Curtis Cress (born 11 August 1952), known by his stage name Curt Cress, is a German musician, singer and songwriter.

Life and work

Curt Cress began his career in 1965 in

Hanau Hanau () is a city in the Main-Kinzig-Kreis, in Hesse, Germany. It is 25 km east of Frankfurt, Frankfurt am Main and part of the Frankfurt Rhine-Main, Frankfurt Rhine-Main Metropolitan Region. Its railway Hanau Hauptbahnhof, station is a ma ...

with the band Load. Later also in Hanau he played with the bands Inspiration Six and most recently in 1969 Orange Peel, which was officially disbanded again the very next year, but comes together for occasional appearances. He has taken part in about 12,000 published recordings sold on at least 400 million records. He worked as a member of several bands including

Klaus Doldinger Klaus Doldinger (; born 12 May 1936) is a German saxophonist known for his work in jazz and as a film music composer. He was the recipient of the 1997's Bavarian Film Awards. He is also a frequent collaborator of German filmmaker Wolfgang Pet ...

Passport A passport is an official travel document issued by a government that certifies a person's identity and nationality for international travel. A passport allows its bearer to enter and temporarily reside in a foreign country, access local aid ...

, Atlantis, Spliff_(band),

Milli Vanilli Milli Vanilli ( ) was a German duo R&B music act from Munich. The act was created in 1988 by Frank Farian, founder of Boney M., and consisted of Fab Morvan and Rob Pilatus as the lip-syncing performers, with the two actual main studio sing ...

and Snowball, Curt Cress Clan, and as a guest on numerous studio recordings and live performances with German and international artists, e.g. Falco,

Peter Maffay Peter Alexander Makkay (born 30 August 1949), known as Peter Maffay (), is a Romanian-born German musician, singer, and composer. Being a veteran musician, he is often credited for motivating audiences with his emotional lyrics and powerful mel ...

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and

Tina Turner Tina Turner (born Anna Mae Bullock; November 26, 1939 – May 24, 2023) was a singer, songwriter, actress, and author. Dubbed the "Honorific nicknames in popular music, Queen of Rock 'n' Roll", her vocal prowess, raspy voice, and electrifyin ...

. In 1977, he replaced original drummer and cofounder Hans Bathelt in the german band Triumvirat, for their album ''

Pompeii Pompeii ( ; ) was a city in what is now the municipality of Pompei, near Naples, in the Campania region of Italy. Along with Herculaneum, Stabiae, and Villa Boscoreale, many surrounding villas, the city was buried under of volcanic ash and p ...

'', but because of temporary legal quarrels between the keyboardist Hans-Jürgen Fritz and the drummer Hans Bathelt, concerning the name of the group, it was presented as ''New Triumvirat Presents Pompeii''. Cress is also known as a producer, most notably for Uwe Ochsenknecht, Claudia Cane, Heiner Pudelko,

Nena Gabriele Susanne Kerner (born 24 March 1960), 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 (band), Nena with the Neue Deutsche Welle song "99 Luftballons". I ...

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and the

Royal Philharmonic Orchestra The Royal Philharmonic Orchestra (RPO) is a British symphony orchestra based in London, England. The RPO was established by Thomas Beecham in 1946. In its early days, the orchestra secured profitable recording contracts and important engagemen ...

. He continued to work as a studio musician, as for Boney M., Hubert Kah,

Michael Cretu Michael Cretu (, ; born 18 May 1957) is a Romanian-German musician, singer, songwriter, composer, and record producer. He gained worldwide fame as the founder and musician behind the musical project Enigma, which he formed in 1990. Cretu began ...

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, Alphaville,

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, Inga and Annette Humpe, Peter Cornelius, Marianne Rosenberg, Stefan Waggershausen, Udo Lindenberg,

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and

Freddie Mercury Freddie Mercury (born Farrokh Bulsara; 5 September 1946 – 24 November 1991) was a British singer and songwriter who achieved global fame as the lead vocalist and pianist of the rock band Queen (band), Queen. Regarded as one of the gre ...

