Klaus "Major“ Heuser (born 27 January 1957 in

Leverkusen Leverkusen () is a city in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany, on the eastern bank of the Rhine. To the south, Leverkusen borders the city of Cologne, and to the north the state capital, Düsseldorf. With about 161,000 inhabitants, Leverkusen is on ...

-) is a German musician, composer and producer. He found international fame as the lead guitarist of the

Cologne Cologne ( ; german: Köln ; ksh, Kölle ) is the largest city of the German western state of North Rhine-Westphalia (NRW) and the fourth-most populous city of Germany with 1.1 million inhabitants in the city proper and 3.6 millio ...

rock band BAP. His musical influences are the

Rolling Stones The Rolling Stones are an English rock band formed in London in 1962. Active for six decades, they are one of the most popular and enduring bands of the rock era. In the early 1960s, the Rolling Stones pioneered the gritty, rhythmically d ...

, especially

Keith Richards Keith Richards (born 18 December 1943), often referred to during the 1960s and 1970s as "Keith Richard", is an English musician and songwriter who has achieved international fame as the co-founder, guitarist, secondary vocalist, and co-princi ...

Rory Gallagher William Rory Gallagher ( ; 2 March 1948 – 14 June 1995) was an Irish guitarist, singer, songwriter, and producer. Due to his virtuosic playing, but relative lack of fame compared to some others, he has been referred to as "the greatest ...

, as well as Eric Clapton, the Dutch band

Golden Earring Golden Earring (originally known as The Tornados) was a Dutch rock band, founded in 1961 in The Hague as The Golden Earrings. They achieved worldwide fame with their international hit songs " Radar Love" in 1973, which went to number one on ...

and

Gary Moore Robert William Gary Moore (4 April 19526 February 2011) was a Northern Irish musician. Over the course of his career he played in various groups and performed a range of music including blues, blues rock, hard rock, heavy metal, and jazz ...

Career

Heuser gained major popularity as the guitarist of rock band BAP, of which he was a member from 1980 to 1999. He was mainly responsible for BAP's musical style and wrote music to many hit songs including ''Verdamp lang her'' amn long time ago ''Frau, ich freu mich'' oman, I'm glad ''Ne schöne Jrooß'' est regards ''Kristallnaach'' /nowiki>Crystal night">Crystal_night.html" ;"title="/nowiki>Crystal night">/nowiki>Crystal night/nowiki>, ''Alles em Lot'' [Everything's alright] and ''Nix wie bessher'' [Nothing as before]. In parallel to his BAP efforts, Heuser in 1981 also teamed up with (from ), Didi Maaz and Rich Schwab (both from ) to form (as ''Klaus Steine'') and record a cover version of

Heintje Hendrik Nikolaas Theodoor "Heintje" Simons (born 12 August 1955) in Heerlen, later known as Hein Simons, is a Dutch schlager singer and actor. Background Heintje was born the son of a coal miner who had to retire because of silicosis, reduci ...

's ''Ich bau dir ein Schloss'' (1968) in the style of the

Neue Deutsche Welle Neue Deutsche Welle (NDW, , "New German Wave") is a genre of West German rock music originally derived from post-punk and new wave music with electronic influences. The term was first coined by Dutch radio DJ Frits Spits on the popular nationwid ...

. However, neither Maahn nor Heuser were interested in continuing this project, so that the band later became the support band of

Purple Schulz Karl Rüdiger "Purple" Schulz (born 25 September 1956 in Cologne Cologne ( ; german: Köln ; ksh, Kölle ) is the largest city of the German western state of North Rhine-Westphalia (NRW) and the fourth-most populous city of Germany with ...

. When BAP paused for a while in the late 1980s, Heuser spent some time in

Los Angeles Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the largest city in the state of California and the second most populous city in the United States after New York City, as well as one of the wor ...

, USA, where he lived in Roger Taylor's (from

Queen Queen or QUEEN may refer to: Monarchy * Queen regnant, a female monarch of a Kingdom ** List of queens regnant * Queen consort, the wife of a reigning king * Queen dowager, the widow of a king * Queen mother, a queen dowager who is the mother ...

) house for some while. This is also when he learnt to produce music. Once back in Germany, among other production activities, Heuser produced the three

Brings Brings (, ) are a band from Germany which perform most songs in the local dialect of Cologne, Kölsch. Founded in 1990, they established themselves playing rock music; their lyrics are performed in Kölsch and, since 1995, also in standard Germ ...

albums ''Zwei Zoote Minsche'' (1991), ''Kasalla'' (1992) and ''Fünf'' (1997), as well as

Martin Schenkel Martin Schenkel (25 April 1968 – 27 March 2003) was a Swiss Swiss may refer to: * the adjectival form of Switzerland * Swiss people Places * Swiss, Missouri *Swiss, North Carolina * Swiss, West Virginia * Swiss, Wisconsin Other uses * S ...

's album ''My own way'' (2000). On 17 February 2006, he released ''Major & Suzan'', a collaborative album, which was recorded with Berlin singer Susanne Werth (from ). Meeting German blues guitarist during a show of "Harmonie talk" moderated by in the ,

Bonn The federal city of Bonn ( lat, Bonna) is a city on the banks of the Rhine in the German state of North Rhine-Westphalia, with a population of over 300,000. About south-southeast of Cologne, Bonn is in the southernmost part of the Rhine-Ru ...

