Klaus "Major“ Heuser (born 27 January 1957 in Leverkusen-Wiesdorf) is a German musician, composer and producer. He found international fame as the lead guitarist of the Cologne rock band BAP.
Klaus "Major“ Heuser | |
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| Background information | |
| Birth name | Klaus Heuser |
| Born | 27 January 1957 Leverkusen-Wiesdorf, Germany |
| Genres | Rock, Blues rock |
| Occupation(s) | Musician Songwriter Producer |
| Instrument | Guitar |
| Years active | 1969–present |
| Website | http://www.major-heuser.de/ |
His musical influences are the Rolling Stones, especially Keith Richards, Rory Gallagher, as well as Eric Clapton, the Dutch band Golden Earring and Gary Moore.
Career
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Heuser gained major popularity as the guitarist of the rock band BAP, of which he was a member from 1980 to 1999. He was mainly responsible for BAP's musical style and wrote music to many hit songs including Verdamp lang her [Damn long time ago], Frau, ich freu mich [Woman, I'm glad], Ne schöne Jrooß [Best regards], Kristallnaach [Crystal night], Alles em Lot [Everything's alright] and Nix wie bessher [Nothing as before].
In parallel to his BAP efforts, Heuser in 1981 also teamed up with Wolf Maahn (from Food Band), Didi Maaz and Rich Schwab (both from Schroeder Roadshow) to form Neue Heimat (as Klaus Steine) and record a cover version of Heintje's Ich bau dir ein Schloss (1968) in the style of the Neue Deutsche Welle. However, neither Maahn nor Heuser were interested in continuing this project, so that the band later became the support band of Purple Schulz.
When BAP paused for a while in the late 1980s, Heuser spent some time in Los Angeles, USA, where he lived in Roger Taylor's (from Queen) house for some while. This is also when he learnt to produce music. Once back in Germany, among other production activities, Heuser produced the three Brings albums Zwei Zoote Minsche (1991), Kasalla (1992) and Fünf (1997), as well as Martin Schenkel's album My own way (2000).[1]
On 17 February 2006, he released Major & Suzan, a collaborative album, which was recorded with Berlin singer Susanne Werth (from Wasteland Green).
Meeting German blues guitarist Richard Bargel during a show of "Harmonie talk" moderated by Anka Zink in the Harmonie, Bonn, on 10 December 2008[2] resulted in an ad hoc jam session and the birth of the band project Men in Blues. The first concert happened on the 12 Dezember 2009. Since 2010, both musicians toured regularly, later supported by Sascha Delbrouck (bass) and Marcus Rieck (drums). The critically acclaimed live album Richard Bargel LIVE mit Klaus "Major" Heuser & Band was nominated for the "Preis der deutschen Schallplattenkritik". Matthias Krauss (keyboards) and Mario Argandoña (percussion) joined the band on the first studio album Men in Blues, which was released in Germany, Austria and Switzerland on 3 February 2012. On 1 September 2012, Bargel suffered a sudden hearing loss during a concert, forcing the shared activities to come to an end.[3]
In 2013, Heuser then formed the "Klaus Major Heuser Band", which released their first album Men in Trouble. Based around the members of the former "Men in Blues" band Krauss, Delbrouck and Rieck, the new band now includes Cologne vocalist, texter and guitarist Thomas Heinen (from Bosstime and Pirate Radio). The second studio album named 57 was released in September 2014, the corresponding tour ended in 2015, followed by a live double-album named 57 Live. In April 2016, the studio album What's up? was released, the tour ended in 2017. In August 2018, the new album And Now?! was released, the corresponding tour lasted until mid 2019.
Notable information
editKlaus Heuser got his nickname Major from Major Healey from the TV series I Dream of Jeannie.[4]
Following medical advice after a skin cancer incident Heuser wears a leather hat which has become a signature feature over the decades.[5]
Heuser lives in Cologne-Rodenkirchen and is married to Marion Heuser, a member of Cologne's city council for the Green party and former archeologist, since 1986. The couple has a son named Philipp.[5][6]
Together with classical guitarist Hubert Käppel, Heuser also worked on a concert and information series on guitar music. The plans had to be cancelled in 2013 when Heuser suffered a nerve illness in the middle finger of his right hand, so he could no longer perform at the necessary level of accuracy.[5][6]
References
edit- ^ "Klaus "Major" Heuser" (in German). Klaus Major Heuser Band. 2018. Archived from the original on 2018-11-25. Retrieved 2018-11-25.
