Campino (singer)

Last updated

Campino
Campino 02.jpg
Background information
Birth nameAndreas Frege
Born (1962-06-22) 22 June 1962 (age 62)
Düsseldorf, West Germany
Genres
Occupations
  • Singer
  • songwriter
  • actor
Years active1978–present

Andreas Frege (born 22 June 1962), known professionally as Campino, is a German-British singer, best known as the lead vocalist of Die Toten Hosen, a German punk rock band.

Contents

Biography

Campino in 1987 DieTotenHosen12-800.jpg
Campino in 1987

Campino was born at 22 June in Düsseldorf and is a descendant of the Frege family who owned the Fregehaus  [ de ] (Frege House) in Leipzig. His grandfather Ludwig Frege was the president of the Federal Administrative Court of Germany. He grew up as the son of a judge and a teacher. His mother was English, and raised her children to be bilingual. He has five siblings including his older brother John, who introduced him to punk music. His grandfather John Edmondson Whittaker was Labour Party politician and Member of Parliament for Heywood and Radcliffe. [1]

At the age of two he moved with his parents to Mettmann, near Düsseldorf, Germany. Campino went to the Humboldt-Gymnasium secondary school in Düsseldorf. He had to repeat two school years, which put him in a class with Michael Breitkopf, with whom he founded Die Toten Hosen. Both finished secondary school in 1983. Campino did eight months military service in the Bundeswehr while his application for recognition as a conscientious objector was being processed, after which he was transferred to alternative civilian service within a psychiatric ward in Düsseldorf, together with friend Michael Breitkopf. From 1978 to 1982 he was the singer for the band ZK, and later founded Die Toten Hosen with Andreas von Holst, Michael Breitkopf, Andreas Meurer, Trini Trimpop and Walter November. In their early years Die Toten Hosen are said to have played at small gatherings for just a crate of beer.

He and the other band members are fans of football club Fortuna Düsseldorf . The band sponsored the team between 2001 and 2003. Campino also follows Liverpool F.C. and broke his foot when kicking a garbage can in frustration at a Liverpool loss. The band frequently sponsor social projects, which have included helping kids with homework, campaigning against racism in sport and helping asylum seekers afford legal representation. [2] Campino has a son with German actress Karina Krawczyk.

Media appearances and acting

Campino has a high media presence, both as spokesman of Die Toten Hosen and as an individual. He has appeared on numerous television talk shows since the mid-1980s, commenting on a wide variety of social and religious issues. NDR television made a documentary of his life and beliefs that they screened within their weekly 'Gott und die Welt' (God and the world) show in 2001.

Campino has acted as a journalist on several occasions. In 1994 German magazine Der Spiegel printed his interview with then Youth Minister Angela Merkel in which he asked her about her experiences with drugs, alcohol and pop music. In 1993 he asked Paul McCartney similar questions. He interviewed Joe Strummer, singer of The Clash for SZ magazine in August 2001, one year before Strummer died.

Campino has performed as an actor on several occasions. In 1986 he played a significant role in the movie Losers  [ de ] by Bernd Schadewald  [ de ] and in 1990, he played a punk in the early evening television serial Der Fahnder . In 1992, he played the lead role in the comedy Langer Samstag by Hanns Christian Müller, alongside Gisela Schneeberger, Dieter Pfaff, Ottfried Fischer, Jochen Busse and others.

Apart from a small role in the play A Clockwork Orange in Bad Godesberg in May 1998 for which Die Toten Hosen also wrote the soundtrack, [3] he had his theatre debut playing the role of Mack the Knife in Bertolt Brecht's "Dreigroschenoper" (engl. 'The Beggar's Opera') from August to October 2006, with Gottfried John, Katrin Sass, Birgit Minichmayr and Maria Happel. The play was directed by Klaus Maria Brandauer and staged at the Admiralspalast (engl. 'admiral's palace') theatre in Berlin.

Campino was voted one of the 100 most significant Germans in an audience poll ( Unsere Besten ) by ZDF German TV in 2003. He was ranked 65th of the 300 people nominated. In 2006 he presented an Echo music award for extraordinary achievements to Bob Geldof on behalf of the German recorded music industry.

Campino has supported the Regine Hildebrandt School in Birkenwerder since December 2006 with special emphasis on campaigns against racism.

He played the lead role in Wim Wenders' movie Palermo Shooting (2008), which premiered in Germany on 20 November 2008.

Guest appearances

Campino sang without Die Toten Hosen on:

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Die Toten Hosen</span> German punk rock band

Die Toten Hosen are a German punk rock band from Düsseldorf. The name is taken from the German slang idiom tote Hose, which means "nothing happening"; "boring". The band has had an important success through the years, and it has built a loyal following both in Europe and South America, being particularly popular in their home country and in Argentina.

<i>Ein kleines bisschen Horrorschau</i> 1988 studio album by Die Toten Hosen

Ein kleines bisschen Horrorschau is the sixth LP by Die Toten Hosen, released in 1988. This is considered by the band as the best DTH album as of 1988.

<i>Crash-Landing</i> (Die Toten Hosen album) 1999 studio album by Die Toten Hosen

Crash-Landing or Crash Landing is the second English language studio album by the German punk band Die Toten Hosen, intended for the Australian market. As on Love, Peace & Money, most of the songs are translated DTH German language songs. Some songs were originally b-sides to various singles.

<i>Opel-Gang</i> 1983 studio album by Die Toten Hosen

Opel-Gang is the debut album of the German punk band Die Toten Hosen. The title is a reference to an article in a Düsseldorf newspaper, where a gang of small-time thieves, who drove self-tuned Opels, were named Opel-Gang, even though the band wasn't initially into car modding. The album took under 10 days to record.

