Kurt Maloo (born Kurt Meier, 16 April 1953) is a Swiss singer-songwriter, composer, and record producer. He first achieved international success in 1986, as the singer and front man of the duo

Double Double, The Double or Dubble may refer to: Mathematics and computing * Multiplication by 2 * Double precision, a floating-point representation of numbers that is typically 64 bits in length * A double number of the form x+yj, where j^2=+1 * A ...

with the hit single, " The Captain of Her Heart".

Biography

Kurt Meier was born in Zurich, Switzerland, as the only child of Arnold and Babette Meier. His father's family emigrated to France when Arnold was four years old. During

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

, his father returned to Switzerland, where he met Babette, a daughter of a locomotive driver, and married her. Her family was very musical; each played an instrument and performed at house concerts. When Meier was born, Babette used to play the mandolin and sing and dance for him, and later, when he started to play the guitar, jammed along with her.

The early days

At school, Meier was part of several bands that performed in local competition festivals, playing covers from

The Beatles The Beatles were an English Rock music, rock band formed in Liverpool in 1960. The core lineup of the band comprised John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison and Ringo Starr. They are widely regarded as the Cultural impact of the Beatle ...

Cream Cream is a dairy product composed of the higher-fat layer skimmed from the top of milk before homogenization. In un-homogenized milk, the fat, which is less dense, eventually rises to the top. In the industrial production of cream, this proces ...

. From 1969 to 1972, he attended the

Swiss Business School SBS Swiss Business School is a private business school located in Zurich, Switzerland, with affiliated campuses in Latvia, Kazakhstan, the United Arab Emirates, Hong Kong, Argentina, India, Myanmar and Spain. History SBS Swiss Business School ...

, but, after receiving his degree, chose a career as a conceptual artist and painter. He exhibited his works at local galleries in Zurich and founded, along with three artist friends, the performance group MAEZ. At his own gallery openings, Kurt Meier, who changed his name to Kurt Maloo in 1975, always played the electric guitar. The solo performances metamorphosed into a band, including two other members of MAEZ. But Troppo, true to its name, grew to a nine-piece fusion art-punk band, influenced mainly by the

New York Dolls New York Dolls were an American rock music, rock band formed in New York City in 1971. Along with the Velvet Underground, the MC5, and the Stooges, they were one of the first bands of the early punk rock scenes. Although the band never achieved ...

and

Funkadelic Funkadelic was an American funk rock band formed in Plainfield, New Jersey in 1968 and active until 1982. As one of the two flagship groups of George Clinton's P-Funk collective, they helped pioneer the funk music culture of the 1970s.John, ...

. After its first show at the

Rote Fabrik Rote Fabrik () is a former factory in the Wollishofen neighbourhood of Zurich, Switzerland. It is now used as a music venue and cultural centre. It is so named because the buildings are made of red brick, but also because left-wing parties w ...

in 1976, Troppo became a cult act in Switzerland in the mid to late 1970s.Grand, Lurker, et al. (2007). Hot Love: Swiss Punk & Wave 1976–1980. Edition Patrick Frey. In 1979, Kurt Maloo released his first 7" single, "Giant Lady/Kontiki" on the new wave label, Forum Records. A year later, he teamed up with publisher Peter Zumsteg and released a hybrid format vinyl record with the title ''Luna, Luna + 7 Notorious Maloo Homeworks''. On the A-side was one song spinning at 45 rpm and on the B-side, seven more at 33 rpm. The A-side song was a studio recording, while the B-side was recorded at home on his Revox B-77, using the ping-pong technique to simulate multitrack recording.

Ping Pong

He continued to play solo concerts until he met Felix Haug, later the other half of

. Haug used to play drums with the Swiss techno band

Yello Yello is a Swiss electronic music band, which formed in Zürich in 1979. For most of the band's history, Yello has been a duo consisting of Dieter Meier and Boris Blank; founding member Carlos Perón left in 1983. Their sound is often charac ...