- ^ "BAP News-Ecke - Neues für Major-Fans..." (in German). 2008-09-28. Archived from the original on 2018-12-01. Retrieved 2018-12-01.
- ^ "Richard Bargel Pressemitteilung" (press release) (in German). 2012. Archived from the original on 2019-04-06. Retrieved 2019-04-06.
Am 01. September 2012 erlitt Richard Bargel während eines Live-Konzert einen schweren Hörsturz. Nach wochenlanger, jedoch ergebnisloser Therapie ist die Dauer des Heilungsprozesses nicht abzuschätzen. Die Folgen sind drastisch: Um keine dauerhafte Hörschädigung durch die Arbeit mit einer „lauten elektrischen" Band zu riskieren, muss Richard Bargel auf Anraten des behandelnden Arztes das Projekt aufgeben. Der Schock sitzt tief und die Trauer um den Abschied ist bei Musikern und Fans groß. Über zweieinhalb Jahre lang haben Richard Bargel und Ex-BAP-Gitarrist Klaus „Major" Heuser als „Men In Blues" mit ihrer Musik das Publikum quer durch Deutschland begeistert und zu spontanen Standing Ovation hingerissen. Zwei Alben gingen aus der fruchtbaren Zusammenarbeit hervor, ein Drittes war in Vorbereitung. Durch die unglückliche Schicksalsfügung findet ein für die deutsche Musik-Szene außergewöhnliches Band-Projekt ein abruptes, vorzeitiges Ende, noch bevor die volle Energie und Kreativität der Band ausgeschöpft werden konnte. Mit großem Bedauern sehen sich die beiden Protagonisten nun gezwungen getrennte musikalische Wege zu gehen. Klaus "Major" Heuser und die Band werden mit einem neuen Sänger und unter dem Namen „Klaus „Major" Heuser Band" den einmal eingeschlagenen Weg weiter führen. Die LUXOR Tourneebooking & Event GbR bleibt weiter für die Belange der Band zuständig. Richard Bargel wird nach einer Ruhepause mit akustischen Musik-Projekten und Soloauftritten ab 2013 auf die Konzertbühnen zurückkehren. Sein Management & Booking übernimmt ab sofort die Kölner Agentur Noisegroupie.
- ^ Niedecken, Wolfgang; Kobold, Oliver (2011). Für 'ne Moment (autobiography) (in German). Hamburg: Hoffmann und Campe. p. 258. ISBN 978-3-455-30699-6.
- ^ a b c "„Major" Heuser: BAP ist „Verdamp lang her"". Neue Osnabrücker Zeitung (in German). 2013-07-12. Archived from the original on 2018-11-25.
- ^ a b Fuß, Hans-Peter (2015-06-09). "Der "Major" rockt wieder - Ex-BAP-Gitarrist in Brühl". General Anzeiger (in German). Bonn. Archived from the original on 2018-11-27. Retrieved 2018-11-25.
External links
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- Official website of Klaus "Major" Heuser and Klaus Major Heuser Band
- Für usszeschnigge! [For cutout] tour concert of BAP with Heuser on lead guitar, Rockpalast, Markthalle, Hamburg, 1981-11-28 [2:27:41]
- Zwesche Salzjebäck un Bier [Between pretzels and beer] tour concert of BAP with Heuser on lead guitar, Festhalle, Frankfurt am Main, 1984-11-23 [1:13:39]
- Clubtour concert of BAP with Heuser on lead guitar, Batschkapp, Frankfurt am Main, 1991-02-21 [2:57:00]
- Last What's up? tour concert of Klaus Major Heuser Band, Zeche Carl, Essen, 2017-06-23 [2:49:00]
- And now?! tour concert of Klaus Major Heuser Band, Jubez, Karlsruhe, 2018-12-01 [2:36:30]