<i>Unter falscher Flagge</i> 1984 studio album by Die Toten Hosen

Unter falscher Flagge is the second album of the German punk band Die Toten Hosen.

<i>Damenwahl</i> 1986 studio album by Die Toten Hosen

Damenwahl is the third studio album of the German punk band Die Toten Hosen. The term "Damenwahl" appears in "Verflucht, verdammt, gebrandmarkt" and the intro of "Altbierlied". It is regarded by some as the weakest album by DTH.

<i>Never Mind the Hosen, Heres Die Roten Rosen</i> 1987 compilation album by Die Toten Hosen

Never Mind the Hosen, Here's Die Roten Rosen, sometimes Never Mind the Hosen, Here's Die Roten Rosen is the first cover album of the German punk band Die Toten Hosen, released under the pseudonym Die Roten Rosen. The band covers German schlagers on the album. This is the first DTH album to reach the charts. According to Campino, this album has won the most from the release of remasters (2007), because the impact was initially lost, but regained with remastering.

<i>Learning English, Lesson One</i> 1991 compilation album by Die Toten Hosen

Learning English, Lesson One or Learning English, Lesson 1 is a cover album by the German punk band Die Toten Hosen. The album includes covers of mostly British bands, which were big influences on the band.

<i>Reich & sexy</i> 1993 greatest hits album by Die Toten Hosen

Reich & sexy is the first greatest hits compilation by the German punk band Die Toten Hosen. The album is an apparent tribute to Johnny Thunders, as both "Wort zum Sonntag" and "Born to Lose" are included on this album, moreover, these songs come consecutively.

<i>Put Your Money Where Your Mouth Is</i> (EP) 1994 EP by Die Toten Hosen

Put Your Money Where Your Mouth Is is an English-language EP by the German punk band Die Toten Hosen. It was released to promote the English language album Love, Peace & Money. "Put Your Money Where Your Mouth Is" is also the title of a song from Love, Peace & Money.

<i>Love, Peace & Money</i> 1994 studio album by Die Toten Hosen

Love, Peace & Money is the first English-language album by the German punk band Die Toten Hosen, not counting the cover album Learning English, Lesson One. It was intended for the Japanese market. Most of the songs are just English versions of other DTH songs.

<i>Opium fürs Volk</i> 1996 studio album by Die Toten Hosen

Opium fürs Volk is the seventh studio album by the German punk band Die Toten Hosen. Although it's not considered a concept album, it has a central theme of religion. It is regarded as one of the best Die Toten Hosen albums. The title is derived from a common misquotation of Karl Marx, who called religion the Opium of the People - Opium des Volkes.

<i>Auswärtsspiel</i> 2002 studio album by Die Toten Hosen

Auswärtsspiel is the ninth studio album by the German punk band Die Toten Hosen. It was released in 2002. This is one of the band's favourite albums. The record is much more personal than previous albums. This is also the last album re-released remastered in digipak, with a new booklet and with bonus tracks along with all the previous major albums in 2007.

<i>Zurück zum Glück</i> 2004 studio album by Die Toten Hosen

Zurück zum Glück is the tenth studio album by the German punk band Die Toten Hosen. The cover is designed by Dirk Rudolph.

<i>Nur zu Besuch: Unplugged im Wiener Burgtheater</i> 2005 live album by Die Toten Hosen

Nur zu Besuch: Unplugged im Wiener Burgtheater or Nur zu Besuch: Die Toten Hosen unplugged im Wiener Burgtheater is a MTV Unplugged album by the German punk band Die Toten Hosen.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Alles aus Liebe</span> Song by Die Toten Hosen

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Pilsen was a punk band from Argentina. It was founded by Pil Trafa, after separation of Los Violadores in 1992.

<i>Laune der Natur</i> 2017 studio album by Die Toten Hosen

Laune der Natur is the sixteenth studio album by German band Die Toten Hosen. It was produced by Vincent Sorg and released both as a single and a double album together with the album Learning English Lesson Two on May 5, 2017 on the band's own label JKP. The additional album Learning English Lesson Two contains cover versions in English only and is not available separately.

"Tage wie diese", is a song by the German punk-rock band Die Toten Hosen. It was released on 23 March 2012 as a single, being a teaser for the album Ballast der Republik that was released afterwards on 4 May 2012.

<i>Alles ohne Strom</i> Die Toten Hosen live album

Alles ohne Strom is a live album from the German punk-rock band Die Toten Hosen. It features recordings from two unplugged concerts on July 13 and July 14, 2019, which were titled "Mit Pauken und Trompeten" and were given at the Tonhalle Düsseldorf. The album was released on October 25, 2019 by the label JKP. The songs 1000 gute Gründe, Ohne dich und Feiern im Regen had been released as downloads before as a teaser. On November 22, 2019, a video movie with 10 additional titles was released also.

References

  1. Campino: Hope Street. Wie ich einmal englischer Meister wurde.Piper, München 2020, ISBN 978-3-492-07050-8, p. 101–104.
  2. "Campino – SPIEGEL ONLINE". Spiegel.de. 23 July 2001. Retrieved 20 May 2014.
  3. "Die Toten Hosen – Shop". Shop.dietotenhosen.de. Retrieved 20 May 2014.
  4. Pilsen: Bajo otra bandera, Sony Music, 2-470212.
  5. Honest John Plain: Honest John Plain & Friends, Feedback Music, 015071000892.
  6. The Boys: Power Cut, Eastwest Records, 0630-18041-2.
  7. Bad Religion: Raise Your Voice, Sony Music. 12-665675-14.
  8. Fehlfarben: "Sechsundzwanzigeinhalb", WR 1037682.
  9. "DIE TOTEN HOSEN – Web Argentina Oficial". Dth.com.ar. Retrieved 20 May 2014.