. He joined Maloo and, with the addition of a bass player, they formed the trio, Ping Pong. With the help of publisher Peter Zumsteg, they got the chance to record four songs at the

Roxy Music Roxy Music are an English rock music, rock band formed in 1970 by Bryan Ferry (lead vocals/keyboards/principal songwriter) and Graham Simpson (musician), Graham Simpson (bass). By the time the band recorded their Roxy Music (album), first albu ...

studio with guitarist

Phil Manzanera Phillip Geoffrey Targett-Adams (born 31 January 1951), known professionally as Phil Manzanera, is an English musician, songwriter and record producer. He is the lead guitarist with Roxy Music, and was the lead guitarist with 801 and Quiet Sun. ...

as producer, but the tracks never got released. When they signed with

Teldec Teldec (Telefunken-Decca Schallplatten GmbH) is a German record label in Hamburg, Germany. Today the label is a property of Warner Music Group. History Teldec was a producer of (first) shellac and (later) vinyl records. The Teldec manufacturing ...

's label Big Mouth, they re-recorded the tracks together with new material for their album ''From Exile'' (1982). The band played in numerous European festivals, including the renowned

Montreux Jazz Festival The Montreux Jazz Festival (formerly Festival de Jazz Montreux and Festival International de Jazz Montreux) is a music festival in Switzerland, held annually in early July in Montreux on the Lake Geneva shoreline. It is the second-largest annu ...

Double

In 1983, Kurt Maloo and Felix Haug decided to make a go of it as a duo. As

, they released three 12" maxi singles—"Naningo" (1983), "Rangoon Moon" and "Woman of the World" (1984)—before they had a chance to record their first album. The black-and-white music video for "Rangoon Moon" became a cult clip in Europe and received airplay on

VH1 VH1 (originally an initialism for Video Hits One) is an American basic cable television network that launched on January 1, 1985, and is currently owned by the MTV Entertainment Group unit of Paramount Global's networks division based in New Y ...

in the United States. Two years later,

became known worldwide with their first hit single, " The Captain of Her Heart" from their first album, ''Blue'', a best-seller that has been released in more than fifty countries. In 1987, Kurt Maloo and Felix Haug recorded their second and last album, ''Dou3le'', visualized best in the performance of the legendary Swiss mime group Mummenschanz in the award-winning music video for their song "

Devils Ball "Devils Ball" is a song by the Swiss duo Double (band), Double, released in 1987 as the lead single from their second studio album ''Dou3le''. It was written and produced by Kurt Maloo and Felix Haug. The song featured a guest appearance from Her ...

", featuring

Herb Alpert Herb Alpert (born March 31, 1935) is an American trumpeter, pianist, singer, songwriter, record producer, arranger, conductor, painter, sculptor and theatre producer, who led the band Herb Alpert & the Tijuana Brass (sometimes called "Herb Alpe ...

on trumpet. Double started to work on a third album in late 1988, but, due to artistic differences, disbanded a few months later.

Solo career

Maloo continued his career solo again and released, under his own name, ''Single'' (1990), ''Soul & Echo'' (1995), ''Loopy Avenue'' (2006), ''Summer of Better Times'' (2009) and "''What About'' (2014)". Since 2007, he has been performing with his own band and played several concerts and festivals, including NuNote Lounge Fest in Moscow.

Personal life

In 1986, Maloo met his future wife, Anja Müller, a fashion model from

Hamburg Hamburg (, ; ), officially the Free and Hanseatic City of Hamburg,. is the List of cities in Germany by population, second-largest city in Germany after Berlin and List of cities in the European Union by population within city limits, 7th-lar ...

, Germany. Together, they moved to Paris, France, where they lived for seven years and where their daughter was born in 1991. They then relocated to Hamburg, Müller's hometown, where their son was born in 1994 and where they still live.

Discography

Solo

*1979: ''Giant Lady'' (single) (Forum Records) *1980: ''Luna, Luna + 7 Notorious Maloo Homeworks'' (Recordz/Z-Music) *1990: ''Single'' (

Philips Records Philips Records is a record label founded by Netherlands, Dutch electronics company Philips and in 1999 was absorbed into Netherlands, Dutch-United States, American music corporation Universal Music Group. It was founded as Philips Phonograph ...

) *1995: ''Soul & Echo'' (

Sony Music Sony Music Entertainment (SME), commonly known as Sony Music, is an American multinational music company owned by Japanese conglomerate Sony Group Corporation. It is the recording division of Sony Music Group, with the other half being the ...

