Udo Lindenberg (born 17 May 1946) is a German singer, composer, and painter.[1]

Udo Lindenberg
Lindenberg in 2014
Lindenberg in 2014
Background information
Birth nameUdo Gerhard Lindenberg
Born (1946-05-17) 17 May 1946 (age 78)
Gronau, North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany
Occupation(s)Singer, musician, composer
Instrument(s)Vocals, drums
Websiteudo-lindenberg.de (in German)

Career

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Lindenberg started his musical career as a drummer. In 1969, he founded his first band Free Orbit, and also appeared as a studio and guest musician (with Michael Naura, Knut Kiesewetter). In 1970, he collaborated as a drummer with jazz saxophonist Klaus Doldinger in Munich. In 1971 Passport, a band founded by Doldinger, released its first album, with Lindenberg on drums. He also played drums for the theme music for the German TV series Tatort.[2] The first LP by the jazz rock group Emergency was released in 1971, but met with little commercial success.

The LP Lindenberg (also 1971, sung in English, with Steffi Stephan on bass) was likewise unsuccessful.[1] In the following year, the first LP in German was released: Daumen im Wind (produced by Lindenberg and Thomas Kukuck, who also co-produced Lindenberg's next five albums), featuring the single "Hoch im Norden", which became a radio hit in northern Germany. The year 1973 brought a breakthrough with the album Andrea Doria and the singles "Alles klar auf der Andrea Doria" and "Cello". With over 100,000 copies sold, Lindenberg quickly received the largest record deal of any German-language musician up to that time. Lindenberg was earning a special place in the new German-language music of the 1970s, finding a niche between internationally oriented Krautrock and mainstream pop music of the Schlager variety. German-language rock had previously been confined to predominantly political message bands whose music was directed at a narrow audience.

 
Lindenberg in 1974
 
Lindenberg in 1987

Lindenberg's brash style, everyday subject matter ("Bei Onkel Pö…") and his feel for language were an unprecedented combination in German-language music. His pioneering work helped other artists such as Stefan Waggershausen and Marius Müller-Westernhagen get record deals of their own. In 1973, Lindenberg first went on tour with his Panikorchester (Panic Orchestra).

1976 was one of Lindenberg's most productive years. Besides the LP Galaxo Gang,[1] he also released a record under the name Das Waldemar Wunderbar Syndicat (I make you feel good), a first Best of Panik Udo and the first in a series of foreign-language releases, No Panic, on which Lindenberg translated his songs into English.[1] In the same year (and on another LP: Sister King Kong) with the song "Rock 'n' Roll Arena in Jena", Lindenberg first mentioned a Panic Orchestra tour of the GDR. In 1976, Lindenberg discovered Ulla Meinecke and produced her first two albums. She was a guest artist and co-author of the 1977 LP Panische Nächte (Panic Nights) and the 1978 Dröhnland Symphonie. On Lindenbergs Rock Revue (1978), Lindenberg and Horst Königstein [de] "Germanized" rock classics from Little Richard to The Beatles and The Rolling Stones, and went on a big tour. The number 1 hit "We Gotta Get out of This Place" was also released with German lyrics.

The subsequent Dröhnland-Symphonie-Tour was staged by Peter Zadek as a big multimedia stage show with a plethora of costumed extras.[1] The result was Lindenberg's first live album Livehaftig.[1] In 1979, Der Detektiv was the second Rock Revue, in which more international hits such as "Candle in the Wind" by Elton John, "Born to Be Wild" by Steppenwolf,[1] "My Little Town" and "As Time Goes By" (from the film, Casablanca) were "Germanized". Also in 1997 was published "Belcanto - Udo Lindenberg & das Deutsche Filmorchester Babelsberg" which included hits like "Horizont", "Bis ans Ende der Welt" along with a song by Bertold Brecht and Lindenberg's own interpretation of "The Windmills of Your Mind" - "Under the drunkard moon" ("Unterm Säufermond")[3] (lyrics: Lindenberg, Horst Königstein).

