Opus was an

Austrian Austrian may refer to: * Austrians, someone from Austria or of Austrian descent ** Someone who is considered an Austrian citizen * Austrian German dialect * Something associated with the country Austria, for example: ** Austria-Hungary ** Austria ...

pop Pop or POP may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media * Pop music, a musical genre Artists * POP, a Japanese idol group now known as Gang Parade * Pop! (British group), a UK pop group * Pop! featuring Angie Hart, an Australian band Album ...

rock Rock most often refers to: * Rock (geology), a naturally occurring solid aggregate of minerals or mineraloids * Rock music, a genre of popular music Rock or Rocks may also refer to: Places United Kingdom * Rock, Caerphilly, a location in Wale ...

group A group is a number of persons or things that are located, gathered, or classed together. Groups of people * Cultural group, a group whose members share the same cultural identity * Ethnic group, a group whose members share the same ethnic iden ...

. It was formed in 1973 in

Graz Graz () is the capital of the Austrian Federal states of Austria, federal state of Styria and the List of cities and towns in Austria, second-largest city in Austria, after Vienna. On 1 January 2025, Graz had a population of 306,068 (343,461 inc ...

and disbanded in 2021. The band was mainly known for its 1985

single Single may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media * Single (music), a song release Songs * "Single" (Natasha Bedingfield song), 2004 * "Single" (New Kids on the Block and Ne-Yo song), 2008 * "Single" (William Wei song), 2016 * "Single", by ...

release, "

Live Is Life "Live Is Life" is a song by Austrian pop rock band Opus, released in 1984 by labels Polydor and OK as the first single from their first live album, '' Live Is Life'' (1984). It was written by the band and produced by Peter Müller, and also inc ...

", which reached the Top 10 in several European countries.

History

In 1985, Opus released "

", which ranked first in various global

charts A chart (sometimes known as a graph) is a graphical representation for data visualization, in which "the data is represented by symbols, such as bars in a bar chart, lines in a line chart, or slices in a pie chart". A chart can represent t ...

. This included Canada, which ranked for seven weeks in late 1985 and early 1986. A live recording of the song made the

Top 40 In the music industry, the Top 40 is a list of the 40 currently most popular songs in a particular genre. It is the best-selling or most frequently broadcast popular music. Record charts have traditionally consisted of a total of 40 songs. "To ...

in the US in 1986. It ranked sixth in the UK Singles Chart on 3 August 1985, and stayed in the charts for 15 weeks. Another standout track from Opus was the power ballad "Flyin' High", a live version of which appeared both on the ''Live is Life''

album An album is a collection of audio recordings (e.g., music) issued on a medium such as compact disc (CD), Phonograph record, vinyl (record), audio tape (like 8-track cartridge, 8-track or Cassette tape, cassette), or digital distribution, dig ...

, and a successful US release, ''Up and Down''. At a concert in the mid-1980s, fellow Austrian rock star Falco joined Opus on stage for a rendition of "Flyin' High". On 24 November 2021, Opus performed the song in front of celebrating Austrian government officials during the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic (also known as the coronavirus pandemic and COVID pandemic), caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), began with an disease outbreak, outbreak of COVID-19 in Wuhan, China, in December ...

. The group disbanded the same year on 21 December.

In popular culture

Cover versions In popular music, a cover version, cover song, remake, revival, or simply cover is a new performance or recording by a musician other than the original performer or composer of the song. Originally, it referred to a version of a song released ...

of "Live is Life" have also been performed by Stargo,

Laibach Laibach () is a Slovenian and Yugoslav avant-garde music group associated with the industrial, martial, and neoclassical genres. Formed in 1980 in the mining town of Trbovlje, Slovenia, at the time a constituent republic within Socialist Fede ...

, the Hungarian band Tormentor, the Estonian band Kuldne Trio ("Laip on Laip"),

Axxis Axxis is a German Heavy metal music, heavy metal band that was founded in 1988. Their debut album, ''Kingdom of the Night'', became the best-selling debut album by a hard rock band in Germany in 1989. Biography Axxis' musical roots lie withi ...

