Rudolf Schenker | |
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Background information | |
Birth name | Heinrich Rudolf Schenker |
Born | Hildesheim, Germany | 31 August 1948
Genres | |
Occupation(s) | Musician, songwriter |
Instrument | Guitar |
Years active | 1963–present |
Labels | BMG |
Rudolf Schenker (born 31 August 1948) is a German guitarist, founder and leader of the hard rock band Scorpions. He is the rhythm/lead guitarist, primary songwriter and the sole constant member of the band. He is also the CEO/owner-manager of the Scorpions Musik-Produktions-und Verlagsgesellschaft mbH (Scorpions music production and publishing company) and owner/founder of the Scorpio-Sound-Studios in Lower Saxony. He is the older brother of Michael Schenker.
Schenker was awarded the City of Hanover Plaque [1] as well as the Cross of Merit First Class of the Lower Saxony Order of Merit in 2000.
Some of Schenker's main live guitars in recent years have been Dommenget — the same maker that produced Klaus Meine's live guitar [2] and many guitars for Matthias Jabs. [3] Schenker's signature models are "Gibson Rudolf Schenker Flying V", the Dommenget "Ferrari" V, PGG "Scorpions Golden Jubilee" Flying V, PGG "Veetle" Flying V and the "Scorpions" V. [4]
Scorpions are a German hard rock band formed in Hanover in 1965 by guitarist Rudolf Schenker. The longest-existing, 1978–1992, and most successful line-up of the band included Schenker, Klaus Meine (vocals), Matthias Jabs, Francis Buchholz (bass), and Herman Rarebell (drums). The band's only continuous member has been Schenker, although Meine has been with the band continuously since their first album Lonesome Crow (1972). Jabs has been a consistent member since 1978, while bassist Paweł Mąciwoda and drummer Mikkey Dee have been in the band since 2003 and 2016, respectively.
Michael Schenker is a German guitarist. He played in the rock band UFO and leads the Michael Schenker Group (MSG). He was an early member of the hard rock band Scorpions, a band co-founded by his elder brother Rudolf Schenker. In the mid-1970s, Schenker joined UFO, playing lead and rhythm guitar. He left the band in 1978 to briefly rejoin Scorpions for the recording of Lovedrive, and then to form MSG. He has rejoined UFO three times, producing an album each time. Schenker continues to perform and record. He has been called "a legendary figure in the history of metal guitar."
Unbreakable is the fifteenth studio album by German hard rock band Scorpions, released in 2004. In this release, Scorpions return to the style of music of their most successful albums, after experimenting with many different concepts and influences in the 1990s. This was the first album with Paweł Mąciwoda on bass guitar. Despite critical acclaim and extensive touring of the album, Unbreakable was not a big hit on the charts.
Blackout is the eighth studio album by the German rock band Scorpions. It was released in 1982 by Harvest and EMI Records.
Lovedrive is the sixth studio album by the German rock band Scorpions. It was recorded in three weeks in September and December 1978 at ABBA's Polar Studios in Stockholm, Sweden, and released in 1979. Considered by some critics to be the pinnacle of their career, Lovedrive was a major evolution of the band's sound, exhibiting their "classic style" that would be later developed over their next few albums. Lovedrive cemented the "Scorpions formula" of hard rock songs combined with melodic ballads.
Lonesome Crow is the debut studio album by the German rock band Scorpions. It was recorded soon after Scorpions became a fully professional band under the production of Conny Plank, apparently in only six or seven days, and released on 29 February 1972 in West Germany as the soundtrack to the German anti-drug movie Das Kalte Paradies, and May 1973 in the United States. The album's style is darkly melodic, typical for early Scorpions but unlike their later work.
Klaus Meine is a German singer, best known as the longtime frontman and primary lyricist of the hard rock band Scorpions. Meine and guitarist Rudolf Schenker are the only two members of the group to appear on every Scorpions album, though he did not join the band until 1969, four years after its founding. Meine placed at number 22 on Hit Parader's 'Top Heavy Metal Vocalists of All Time' list in 2006.
Live Bites is a live album by the German hard rock band Scorpions, released in 1995.
Taken by Force is the fifth studio album by German band Scorpions, released by RCA Records in 1977. This was the first Scorpions album to feature drummer Herman Rarebell and the final studio album to feature guitarist Uli Jon Roth. Roth left the band in 1978 following the end of the album's tour, and was at first replaced by Michael Schenker and later by Matthias Jabs.
Animal Magnetism is the seventh studio album by German rock band Scorpions, released in 1980. The RIAA certified the record as Gold on 8 March 1984, and Platinum on 28 October 1991.
World Wide Live is a live album by German rock band Scorpions, released in 1985. The original audio recording was produced by Dieter Dierks. A VHS was released at the same time with footage of Scorpions' world tour.
Matthias Jabs is a German musician, best known as the lead/rhythm guitarist of the hard rock band Scorpions. He has played on all but the first five Scorpions studio albums starting with Lovedrive (1979). He owns a music store, MJ Guitars, in Munich.
"No One Like You" is a 1982 song by German rock band Scorpions. It was written by band members Rudolf Schenker (guitar) and Klaus Meine (vocals) and released as the lead single from the band's eighth studio album Blackout (1982). It was produced by Dieter Dierks and was recorded at Dierks Studios.
Humanity: Hour I is the sixteenth studio album by German hard rock band Scorpions, which was released in Europe on 14 May 2007 and in the United States and Canada on 28 August 2007. Humanity: Hour 1 is a concept album based on a loose storyline by Desmond Child and futurist Liam Carl, which predicts a world torn apart by a civil war between humans and robots. This apocalyptic nightmare serves as a warning shot to all humanity, whose only hope of survival is to reclaim our humanity.
"The Zoo" is a song by the German hard rock band Scorpions. It was written by group members Rudolf Schenker (guitar) and Klaus Meine (vocals). The song also features a talk box performed by lead guitarist Matthias Jabs.
Sting in the Tail is the seventeenth studio album by German hard rock band Scorpions. It was released on 19 March 2010 in Europe and on 23 March in North America. At the time it was intended to be a farewell album, released prior to their farewell tour.
Classic Bites is a compilation album released in 2002 by the German hard rock/heavy metal band Scorpions. It features songs from two studio albums—Crazy World (1990) and Face the Heat (1993)—as well as a single track from the 1995 live album Live Bites.
"Raised on Rock" is the second single from the seventeenth studio album "Sting in the Tail" of the German rock band Scorpions. The song achieved a great placement on the charts worldwide and became known as one of the greatest hits in the 2010s which is #2 on the Classic Rock Mediabase chart.
Return to Forever is the eighteenth studio album by German rock band Scorpions. It was released in Europe on 20 February 2015. The album marks the final release of the band to feature the Unbreakable-era lineup with longtime drummer James Kottak leaving the band in September 2016, being replaced by former Motörhead drummer Mikkey Dee.