One of Lindenberg's most famous songs is "Sonderzug nach Pankow" (Special train service to Pankow), an adaptation of "Chattanooga Choo Choo", released as a single on 2 February 1983.[4] It originated from the refusal of eastern German authorities to allow Lindenberg to perform in the GDR.[5] It was forbidden to play the song in the GDR.[6][7] On 25 October 1983, Lindenberg was finally allowed to perform for 15 minutes in the Palace of the Republic in East Berlin.[8][9] In September 1987, he presented a custom Ibanez guitar to the then East German leader, Erich Honecker, during his visit to the West German city of Wuppertal.[5][10]

On 3 June 2011, Lindenberg performed at Kampnagel unplugged. The recording was later released as an album within the MTV Unplugged series. Lindenberg was the eighth German artist in that series. The album became the second No. 1 album for Lindenberg, awarded platinum status for 200,000 units sold after two weeks.[11] The second single from the album "Cello" (feat. Clueso) went to No. 4, giving Lindenberg the highest chart position in German singles charts ever.[12]

Lindenberg has worked collaboratively with various local and international recording artists such as Eric Burdon, Helen Schneider, David Bowie, Tom Robinson, Keith Forsey, Gianna Nannini, Ellen ten Damme and Nena on a number of projects.

Lindenberg has been living in the Hotel Atlantic in Hamburg since 1995, except for a short break during COVID-19 pandemic in 2020.[13] His somewhat hoarse voice is according to his own statement caused by his consumption of whisky and cigars.[14] In 1989, he survived a heart attack.[15] In 2010, he designed two postage stamps, based on his songs "Andrea Doria" and "Sonderzug nach Pankow", for the Deutsche Post.[16][17]

For 2014, Lindenberg announced his first stadium tour[18] in Germany.

From 1 February to 2 April 2015, an exhibition entitled "Porsche.Panic.Power" took place in the Porsche Museum in Zuffenhausen and showed numerous items from Lindenberg's private collection. Lindenberg opened the exhibition with a concert in the museum.[19]

Lindenberg features in the 2016 book Panikherz by Benjamin von Stuckrad-Barre [de]. Stuckrad-Barre recounts how Lindenberg helped him move away from a destructive lifestyle.[20]

In February 2023, "Komet", his track with rapper Apache 207, reached number one in the German single charts, which is Lindenberg's first number one single in German charts.[21][22][23]

Discography

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Albums

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Year Album D A CH
1971 Lindenberg
1972 Daumen im Wind
1973 Alles klar auf der Andrea Doria1 23
1974 Ball Pompös1 3
1975 Votan Wahnwitz1 3
1976 Galaxo Gang1 4
Sister King Kong1 8
Panik Udo1 34
1977 Panische Nächte1 31
1978 Lindenbergs Rock-Revue1 15
Dröhnland-Symphonie1 15
1979 Livehaftig1 15
Der Detektiv1 22
1980 Panische Zeiten1 12
Meine Panik1 17
1981 Udopia1 5
1982 Keule1 9
Intensivstationen1 16
1983 Odyssee1 3 8
Lindstärke 101 21
1984 Götterhämmerung1 3 10
1985 Sündenknall1 11 22
Radio Eriwahn präsentiert1 17
1987 Feuerland1 16
Phönix 26
1988 Gänsehaut 5 7
Hermine 26
Casa Nova 32
1989 Bunte Republik Deutschland
1991 Ich will dich haben 23
1992 Gustav 69
Unter die Haut 41
Panik-Panther 24
1993 Benjamin 49
1995 Kosmos 44
1996 Und ewig rauscht die Linde 39
1997 Belcanto2 29
1998 Zeitmaschine 49
2000 Der Exzessor 40
2001 Ich schwöre – Das volle Programm 80
Balladen 91
2002 Atlantic Affairs 76
2003 Der Panikpräsident 18
2004 Absolut 65
2008 Stark wie zwei 1 12 10
2011 MTV unplugged – Live aus dem Hotel Atlantic 1 6 6
2016 Stärker als die Zeit 1 7 2

