Career
Menke is the daughter of the German songwriter, producer and publisher Joe Menke. Her debut single "Hohe Berge" became an instant success in 1982 and was one of the first songs of the Neue Deutsche Welle (NDW) popular music movement that became hugely popular in Germany in the early 1980s. Menke was one of very few female artists to succeed in the genre.
Menke's career peaked from 1982–1984 along with Neue Deutsche Welle, when she had three hit singles and released a self-titled album. She sold more than three million records during 1982 and 1983.
Menke gave birth to two children at the end of the 1980s and composed various jingles for radio stations and advertisement campaigns. In 1992 she released her second album "Ich Will's Gefährlich" with limited success.
She has re-recorded or remixed her most successful singles. In 1990 she was remixed by the German band Masterboy and in 1994 she recorded two techno music versions of "Hohe Berge" and "Tretboot in Seenot." She did another version of "Hohe Berge" for her 2005 album "Einwandfrei" and recorded an industrial version with German band "The Seven Seals" in 2007.
Vasiliki Papathanasiou, generally known as Vicky Leandros, is a Greek singer living in Germany. She is the daughter of singer, musician and composer Leandros Papathanasiou. In 1967 she achieved worldwide fame after gaining fourth place for the country of Luxembourg in the Eurovision Song Contest with the song "L'amour est bleu", which became a worldwide hit. She further established her career by winning the Eurovision Song Contest in 1972 with the song "Après Toi", again representing Luxembourg.
Gabriele Susanne Kerner, better known by her stage name Nena, is a German singer who rose to international fame in 1983 as the lead vocalist of the band Nena with the Neue Deutsche Welle song "99 Luftballons". In that same year, the band re-recorded this song in English as "99 Red Balloons". Nena's re-recording of some of the band's old hit songs as a solo artist, produced by the co-composer of most of them, her former Nena band colleague and keyboard player Uwe Fahrenkrog-Petersen, rekindled her solo career in 2002. Combined with the success of the Nena band years, she has sold over 25 million records, making her the most successful German pop singer in chart history.
Neue Deutsche Welle is a genre of West German rock music originally derived from post-punk and new wave music with electronic influences. The term was first coined by Dutch radio DJ Frits Spits on the popular nationwide radio station Hilversum 3, which was very popular among German listeners. Soon after that, the term was used in a record-shop advertisement by Burkhardt Seiler in an August 1979 issue of the West German magazine Sounds. It was then used by journalist Alfred Hilsberg in an article about the movement titled Neue Deutsche Welle — Aus grauer Städte Mauern in Sounds in October 1979.
Welle:Erdball is a German band whose sound is distinguished by their intensive use of the Commodore 64's SID sound chip.
Jasmin Wagner, better known as Blümchen, is a German pop and dance music singer and actress. Although she releases her English albums under the name Blossom, her German stage name Blümchen actually translates to "floret" or "small flower".
Wir sind Helden was a German pop rock band that was established in 2000 in Hamburg and based in Berlin. The band was composed of lead singer and guitarist Judith Holofernes, drummer Pola Roy, bassist Mark Tavassol and keyboardist/guitarist Jean-Michel Tourette.
"Ich will" is a song by German Neue Deutsche Härte band Rammstein from their third studio album Mutter. It was originally released in Germany on 10 September 2001, but many channels did not air the music video as it was released the day before the September 11 attacks. The German single contains a live cover of the Ramones song "Pet Sematary" sung by Rammstein keyboardist Christian "Flake" Lorenz.
Münchener Freiheit is a German pop and rock band that had released nineteen studio albums by 2016, four of which have gone gold. They are named after a square in the city of Munich, meaning "Munich freedom". They are considered part of the Neue Deutsche Welle musical movement.
"Da Da Da I Don't Love You You Don't Love Me Aha Aha Aha" is a song by the German band Trio. Trio was formed in 1980 by Stephan Remmler, Gert "Kralle" Krawinkel and Peter Behrens. Released as a single in 1982 and featured on their 1981 self-titled debut album, "Da Da Da" became a hit in Germany and about 30 other countries, selling 13 million copies worldwide. The lyrics were written by Remmler, the music by Krawinkel. "Da Da Da" remains the band's biggest German hit and their only hit outside Germany.
Marianne Rosenberg is a German Schlager music singer and songwriter.
Joachim Witt is a German rock musician and actor.
Paso Doble is a German Neue Deutsche Welle band that formed in 1983. Their songs "Computerliebe", "Herz an Herz" and "Fantasie" have appeared on several Best of NDW/new wave compilations. They are well known for their unique sound as well as their unusual style and choreography, which have a Spanish style to go with the band's name, Paso Doble.
“Guten Tag” is a 2002 song by German band Wir sind Helden. It was first released on an EP of the same title in 2002 and one year later as the first single of their debut album Die Reklamation. It was composed by Jean-Michel Tourette, Judith Holofernes and Pola Roy while the lyrics were written by Holofernes. The title is German for good day.
Spliff was a Neue Deutsche Welle rock band, active in the 1980s. Three of the members were already playing together in the political rock cabaret Lokomotive Kreuzberg before they were 'adopted' by Nina Hagen when she came to West Germany in 1977. They recorded two albums with her as the Nina Hagen Band before continuing under the name Spliff when Hagen went solo. Their characteristic sound was a mix of electronic music, reggae and punk rock. They recorded "The Spliff Radio Show" in 1980, their only album in English. After parting ways with vocalist Alf Klimek, the remaining members carried on in German sharing vocals between all four of them. Their album 85555 however was released in a limited English edition too. They had major hits on the German singles chart with "Carbonara", "Das Blech" and "Déjà vu". Despite their influential status, the band was short-lived.
"Eisbär" is a 1980 song by the Swiss Neue Deutsche Welle band Grauzone. A cult hit, it first appeared on the 1980 compilation album Swiss Wave – The Album. The shorter single version was later collected on the Grauzone album Die Sunrise Tapes (1998).
Nena is the first album by German pop rock band Nena and the second studio album of its singer, Gabriele "Nena" Kerner. Released on 14 January 1983, it is part of the music genre called Neue Deutsche Welle in German music.
Annette Humpe is a German singer, songwriter, and record producer. Her band Ideal was one of the most important and seminal representatives of the Neue Deutsche Welle. In 2004, she returned as a singer with the project Ich + Ich after a longer break.
Marlene Dietrich's recording career spanned sixty years, from 1928 until 1988. She introduced the songs "Falling in Love Again " and "See What the Boys in the Back Room Will Have". She first recorded her version of "Lili Marlene" in 1945.
Hubert Kah is a German synthpop band, led by Hubert Kemmler. Kemmler is a German musician, composer, songwriter and producer.
Inga Humpe is a German singer, songwriter and producer. She performed with Neue Deutsche Welle bands such as Neonbabies, DÖF and Humpe & Humpe. Her sister is the singer and producer Annette Humpe, with whom she performed regularly during her career. The song "Riding into Blue " produced by Trevor Horn became a minor hit in 1990. Later that year she released a solo studio album Planet Oz. She currently is in the band 2raumwohnung and lives in Berlin.
