Most listeners know the German band Alphaville by two hits, thanks to which the musicians gained worldwide fame - Forever Young and Big In Japan. These tracks have been covered by various popular bands.
The team successfully continues its creative activity. Musicians often took part in various world festivals. They have 12 full length studio albums in addition to many separately released singles.
The beginning of Alphaville's career
The history of the team began in 1980. Marian Gold, Bernhard Lloyd and Frank Mertens met at the site of the Nelson Community project. It was created in the mid-1970s as a kind of commune where young writers, artists and musicians exchanged experiences and developed their own capabilities.
Since 1981, the future members of the team have been working on the material. They recorded the song Forever Young and decided to name the band after it. The demo version of the track got to several music labels at once, and the group quickly gained commercial success.
The rise of Alphaville
In 1983, the musicians decided to change the band's name to Alphaville, in honor of one of their favorite science fiction films. Then immediately there was a contract with the label WEA Records. And in 1984, the single Big In Japan was released, instantly becoming popular on both sides of the Atlantic. On the wave of success, the band recorded their first studio album, Forever Young. He received public appreciation and positive reviews from music critics.
Unexpected for the musicians was the decision of Frank Mertens to leave the group. By that time, active touring had begun, and the musicians had to urgently look for a replacement for their retired comrade. In 1985 Ricky Ecolette joined them.
After the release of their third record Afternoons In Utopia (1986), the musicians worked on new material and refused to participate in tours.
The third studio work The Breathtaking Blue was released only in 1989 (three years later). At the same time, the team began to work on the release of thematic video clips with the concept of cinema. Each video sequence was meaningful and complete, representing a short but deep story. After hard work, the musicians decided to temporarily stop cooperation and began to implement solo projects. For a long four years, the group disappeared from the stage.
As a presentation of the reunion, Alphaville performed their first concert in Beirut. Then the musicians again began to work in the studio on the material of the new album. The result of long rehearsals was the album Prostitute. The disc features compositions in various styles - from synth-pop to rock and reggae.
Leaving the group
In the summer of 1996, the group again lost one member. This time, Ricky Ecolette left, who was tired of the constant separation from his family and the crazy life of a popular group. Without looking for a replacement, the remaining two guys continued to work on new compositions. They are featured on Salvation's fifth studio album.
After a long tour through Europe, Germany, the USSR and Peru, the band made a gift to their "fans" by releasing the Dreamscapes anthology. It consisted of full-fledged 8 discs, which included 125 songs. The team managed to record the material that was collected during the entire existence of the group.
After a year of touring performances, the musicians recorded the Salvation album, which was released in America in 2000. After the release, the team went on tour to Russia and Poland, where he performed with the most grandiose concert. More than 300 thousand fans came to listen to the musicians. On the official portal of the group, new records began to appear in the public domain.
Changes
In 2003, another collection of four discs with previously unreleased songs from Crazy Show was released. At the same time, Bernhard Lloyd announced that he was tired of the same type of lifestyle and left the group. Thus, of the founding fathers, only Marian Gold remained in the composition. Together with him, Rainer Bloss continued to create as a keyboardist and Martin Lister.
With this line-up, the Alphaville group began recording a special project. It was the opera L'invenzione Degli Angeli / The Invention Of Angels, for some reason recorded in Italian. The concert activity of the group does not stop.
On their 20th anniversary, the band decided to please the fans with a performance with a string quartet. The experiment was recognized as a success, and the expanded team went on another tour of Europe.
Another non-standard result of the musicians' fantasy was the work on the musical. Inspired by the fairy tales of Lewis Carroll, the team set about creating their own version of Alice in Wonderland.
In 2005, the group was invited to Russia, where Avtoradio held its regular project "Disco of the 80s". More than 70 thousand fans gathered at the performance of the band. The next album Dreamscapes Revisited (according to new trends) was released on paid Internet services.
The next important event in the history of the team was the celebration of the 25th anniversary of creative activity. The celebration took place in 2009 in Prague. The concert was attended by popular singer Karel Gott, who performed the band's hits in Czech.
The next studio work Catching Rays On Giant was released in 2010. The group continued to give concerts and delight fans with new works. Martin Lister passed away on May 21, 2012. The next work of the musicians was released in 2014 in the form of a collection of hits So 80s!. For the first time in a long time, the album was sold not only on the Internet, but also on physical media. The musicians released their last studio album Strange Attractor in 2017.
