Katharina Franck
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Katharina Franck (born July 28, 1963) is a German singer, songwriter, and musician. She first achieved fame as singer, songwriter, and guitarist of
pop rock Pop rock (also typeset as pop/rock) is a fusion genre and form of rock music characterized by a strong commercial appeal, with more emphasis on professional songwriting and recording craft, and less emphasis on attitude than standard rock musi ...
band the Rainbirds in the late 1980s. Besides her work with Rainbirds, she was also a member of the band Stein, and has released several solo albums.


Biography

Katharina Franck was born in
Düsseldorf Düsseldorf is the capital city of North Rhine-Westphalia, the most populous state of Germany. It is the second-largest city in the state after Cologne and the List of cities in Germany with more than 100,000 inhabitants, seventh-largest city ...
, Germany, but spent her childhood in
Portugal Portugal, officially the Portuguese Republic, is a country on the Iberian Peninsula in Southwestern Europe. Featuring Cabo da Roca, the westernmost point in continental Europe, Portugal borders Spain to its north and east, with which it share ...
because her father worked there as a
Thyssen AG Thyssen was a major German steel producer founded by August Thyssen. The company merged with Friedrich Krupp AG Hoesch-Krupp to form ThyssenKrupp in 1999. History On 29 September 1891, August Thyssen and his brother Joseph Thyssen came to ...
representative. From 1974 to 1977 she lived in
São Paulo São Paulo (; ; Portuguese for 'Paul the Apostle, Saint Paul') is the capital of the São Paulo (state), state of São Paulo, as well as the List of cities in Brazil by population, most populous city in Brazil, the List of largest cities in the ...
, Brazil, where she first started playing guitar and writing songs in English. She then moved back to Portugal, and formed her first band, having both her first stage and studio experiences. In 1981, at the age of 18, she moved to
Cologne Cologne ( ; ; ) is the largest city of the States of Germany, German state of North Rhine-Westphalia and the List of cities in Germany by population, fourth-most populous city of Germany with nearly 1.1 million inhabitants in the city pr ...
, Germany. Her first attempts at the cut-up technique,
poetry Poetry (from the Greek language, Greek word ''poiesis'', "making") is a form of literature, literary art that uses aesthetics, aesthetic and often rhythmic qualities of language to evoke meaning (linguistics), meanings in addition to, or in ...
and
prose Prose is language that follows the natural flow or rhythm of speech, ordinary grammatical structures, or, in writing, typical conventions and formatting. Thus, prose ranges from informal speaking to formal academic writing. Prose differs most n ...
in German followed. At the pop course at the Hamburg University of Music and Drama she took her first singing lessons. In 1983 she moved to
Berlin Berlin ( ; ) is the Capital of Germany, capital and largest city of Germany, by both area and List of cities in Germany by population, population. With 3.7 million inhabitants, it has the List of cities in the European Union by population withi ...
and initially kept herself afloat with part-time jobs. In 1985 she became a member of the band Les Black Carnations, where she operated under the name Justine Time. In the spring of 1986 she founded the band Rainbirds, with which she won the Berlin Senate Rock Competition and was then offered a
recording contract A recording contract (commonly called a record contract or record deal) is a legal agreement between a record label and a recording act (artist or group), where the act makes an audio recording (or series of recordings) for the label to sell and ...
by the record label Mercury. The single "Blueprint" became a European hit in 1988. They went through various line-ups over the years, and have released a total of six
studio 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 ...
s. ''Yonder'' their latest album was released in 2014. From 1990 to 1994, while still with Rainbirds, she was also a member of the band Stein (which included her Rainbirds band member,
Ulrike Haage Ulrike Haage (born in Kassel, lives and works in Berlin) is a German pianist and composer, producer for radio plays and a sound artist. Biography The jazz years Ulrike Haage spent her childhood in Ruhr. She grew up listening to the jazz recor ...
), with which she released three albums. With Haage, she has worked on two radio plays focusing on the life and work of Jane Bowles, 1999's "Bei unserer Lebensweise ist es sehr angenehm, lange im voraus zu einer Party eingeladen zu werden" ("Living the Way We Do, It Is Delightful to Be Invited to a Party a Long Way Off") and 2005's "Ich war fischen" ("I Was Fishing"). Franck has also released several solo albums: "Hunger" ("spoken pop songs" set to music by Haage) (in English and in German) in 1997; "Zeitlupenkino" (2002) (in German); "First Take Second Skin" (2006) (in English); and "On the Verge of an Autobiography" (2008) (in English).


Personal life

Franck has been living in
Neuruppin Neuruppin (, , in contrast to ":de:Alt Ruppin, Old Ruppin"; ; North Brandenburgisch dialect, Brandenburgisch: ''Reppin'') is a town in Brandenburg, Germany, the administrative seat of Ostprignitz-Ruppin district. It is the birthplace of the noveli ...
since 2012, and her partner lives in Neukölln, Berlin. Her mother lives in Portugal.


Discography


Rainbirds

* Rainbirds (1987) * Call Me Easy, Say I'm Strong, Love Me My Way, It Ain't Wrong (1989) * Two Faces (1991) * In a Different Light (1993) * The Mercury Years (1995) * Making Memory(1996) * Forever (1997) * 3000.live(1999) * Yonder (2014)


Katharina Franck (solo)

* Hunger (1997) * Zeitlupenkino (2002),
Mute Records Mute Records is a British independent record label owned and founded in 1978 by Daniel Miller (music producer), Daniel Miller. It has featured several prominent musical acts on its roster such as Depeche Mode, Erasure (duo), Erasure, Einstürze ...
* First Take Second Skin (2006) * On the Verge of an Autobiography (2008) * Musik! Musik! (2018)


Franck & Haage

* Bei unserer Lebensweise ist es sehr angenehm, lange im voraus zu einer Party eingeladen zu werden (1999)


Stein

* Stein (1990) * Steinzeit (1992) * König Zucker (1994)


Special appearances

* Members of the Ocean Club (1996/2004) * Seven Dances of the Holy Ghost (1998) * Coisário (1999) * Edgar Allan Poe - Visonen (2006)


References


External links


Katharina Franck's official homepageLast.FM: Katharina Franck
{{DEFAULTSORT:Franck, Katharina Musicians from Düsseldorf Living people 1963 births German women singer-songwriters German singer-songwriters German women singers German LGBTQ singers Mute Records artists