1949, began his music career in 1965 playing cover songs in Hamburg youth centrals & clubs. In 1969, taking lessons in photography, he first began writing songs in German.In 1973 he signed with Metronome and in 1974 his first, and last, single under the name, Julian, "Ich bin ein Mann", appeared. It completely flopped & the contract was terminated. At this time, he began writing the music for "Goldener Reiter" inspired by the song "A Horse with No Name" by the American band, America. After some work as an actor, he started the band Duesenberg with long-time friends, Wolfgang Schleiter & Harald Gutowski, playing American westcoast-type rock. Their first album in 1977 sold about 15,000 copies and with their third, "Strangers" they were awarded "Best Upcoming Band". Witt, however wanted to follow a different path &, leaving Duesenberg, his debut solo, "Silberblick", appeared in 1980 on the label WEA. It had nothing in common w/ Duesenberg musically and the two singles from it, "Kosmetik" & "Goldener Reiter" sold sluggishly. Work on his second album, "Edelweiss", began in 1981 and as with the first album continued with the driving, monotonous & somewhat gloomy rhythms and blunt, honest lyrics that seemed unsuitable for mass consumption. It was to appear in Dec., 1981 but things took a turn... In Nov., 1981, the show, Musikladen, (which 9 months later jumpstarted the career for Nena) presented the no longer quite so fresh single, "Goldener Reiter". The robot-like gestures with which Witt expressed the song left a lasting impression. This was at the same time as an underground phenomenon known as Neue Deutsche Welle (NDW) exploded on the charts. Because of both these things, "Goldener Reiter" went to #2 on the charts & his debut went to the Top 10. The previously postponed, "Edelweiss" was finally released in 1982 and in May the tour began. "Märchenblau", released in 1983, was the complete opposite of "Edelweiss", replacing barren & dismal with romantic, warm and sometimes dreamy sounds heavily dominated by keyboards. During this time, the local music scene was changing and an inundation of NDW releases had the masses yelling, "No more!". Interest in the NDW faded, Joachim Witt along with it, and sales for "Märchenblau" were well below expectations. In 1985 he released "Mit Rucksack und Harpune" with the singles "Das Supergesicht" and "Blonde Kuh". In 1986 he released "Moonlight Nights" on Polydor. A lighter singing style accompanied by electronic instruments & including English lyrics by Peter Sawatzki-Bär was completely ignored by the media. New sound or not, Joachim Witt was NDW & NDW was dead... it would remain this way for the next 11 years... On RCA he released "10 Million Partys" in 1988 but the parties didn't start until the beginning of the 90's when 2 old hits were resurrected. The first was a jazzed up version of "Herbergsvater" re-done by Britain's Ian Ritchie and then "Goldener Reiter" by Culture Beat's founder, Thorsten Fenslau. The idea came from Witt's ex-recording label, WEA, following a resurgence of interest in NDW bands as the 10 year anniversary approached. This new sign of life was followed in 1991 by "Hallo Deutschland" on the label, Edel, but nothing came of it. Re-signing with Metronome, he released "Kapitän der Träume" which was a bit of a disappointment to all. Realising he was maybe not at a creative high point he was fairly quiet for 4.5 years. In 1996 he began writing new songs again and a new contract with Strangeways was followed by the single, "Das Geht Tief" which had, again, an unexpected new style. Darker than say, "Edelweiss", it was enriched with classical and industrial sounds, his voice nearly an octave deeper than on previous releases. Joining up with Sony, the single "Die Flut" accompanied by Wolfsheim singer, Peter Heppner, was released, selling 670,000 copies, his greatest hit ever ("Goldener Reiter" having sold 250,000 copies). In 1998 the album, "Bayreuth Eins" appeared & went platinum! The announcement of "Bayreuth 2" didn't have much of a reaction but the single, "Bataillon d'Amour", was released in Nov., 2000 and placed at #26. The album, "Bayreuth 2" hit #13 after it's release two weeks later. His newest, "Eisenherz" was just released in 2002. -Mikki 6/02 This was translated & edited from Ich Will Spass site More at: |