D: Germany, A: Austria, CH: Switzerland

1 Udo Lindenberg & Panikorchester
2 Udo Lindenberg & Das Deutsche Filmorchester Babelsberg

Singles

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Year Single D A CH
1981 "Wozu sind Kriege da?"1 18
"Berlin"
1983 "Sonderzug nach Pankow" 5 3
1987 "Horizont" 18
"Der Generalsekretär" 60
1988 "Ich lieb' dich überhaupt nicht mehr" 33 3
1989 "Airport (Dich wiederseh'n ...)" 49
1991 "Ein Herz kann man nicht reparieren" 29
"Geh nicht weg" 90
"Club der Millionäre" 39
1992 "Panik-Panther" 84
1999 "You Can't Run Away"2 74
2003 "Wunder geschehen"3 9
2005 "Hallo Angie, das merkel ich mir" 100
2008 "Wenn du durchhängst" 10 41 67
"Ganz anders" 28
"Was hat die Zeit mit uns gemacht?" 52
2011 "Ein Herz kann man nicht reparieren (unplugged)"4 11 65
"Cello"5 4 52 53
2012 "Reeperbahn 2011 (What It's Like) (Unplugged)"6 37
"Nimm Dir das Leben und lass es nicht mehr los" 45
2016 "Durch die schweren Zeiten" 26
"Stärker als die Zeit" 90
2018 "Wir ziehen in den Frieden (MTV Unplugged)" 77

D: Germany, A: Austria, CH: Switzerland

1Udo Lindenberg & Pascal
2Freundeskreis feat. Udo Lindenberg
3Nena & Friends (Udo Lindenberg, Sasha, Ben, ...)
4Udo Lindenberg feat. Inga Humpe
5Udo Lindenberg feat. Clueso
6Udo Lindenberg feat. Jan Delay

Literature

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  • Bundesbeauftragter für die Stasi-Unterlagen: Udo rocks for world peace. The concert 1983 in the Stasi files. Berlin 2013. – free download of the documentation (108 pages) as pdf
  • Holger Zürch: Panik pur 2. 40 Jahre Udo Lindenberg. 2007 bis 2011 – eine Bilanz. Selbstpublikation über Engelsdorfer Verlag, Leipzig 2012, ISBN 978-3-86268-729-9.
  • Bernd Kauffmann: Sonderzug nach Pankow. Theater der Zeit, Berlin 2011, ISBN 978-3-942449-41-0.
  • Thomas Freitag: Udo Lindenberg und der Osten. Neues Leben, Berlin 2011, ISBN 978-3-355-01788-6
  • Herbert Schulze, Torsten Wahl: Udo Lindenberg „Wir wollen doch einfach nur zusammen sein“. Eine deutsch-deutsche Rockromanze. Mitteldeutscher Verlag, Halle (Saale) 2011, ISBN 978-3-89812-845-2.
  • Holger Zürch: Panik pur. 35 Jahre Udo Lindenberg – Die Bilanz. Mit einem Vorwort von Heinz Rudolf Kunze. Leipzig 2007, ISBN 3-86703-318-8 sowie 2. Auflage als Taschenbuch-Ausgabe, Leipzig 2009, ISBN 3-86901-522-5
  • Udo Lindenberg, Herbert Schnierle-Lutz (Hrsg.): Mein Hermann Hesse – Ein Lesebuch. Suhrkamp, Frankfurt am Main 2008, ISBN 978-3-518-46017-7
  • Udo Lindenberg: Rock'n'Roll und Rebellion – Ein panisches Panorama. Mit einem Vorwort von Bazon Brock, EVA, Hamburg 2007, ISBN 978-3-434-50613-3 – Erstausgabe mit LP 1981
  • Benjamin von Stuckrad-Barre, Moritz von Uslar: Am Trallafiti-Tresen; Das Werk von Udo Lindenberg in seinen Texten. Europäische Verlagsanstalt, Hamburg 2008, ISBN 978-3-434-50617-1.

