Alphaville is a German

synth-pop Synth-pop (short for synthesizer pop; also called techno-pop; ) is a music genre that first became prominent in the late 1970s and features the synthesizer as the dominant musical instrument. It was prefigured in the 1960s and early 1970s b ...

band formed in

Münster Münster (; ) is an independent city#Germany, independent city (''Kreisfreie Stadt'') in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. It is in the northern part of the state and is considered to be the cultural centre of the Westphalia region. It is also a ...

in 1982. They gained popularity in the

1980s File:1980s replacement montage02.PNG, 335px, From left, clockwise: The first Space Shuttle, ''Space Shuttle Columbia, Columbia'', lifts off in 1981; US president Ronald Reagan and Soviet Union, Soviet General Secretary of the Communist Party of ...

. The group was founded by singers

Marian Gold Marian Gold (born Hartwig Schierbaum; 26 May 1954) is a German singer-songwriter who gained fame as the lead singer of the German synth-pop band Alphaville, but also has recorded as a solo artist. He is known for his tenor multi-octave vocal ra ...

Bernhard Lloyd Bernhard Lloyd (born Bernhard Gössling on 2 June 1960) is a former member and co-founder of the German synth-pop Synth-pop (short for synthesizer pop; also called techno-pop; ) is a music genre that first became prominent in the late 197 ...

, and

Frank Mertens Frank Mertens (born Frank Sorgatz; 26 October 1961) is a German musician. He is a former member of the German synth-pop band Alphaville. Mertens is a shy and quiet person who doesn't like to talk. Shortly after the success of their debut album, ...

. They achieved chart success with the singles " Forever Young", " Big in Japan", "

Sounds Like a Melody "Sounds Like a Melody" is a song by German synth-pop band Alphaville, released on May 14, 1984 as the second single from their debut album '' Forever Young''. The song was a big success in continental Europe and South Africa, reaching the top 1 ...

", "

The Jet Set The Jet Set was a Polish R&B duo which consists of David Junior Serame and Sasha Strunin. They represented Poland in the semi-final of the Eurovision Song Contest 2007 in Helsinki. Eurovision Song Contest 2007 The Jet Set represented Poland i ...

", and " Dance with Me". Gold remains the only continuous original member of Alphaville. They took their name from

Jean-Luc Godard Jean-Luc Godard ( , ; ; 3 December 193013 September 2022) was a French and Swiss film director, screenwriter, and film critic. He rose to prominence as a pioneer of the French New Wave film movement of the 1960s, alongside such filmmakers as ...

's film ''Alphaville''.

History

Formation

Alphaville was formed after lead singer

and

met in West Berlin in 1981. The pair were heavily influenced by UK indie acts like

Tubeway Army Tubeway Army were a London-based new wave music, new wave band led by lead singer Gary Numan. Formed at the height of punk rock in 1977, the band gradually changed to an electronic music, electronic sound. They were the first band of the elect ...

Gary Numan Gary Anthony James Webb (born 8 March 1958), known professionally as Gary Numan, is an English singer, songwriter and musician. He entered the music industry as frontman of the New wave music, new wave band Tubeway Army. After releasing two st ...

and

Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark (OMD) are an English electronic music, electronic band formed in Meols, Merseyside in 1978 by Andy McCluskey (vocals, bass guitar) and Paul Humphreys (keyboards, vocals). Regarded as pioneers of electronic musi ...

. Gold had written "Big in Japan" in 1979 after hearing the music of

Holly Johnson William "Holly" Johnson (born 9 February 1960) is an English singer, songwriter and artist, best known as the lead vocalist of Frankie Goes to Hollywood, who achieved huge commercial success in the mid-1980s. Prior to that, in the late 1970s he ...

's band Big in Japan. They first named their band "Forever Young" and subsequently changed it to "Alphaville" after the 1965 science fiction film. Together the three wrote and recorded ''Forever Young'' as a demo. The first Alphaville concert took place on 31 December 1982 in Enger, Westphalia. In 1984, the newly renamed Alphaville released their debut single, "Big in Japan". In the early years, Gold said that "none of us could really play an instrument. The music was in our heads, but we were dependent on synthesizers and drum machines and things like that. ... The equipment we had at that time was basically toys – the cheapest monophonic synthesizers you could imagine. We had a little studio in a basement, made a couple of demos and sent them to some record companies to try to get a deal. We didn't have much hope, but we had three offers and from that moment everything happened very fast."

