Peter Heppner | |
---|---|
Background information | |
Born | 7 September 1967 |
Origin | Hamburg, Germany |
Genres | Synthpop, dark wave, electronica |
Occupation(s) | Vocalist, songwriter |
Instrument(s) | Vocals |
Years active | 1987–present |
Labels | Universal Music Germany |
Website | www.peter-heppner.com |
Peter Heppner (born 7 September 1967 in Hamburg) is the former lead singer of the German electronica/synth pop band Wolfsheim, and has collaborated with many other electronic music acts, such as Paul van Dyk, Schiller, and Goethes Erben.
Being singer and songwriter for Wolfsheim since 1987, his first commercial success was in 1991 releasing the single "The Sparrows and the Nightingales". In 1998, he had a big charts success with NDW star Joachim Witt and their duet "Die Flut". In the years following, his notability as a singer increased. Collaborating with Schiller, he achieved international chart hits with "Dream of You" (2001) and "Leben... I Feel You" in 2004. In the same year, he released the song "Wir Sind Wir" with Paul van Dyk. Although the song was controversial[ citation needed ], the artists recorded another version together with the Filmorchester Babelsberg which was performed at the official ceremony for the Day of German Unity on 3 October 2005 in Potsdam. A more recent project with miLù (Anke Hachfeld, the singer of the group Mila Mar) and Kim Sanders formerly of Culture Beat spawned the single "Aus Gold", intended to support Afghan poorhouses in conjunction with Deutsches Rotes Kreuz (German Red Cross). Another collaboration was with previous Wolfsheim producer, José Alvarez-Brill, on the song "Vielleicht", featured on the album Alvarez Presents Zeitmaschine Remixed (2005).
Heppner's first solo effort Solo was released in Germany on 12 September 2008 through Warner Music. The songs on the disc were produced by Peter-John Vettese as well as Alvarez-Brill. The album peaked at #9 on the German charts and was preceded by the single "Alleinesein" on 5 September 2008. [1]
In 2010, he released the song "Haus der 3 Sonnen" with German singer Nena.
Peter Heppner's second solo album, My Heart of Stone, was released on 18 May 2012 through Universal Music (DE). My Heart of Stone entered the German album charts at #6 and was preceded by the online-single and video "God Smoked" in April 2012 and the regular single "Meine Welt" on 4 May 2012.
In 2012, he also performed on two duets with Kim Sanders ("Deserve To Be Alone") and German singer Marianne Rosenberg ("Genau Entgegengesetzt").
As a thank-you gift for his fans, he released an English and a German version of the online-single "Dream of Christmas / Traum von Weihnachten" in December 2012.
On 8 February 2014, he was a guest singer on the stage at German synthpop trio Camouflage's 30th anniversary concert that was held in Dresden, Germany. He performed a duet with lead vocal Marcus Meyn on the song "That Smiling Face", the band's 1988 single released from their first studio album "Voices and Images".
In 2018, he released the albums Confessions & Doubts and TanzZwang (the latter being a remix album). The Album's first single, titled Was bleibt? is another duet with Joachim Witt.
Year | Title | Chart place | Remarks | ||
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Germany DE | Austria AT | Switzerland CH | |||
2008 | solo | 9 (6 Wo.) | — | — | 12 September 2008 |
2012 | My Heart of Stone | 6 (5 Wo.) | 47 (1 Wo.) | 64 (1 Wo.) | 18 May 2012 |
2018 | Confessions & Doubts | 11 (... Wo.) | — | — | 28 September 2018 |
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.
"I Know Him So Well" is a duet from the concept album and subsequent musical Chess by Tim Rice, Benny Andersson and Björn Ulvaeus. It was originally sung by Elaine Paige and Barbara Dickson. In this duet, two women – Svetlana, the Russian chess champion's estranged wife, and Florence, his mistress – express their bittersweet feelings for him and at seeing their relationships fall apart.
Ana Torroja Fungairiño, 3rd Marchioness of Torroja, is a Spanish singer. She was the lead singer of the pop trio Mecano, considered one of the most popular pop bands from Spain during the 1980s and 1990s. Mecano split in 1998 and she embarked on a solo career.