References

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  • "Udo Lindenberg". Who's Who. The People-Lexicon (in German). rasscass Medien Content Verlag.
  1. ^ a b c d e f g Colin Larkin, ed. (1999). The Virgin Encyclopedia of Heavy Rock (First ed.). Virgin Books. pp. 265/6. ISBN 0-7535-0257-7.
  2. ^ "Krautrock's Godfather". Atlantic-times.com. Archived from the original on 28 March 2014. Retrieved 27 March 2014.
  3. ^ "Discografie". Udo-Lindenberg.de. Retrieved 27 June 2014.
  4. ^ "Sonderzug nach Pankow". Songlexikon (in German). 8 May 2017. Retrieved 23 March 2023.
  5. ^ a b "Udo Lindenberg trifft Erich Honecker | 24.6./9.9.1987". SWR2 (in German). 30 January 2023. Retrieved 23 March 2023.
  6. ^ ""Sonderzug nach Pankow" war in der DDR verboten" (in German). 11 March 2009. Retrieved 23 March 2023.
  7. ^ "Rechtliche Einschätzung zum Liedtext "Sonderzug nach Pankow" von Udo Lindenberg". stasi-mediathek.de (in German). Retrieved 23 March 2023.
  8. ^ Rainer Hannes (24 October 2018). "25.10.1983: Udo Lindenberg tritt in Ostberlin auf". SWR2 ZEITWORT (in German). Retrieved 23 March 2023.
  9. ^ "Das DDR-Konzert und wie die Stasi Udo Lindenberg verfolgte". NDR (in German). 17 May 2021. Retrieved 23 March 2023.
  10. ^ "Udo Lindenbergs Lederjacke: Geschichte einer Legende". NDR (in German). 17 May 2021. Retrieved 23 March 2023.
  11. ^ "News". Udo-Lindenberg.de. 13 October 2011. Retrieved 27 June 2014.
  12. ^ "New German Releases Appear". Germanchartblog.com. Retrieved 19 July 2021.
  13. ^ "Nach "Tatort: Alles kommt zurück": Diese Udo-Lindenberg-Mythen sind wahr", rnd.de (in German), 27 December 2021, retrieved 23 March 2023, Seit 1995 soll Udo Lindenberg einen Privatflügel im zweiten Stock des Hamburger Hotels Atlantic bewohnen. Seit 26 Jahren gab es immer mal Gerüchte, der Panikrocker wäre ausgezogen. Tatsächlich soll der heute 75-Jährige wohl nur während eines Hotel-Lockdowns im Zuge der Corona-Krise 2020 das Haus verlassen haben.
  14. ^ "Film über Hamburger Ikone: Das denkt Udo Lindenberg wirklich über sein Leinwand-Double", mopo.de (in German), 14 January 2020, retrieved 23 March 2023, Ich hab' über die Jahre reichlich Knete investiert in Whiskey und teure Zigarren, um sie dahin zu kriegen, wo ich sie haben wollte. Und jetzt ist die Stimme wie der raue Straßenwind.
  15. ^ "Udo Lindenberg im Krankenhaus". Hamburger Abendblatt (in German). 16 November 2007. Retrieved 23 March 2023.
  16. ^ postfrisch – Das Philatelie-Journal, Juli/August 2010, p. 4–5, 17.
  17. ^ "Briefmarkenedition "Sonderzug nach Pankow"". Museum Pankow (in German). Retrieved 23 March 2023.
  18. ^ "Udo Lindenberg Tour 2014 - Tickets, Termine & Konzerte hier bei GigaMusic!" (in German). Archived from the original on 29 October 2013. Retrieved 23 October 2013.
  19. ^ "Porsche. Panic. Power". Newsroom.porsche.com. 2 February 2015. Retrieved 19 July 2021.
  20. ^ Küppersbusch, Friedrich (12 March 2016). "Stuck in the middle with you". Der Spiegel (in German). Retrieved 9 May 2024.
  21. ^ Halbig, Matthias (6 February 2023). "Spät an der Spitze: Vom "Komet", der in den Charts einschlug: die erste Nummer-eins-Single für Udo Lindenberg". rnd.de (in German). Retrieved 23 March 2023.
  22. ^ "Komet". offiziellecharts.de (in German). Retrieved 23 March 2023.
  23. ^ "Offizielle Deutsche Charts, Top 100 Single-Charts". offiziellecharts.de (in German). Retrieved 23 March 2023.
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