) *2006: ''Loopy Avenue'' (

Edel Records Edel SE & Co. KGaA is a German independent media company based in Hamburg. As a label and publishing group, it also operates marketing and sales for artists and smaller music labels. The repertoire of the Edel labels includes dance, rock and po ...

) *2009: ''Summer of Better Times'' (

Verve Forecast Verve may refer to: Music * The Verve, an English rock band * '' The Verve E.P.'', a 1992 EP by The Verve * ''Verve'' (R. Stevie Moore album) * Verve Records, an American jazz record label Businesses * Verve Coffee Roasters, an American coffee h ...

) *2014: ''What About'' ( CafeSwizz Productions) *2016: ''City of Rain'' (single) ( CafeSwizz Productions)

Collaborations

*1982: ''From Exile'', Ping Pong (Big Mouth/

) *1983: ''Naningo'',

(Metronome/ PolyGram) *1984: ''Rangoon Moon'', Double (12" maxi single; Metronome/PolyGram) *1984: ''Woman of the World'', Double (12" maxi single; Metronome/PolyGram) *1986: ''Blue'', Double (A&M/PolyGram) *1987: ''DOU3LE'', Double (A&M/PolyGram)

Videos

Solo

*1990: "Lovegrow", directed by Alexandre Hotton *1991: "End of the Season", directed by Pascal Helbrock *1995: "Young King", directed by unknown *1996: "The Captain of Her Heart", directed by Frederik Boklund *2006: "Rangoon Moon", directed by Kurt Maloo and Dania Hohmann *2010: "Day of the Man with a Heart of Gold", directed by Christian Aeby *2014: "Come Over Here", directed by Bettina Schaefer *2014: "Never Give Up", directed by Bettina Schaefer *2014: "What About", directed by Kurt Maloo *2014: "Tumbling Skies", directed by Kurt Maloo *2014: "River Flow", directed by Bettina Schaefer *2015: "Drama Queen", directed by Adrian Heinrich *2016: "City of Rain" , directed by pb *2016: "Don't Bring Me Down" , directed by pb

Collaborations

*1982: "Rhythm Walk" (Ping Pong), directed by Paul Grau *1983: "Naningo" (

), directed by Sergio Galli *1983: "El Dorado" (Double), directed by Sergio Galli *1983: "Es" (Double), directed by Sergio Galli *1984: "Rangoon Moon" (Double), directed by Ernst Spycher and Christoph Braendli *1985: "The Captain of Her Heart" (Double), directed by Francis Reusser *1985: "The Captain of Her Heart" (Double), directed by Andres Bruetsch *1986: "The Captain of Her Heart" (Double), directed by Nick Haggerty *1986: "Woman of the World" (Double), directed by Andres Bruetsch *1987: "Devils Ball" (Double), directed by

Hannes Rossacher Hannes Rossacher (born 16 October 1952, Steyr) is an Austrian film director and film producer. Rossacher has worked with Rudi Dolezal since 1976 in their production company DoRo Productions. His contributions to the ORF (broadcaster), ORF youth pr ...

and

Rudi Dolezal Rudi Dolezal (, born 5 February 1958) is an Austrian film producer and film director best known for his music videos. He has directed and produced videos for artists such as Tom Waits, the Rolling Stones, Frank Zappa, David Bowie, Michael Jacks ...

References

Bibliography

*Grand, Lurker, et al. ''Hot Love: Swiss Punk & Wave 1976–1980''. Edition Patrick Frey, 2007. *Michaels, Randolph. ''Flashbacks to Happiness: Eighties Music Revisited''. iUniverse, 2005. *Blythe, Daniel. ''The Encyclopaedia of Classic 80s Pop''. Allison & Busby, 2005. *Whitburn, Joel. ''Top Pop Singles 1955–1999''. Record Research, 2001. *Whitburn, Joel. ''The Billboard Book of Top 40 Hits''. Billboard Books, 2004. *Maloo, Kurt. ''The Captain Of Her Heart's Log''. BookBaby, 2013.

External links

* *
Kurt Maloo
on

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Kurt Maloo
on

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{{DEFAULTSORT:Maloo, Kurt 1953 births Swiss male singers English-language singers from Switzerland Living people