, on 10 December 2008 resulted in an ad hoc

jam session A jam session is a relatively informal musical event, process, or activity where musicians, typically instrumentalists, play improvised solos and vamp over tunes, drones, songs, and chord progressions. To "jam" is to improvise music without ext ...

and the birth of the band project ''Men in Blues''. The first concert happened on the 12 Dezember 2009. Since 2010, both musicians toured regularly, later supported by (bass) and (drums). The critically acclaimed live album ''Richard Bargel LIVE mit Klaus "Major" Heuser & Band'' was nominated for the "

Preis der deutschen Schallplattenkritik The Preis der deutschen Schallplattenkritik ("German Record Critics' Award") was established in Germany in 1963 by publisher Richard Kaselowsky with the aim of setting the "most rigorous standards for supreme achievement and quality" in the field ...

Matthias Krauss The Kelly Family is an Irish-American music group consisting of a multi-generational family, usually nine siblings who were joined occasionally on stage in their earlier years by their parents. They play a repertoire of rock, pop, and folk music, ...

(keyboards) and (percussion) joined the band on the first studio album ''Men in Blues'', which was released in Germany, Austria and Switzerland on 3 February 2012. On 1 September 2012, Bargel suffered a

sudden hearing loss Hearing loss is a partial or total inability to hear. Hearing loss may be present at birth or acquired at any time afterwards. Hearing loss may occur in one or both ears. In children, hearing problems can affect the ability to acquire spoken la ...

during a concert, forcing the shared activities to come to an end. In 2013, Heuser then formed the "Klaus Major Heuser Band", which released their first album ''Men in Trouble''. Based around the members of the former "Men in Blues" band Krauss, Delbrouck and Rieck, the new band now includes Cologne vocalist, texter and guitarist (from Bosstime and

Pirate Radio Pirate radio or a pirate radio station is a radio station that broadcasts without a valid license. In some cases, radio stations are considered legal where the signal is transmitted, but illegal where the signals are received—especially ...

). The second studio album named ''57'' was released in September 2014, the corresponding tour ended in 2015, followed by a live double-album named ''57 Live''. In April 2016, the studio album ''What’s up?'' was released, the tour ended in 2017. In August 2018, the new album ''And Now?!'' was released, the corresponding tour lasted until mid 2019.

Notable information

Klaus Heuser got his nickname Major from ''Major Healey'' from the TV series

I Dream of Jeannie ''I Dream of Jeannie'' is an American fantasy sitcom television series, created by Sidney Sheldon that starred Barbara Eden as a sultry, 2,000-year-old genie and Larry Hagman, as an astronaut with whom she falls in love and eventually marr ...

. Following medical advice after a

skin cancer Skin cancers are cancers that arise from the skin. They are due to the development of abnormal cells that have the ability to invade or spread to other parts of the body. There are three main types of skin cancers: basal-cell skin cancer (BC ...

incident Heuser wears a

leather hat A hat is a head covering which is worn for various reasons, including protection against weather conditions, ceremonial reasons such as university graduation, religious reasons, safety, or as a fashion accessory. Hats which incorporate mecha ...

which has become a signature feature over the decades. Heuser lives in Cologne-

Rodenkirchen Rodenkirchen () is a southern borough (''Stadtbezirk'') of Cologne (Köln) in Germany. It has about 110,000 inhabitants and covers an area of . The borough includes the quarters Bayenthal, Godorf, Hahnwald, Immendorf, Marienburg, Meschenich, Rad ...

and is married to Marion Heuser, a member of Cologne's city council for the

Green party A green party is a formally organized political party based on the principles of green politics, such as social justice, environmentalism and nonviolence. Greens believe that these issues are inherently related to one another as a foundati ...

and former

archeologist Archaeology or archeology is the scientific study of human activity through the recovery and analysis of material culture. The archaeological record consists of artifacts, architecture, biofacts or ecofacts, sites, and cultural landscapes ...

, since 1986. The couple has a son named Philipp. Together with classical guitarist

Hubert Käppel Hubert Käppel (born 3 July 1951) is a German classical guitarist. He teaches classical guitar at the Hochschule für Musik Köln in Germany. Guitars International states that "Hubert Kappel is among the most influential teachers and guitarists ...

, Heuser also worked on a concert and information series on guitar music. The plans had to be cancelled in 2013 when Heuser suffered a nerve illness in the middle finger of his right hand, so he could no longer perform at the necessary level of accuracy.

References

External links

* Official website o
Klaus "Major" Heuser
an
Klaus Major Heuser Band
*

or cutout Or or OR may refer to: Arts and entertainment Film and television * "O.R.", a 1974 episode of M*A*S*H * Or (My Treasure), a 2004 movie from Israel (''Or'' means "light" in Hebrew) Music * ''Or'' (album), a 2002 album by Golden Boy with Mis ...

tou
concert
of BAP with Heuser on lead guitar,

Rockpalast ''Rockpalast'' (''Rock Palace'') is a German music television show that broadcasts live on German television station Westdeutscher Rundfunk (WDR). ''Rockpalast'' started in 1974 and continues to this day. Hundreds of rock, heavy metal and jazz ...

, Markthalle, Hamburg, 1981-11-28 :27:41* etween pretzels and beertou
concert
of BAP with Heuser on lead guitar, Festhalle, Frankfurt am Main, 1984-11-23 :13:39
''Clubtour''
concert of BAP with Heuser on lead guitar,

Batschkapp Batschkapp (Hessian dialect for 'flat cap') is a rock and pop concert venue in Frankfurt am Main. It is located in the warehouse district of the neighborhood of Seckbach, on Gwinnerstraße. History Batschkapp was founded in 1976 to establi ...

, Frankfurt am Main, 1991-02-21 :57:00* Las
''What's up?''
tour concert of Klaus Major Heuser Band, Zeche Carl, Essen, 2017-06-23 :49:00
''And now?!''
tour concert of Klaus Major Heuser Band, Jubez, Karlsruhe, 2018-12-01 :36:30 {{DEFAULTSORT:Heuser, Klaus 1957 births Living people German rock guitarists German male guitarists People from Leverkusen