Wolfsheim was a German synthpop duo from Hamburg that consisted of Markus Reinhardt and Peter Heppner. Although never officially disbanded, Wolfsheim has been inactive since 2005 due to a dispute between the two members, which even led to trials in 2007 and 2008 that forbade either member to continue Wolfsheim without the other. The band's musical style takes cues from the 1980s New Romanticism and new wave, usually considered synthpop or darkwave. They are best known for their singles "The Sparrows and the Nightingales" (1991), "Once in a Lifetime" (1998) and "Kein Zurück" (2003). Their lyrics tend to be melancholic, but at the same time modernist.
Schiller is a German electronic music band. It was formed in 1998 and is named after the German poet and dramatist Friedrich Schiller. Originally, it was a duo consisting of Christopher von Deylen and Mirko von Schlieffen. Around 2001 or 2002, von Schlieffen left the band, leaving von Deylen the solo member.
Unheilig is a German band that draws from a variety of influences, including various pop and electronic styles as well as heavier, nihilistic hard rock. The band was founded in Aachen in 1999 and principally consisted of singer Bernd Heinrich "Der Graf" along with various musical partners. He was accompanied for live shows with musicians Christoph "Licky" Termühlen, Henning Verlage, and Martin "Potti" Potthoff. The group's debut, Phosphor, came out in 2000.
Cassandra Steen is a German singer who rose to fame as the lead singer of the pop/soul trio Glashaus. After a series of commercially successful releases with the group, she released her moderately successful solo debut album Seele mit Herz in 2003 and has been active as both a solo artist and as part of Glashaus since.
"Don't Give Up" is a song written by English rock musician Peter Gabriel and recorded as a duet with English singer Kate Bush for Gabriel's fifth solo studio album So (1986). The single version was released as the second single from the album in the UK in October 1986 and as the fourth single in the US in March 1987. It spent eleven weeks in the UK Top 75 chart in 1986, peaking at number nine.
"Wir sind wir (ein Deutschlandlied)" ("We Are We" (i.e. "We are who we are"), a Germany song) was released as a stand-alone single by Paul van Dyk in 2004. Unlike most of his other singles, this was not released on any official studio album by van Dyk. The song features Peter Heppner on vocals, and was only recorded in German, presumably because it speaks directly to Germans and Germany.
MIA. is a German punk/new wave/rock/pop band from Berlin.
Joachim Witt is a German rock musician and actor.
Paul van Dyk is a German DJ and record producer.
Wayne Jackson is an English singer, songwriter and producer, who lives in Berlin.
"The Sparrows and the Nightingales" is the debut single by Wolfsheim. Written by Peter Heppner and Markus Reinhardt, it was featured on their album No Happy View.
Raymond "Rea" Michael Garvey is an Irish singer, songwriter and guitarist based in Germany. In 1998, he formed the band Reamonn. Over the 11 years that Garvey was their frontman, they saw chart-topping success in Europe, with a number of gold and platinum selling albums, Tuesday, Dream No. 7, Beautiful Sky, Wish and Eleven and several sold out European tours. In 2010, after the release of the band's best-of album/DVD "Eleven", and a best-of tour, the band parted ways. Garvey took this time to pursue a solo career, which gave birth to his first solo album "Can't Stand the Silence" in 2011. This album saw Garvey's transition from anthem rock with Reamonn, to alternative electro pop.
Eric Khaled Saade, is a Swedish singer and songwriter.
Matt Epp is a Canadian singer-songwriter from Winnipeg, Manitoba. He has released several albums and collaborated with artists like Eliza Gilkyson, Rose Cousins, Serena Ryder and Amelia Curran, among others.
Caligola is a worldwide network of artists founded in Northern Italy in the 1970s, active in the underground of Stockholm (Sweden). In 2008, the artists' collective was joined by the two Swedish musicians Björn Dixgård and Gustaf Norén.
Dream of You is the second single from the 2001 Schiller gold album Weltreise with vocals by Peter Heppner and backing vocals by Isgaard. The song was officially released on 11 June 2001 and peaked at number 13 on the German singles charts in 2001.
"Leben… I Feel You" is the second single from the 2003 Schiller album Leben with vocals by Peter Heppner. The song was officially released on 1 October 2003 and peaked at number 15 in the German singles chart and at number 1 in the Romanian singles chart in 2004. It is the second co-operation between Schiller and the German singer Heppner after the song "Dream of You". The single and music video version differs slightly from the album version; the video version has a length of 3:49 minutes and the album version has a length of 5:35 minutes. The single includes the song ″Vielklang″, which was not released on any album.