, and Dolapdere Big Gang. Additionally, as a guest,

DJ Ötzi Gerhard "Gerry" Friedle (born 7 January 1971), better known by his stage name DJ Ötzi (), is an Austrian music producer and singer. Successful mainly in German-speaking countries, he is best known in the English-speaking world for his 2000 singl ...

released a version with the

Hermes House Band The Hermes House Band is a Dutch pop group, established in 1982 by members of the Rotterdamsch Studenten Corps, a fraternity/sorority in Rotterdam, Netherlands. They have released more than 25 albums and singles. History The band rose to fame ...

in 2002, which reached #50 in the UK chart.

Band members

Current members

* Herwig Rüdisser – vocals * Ewald Pfleger – guitar, backing vocals * Kurt-Rene Plisnier – keyboard * Günter Grasmuck – drums, percussion

Timeline

ImageSize = width:900 height:auto barincrement:20 PlotArea = left:100 bottom:125 top:5 right:10 Alignbars = justify DateFormat = dd/mm/yyyy Period = from:01/01/1973 till:01/01/2021 TimeAxis = orientation:horizontal format:yyyy Colors = id:vocals value:red legend:Vocals id:bvocals value:pink legend:Backing_vocals id:guitar value:green legend:Guitar id:keys value:purple legend:Keyboards id:bass value:blue legend:Bass id:drums value:orange legend:Drums id:studio value:black legend:Studio_album id:bars value:gray(0.95) BackgroundColors = bars:bars Legend = orientation:vertical position:bottom columns:3 ScaleMajor = increment:2 start:01/01/1973 BarData = bar:Rüdisser text:"Herwig Rüdisser" bar:Pfleger text:"Ewald Pfleger" bar:Plisnier text:"Kurt-René Plisnier" bar:Bachkönig text:"Walter Bachkönig" bar:Gruber text:"Niki Gruber" bar:Grasmuck text:"Günter Grasmuck" PlotData= width:11 textcolor:black align:left anchor:from shift:(10,-4) bar:Rüdisser from:01/07/1978 till:end color:vocals bar:Rüdisser from:01/07/1978 till:end color:guitar width:3 bar:Pfleger from:01/01/1973 till:end color:guitar bar:Pfleger from:01/07/1978 till:end color:bvocals width:3 bar:Pfleger from:01/01/1973 till:01/07/1978 color:vocals width:3 bar:Plisnier from:01/01/1973 till:end color:keys bar:Bachkönig from:01/01/1973 till:01/07/1980 color:bass bar:Gruber from:01/07/1980 till:01/07/1991 color:bass bar:Grasmuck from:01/07/1974 till:end color:drums LineData = at:01/01/1980 color:black layer:back at:01/01/1981 color:black layer:back at:01/01/1982 color:black layer:back at:01/01/1984 color:black layer:back at:01/01/1985 color:black layer:back at:01/01/1987 color:black layer:back at:01/01/1990 color:black layer:back at:01/01/1992 color:black layer:back at:01/01/1996 color:black layer:back at:01/01/2004 color:black layer:back at:01/01/2017 color:black layer:back

Discography

Studio albums

* ''Daydreams'' (1980) * ''Eleven'' (1981) * ''The Opusition'' (1982) * '' Up and Down'' (1984) * ''

Solo Solo or SOLO may refer to: Arts and entertainment Characters * Han Solo, a ''Star Wars'' character * Jacen Solo, a Jedi in the non-canonical ''Star Wars Legends'' continuity * Kylo Ren (Ben Solo), a ''Star Wars'' character * Napoleon Solo, fr ...

'' (1985) * ''

Opus Opus (: opera Opera is a form of History of theatre#European theatre, Western theatre in which music is a fundamental component and dramatic roles are taken by Singing, singers. Such a "work" (the literal translation of the Italian word "opera ...

'' (1987) * ''Magical Touch'' (1990) * ''Walkin' on Air'' (1992) * ''Love, God & Radio'' (1996) * ''The Beat Goes On'' (2004) * ''Opus Magnum'' (2020)

Live albums

* ''

'' (1984) * ''Jubileé'' (1993) * ''Tonight at the Opera'' (2009) * ''Graz Liebenau'' (2013)

Compilation albums

* ''Best of'' (1985) * ''Greatest Hits – The Power of Live Is Life'' (1998) * ''Flyin' Higher – Greatest Hits'' (2003) * ''Back to Future – The Ultimate Best-Of'' (2008)

Singles (selection)

References

External links

The Official Opus Homepage
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Opus (Band) Austrian pop rock music groups English-language musical groups from Austria Musical groups established in 1973