('' Mr. Bad Guy''). Cress also made himself a name as a TV and film music composer. He composed the music for the series '' SK Kölsch'', '' The Red Mile'', '' HeliCops – Einsatz über Berlin'' and for the telenovelas '' Bianca – Wege zum Glück'' and '' Julia – Wege zum Glück''. Cress is one of the composer's music scene for the series ''Love in Berlin''. He also worked for '' Tatort'' and composed, among others, the theme songs of the ARD sports show and '' Wetten, dass..?''. For the feature film '' Bandits'' Cress was hired as playback drummer. Since 2009 he records along with Chris Weller and Manuel Mayer for the music of the ZDF telenovela '' Alisa - Follow your heart.'' Since 2006, Cress has been a professor at the Hamburg Hochschule für Musik und Theater; he has taught there since 2004. His company CC HOLDING GmbH produces media products for music, film, and television. The holding company has F.A.M.E. company Recordings Publishing GmbH, F.A.M.E. Artist Recordings GmbH, CRESS PUBLISHING GmbH, and pilot Tonstudio GmbH.

Personal life

Curt Cress is married and has three children.

Discography

Solo work

*1975: ''Curt Cress Clan'' (LP) *1983: ''Avanti'' (LP: WEA 24.0133; CD: WEA 240 133-2) *1987: ''Sing'' (LP) *1992: ''Bäng'' (CD) *1998: ''Trip'' (CD: WEA arner3984-21825-2)

With other musicians

*1972: Atlantis – ''Atlantis'' *1973: – ''Arbeit macht frei'' (LP: Bluff Records, BF 1010) *1973: Passport – ''Hand Made '' *1973: Passport – ''Looking Thru'' *1974: ''Doldinger Jubilee Concert'' *1975: Passport – ''Cross-Collateral'' *1976: Lucifer’s Friend – ''Mind Exploding'' (LP: Vertigo) *1977: Passport – ''Iguaçu'' *1977: New Triumvirat – ''New Triumvirat Presents Pompeii'' *1978: Snowball – ''Defroster'' *1979: Snowball – ''Cold Heat'' *1979: Jack-Knife – '' I Wish You Would'' *1980: Snowball – ''Follow the White Line'' *1981: Mike Batt – ''Six Days In Berlin'' *1982: Passport – ''earthborn'' *1982: Al Bano & Romina Power – ''Felicità'' *1983: Peter Schilling - '' Error in the System'' *1984: Alphaville - '' Forever Young'' *1984: Skiantos - ''Ti Spalmo la Crema'' *1985:

- '' Mr. Bad Guy'' *1985: Far Corporation - ''Division One'' *1985: Passport - ''Running in Real Time'' *1986:

- '' Blind Before I Stop'' *1987:

- '' Wildest Dreams'' *1988: Rick Springfield - ''Rock Of Life'' *1988–1990:

*1989: Saga - '' The Beginner's Guide to Throwing Shapes'' *1989: Elio e Le Storie Tese - '' Elio Samaga Hukapan Kariyana Turu'' *1989: Elio e Le Storie Tese - '' The Los Sri Lanka Parakramabahu Brothers Featuring Elio e le Storie Tese'' *1990: Alex Gunia – ''Alex Gunia’s Groove Cut'' *1990–1992: The Real Milli Vanilli *1996:

– '' Pure Instinct'' *1998: John Wetton and Richard Palmer-James – '' Monkey Business 1972–1997'' *2018-2019: Alles oder Nichts (TV Serie)

Awards

* 15 times Drummer of the Year (journal) * Record Prize of the German Phono Academy * Gold records, and A. for '' Bandits '', '' BAP '', '' Münchener Freiheit ''

Literature

* Martin Kunzler: ''Jazz Encyclopedia''. Rowohlt, Reinbek 2002

References

External links

* *
Interview auf sueddeutsche.de

Interview auf comeunited.com

Prof. Curt Cress beim Popkurs Hamburg

Offizielle Website von Curt Cress Plattenfirma "Fame Recordings"

Interview mit Curt Cress vom 28. Juni 2011 aus der Sendung ''Mensch Theile'' (Podcast)

Podcast des Interviews ''Eins zu Eins'' auf Bayern 2
{{DEFAULTSORT:Cress, Curt 1952 births Living people German drummers German male drummers German male musicians German film score composers German male film score composers