''Forever Young'' (1984)

In autumn 1984, they released their debut album, ''Forever Young'', produced by Colin Pearson, Wolfgang Loos and Andreas Budde. "Big in Japan" topped the charts in West Germany, Greece, Switzerland, Sweden, Turkey, Venezuela, and the US

Billboard Dance Chart The Dance Club Songs (also known as National Disco Action, Hot Dance/Disco Club Play, and Hot Dance Club Play) was a chart published weekly between 1976 and 2020 by ''Billboard'' magazine. It used club disc jockeys set lists to determine the mos ...

(the group's only Top 10 on any Billboard chart). The single also reached the Top Five in the Netherlands, Norway, Austria, Ireland and South Africa. It became the group's only Top 20 single in the UK, peaking at No. 8. The band's next two singles, "

" and " Forever Young", were also both European Top 5 successes, although the former track failed to make an impression on the American charts. Amid reports that pop star

Laura Branigan Laura Ann Branigan (July 3, 1952 – August 26, 2004) was an American singer. Her signature song, the platinum-certified 1982 single " Gloria", stayed on the U.S. ''Billboard'' Hot 100 for 36 weeks, then a record for a female artist, peaking a ...

was featuring the song on her next album, '' Hold Me'', Alphaville's "Forever Young" was re-released as a single in the US. The Alphaville version was released a third time in the US in 1988, to promote ''Alphaville: The Singles Collection'', and peaked at No. 65, their highest charting (and also last) single on the ''Billboard'' Hot 100. Despite the success of the album and its singles, the band did not tour. Said Gold, "we didn't feel we were good enough musicians o tour These days it wouldn't be a problem to go out and play with tracks, but at that time it was really complicated. We didn't feel like we were performers. We felt more like we were studio rats. The studio felt like a safe environment. So, much to the annoyance of our manager, we didn't play

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very much." Despite their commercial success in the United Kingdom in the 1980s, Alphaville has never performed live in the UK. Soon after the success of the album, Mertens left the band in December 1984. He was replaced in January 1985 by Ricky Echolette on keyboard and guitar. In a 2022 interview, Marian Gold said it is "a bit of a shock" when he hears Forever Young playing when he is in an elevator or at the supermarket. In 2024, Alphaville's single " Forever Young" reached number 1 on the Top 100 Billboard Chart, 40 years after its original release. The success of the song reaching No. 1 on the charts was linked to its popularity on the social media app TikTok. Forever Young remained at number 1 for ten weeks in 2024.

''Afternoons in Utopia'' (1986)

In 1986, their second album, ''Afternoons in Utopia'', was released and its first single " Dance With Me" was a Top 20 hit in Germany, France, Norway, Sweden, Switzerland, South Africa and in remix form on the US Hot Maxi Singles chart. It reached the Top 30 in Austria, Italy and in the US Club Play chart. The album's second single was "

Universal Daddy Universal Daddy is the sixth single by Alphaville, and their second from their album ''Afternoons in Utopia''. It was released only in Europe. Reviews This song was described as one of the album's best songs and reminiscent of the kind of music ...

". For their third single, the band released "Jerusalem" in Germany only, while they went with "Sensations" for Austria, France, the Netherlands, and Switzerland. The final single from ''

Afternoons in Utopia ''Afternoons in Utopia'' is the second album by German synth-pop band Alphaville, released in 1986 via Warner Music. The album was recorded between September 1985 and May 1986. A remastered and re-released version of the album, on both CD and v ...

'' was " Red Rose", in 1987.

''The Breathtaking Blue'' (1989)

Their third album in 1989, ''The Breathtaking Blue'', included the singles " Romeos" and "Mysteries of Love" and was released as a

CD+G CD+G (also known as CD-G, CD+Graphics, and TV-Graphics) is an extension of the compact disc standard that enables the display of low-resolution graphics alongside audio content when played on a compatible device. This functionality is most common ...

, including black & white stills with original lyrics and German translation. As an alternative to individual music videos, the band enlisted nine directors, among them

Godfrey Reggio Godfrey Reggio (born 1940) is an American director of experimental documentary films. Life Reggio was born in New Orleans in 1940 to a Catholic family. He left home at age 14 to join the Catholic Christian Brotherhood. He became a monk, and spe ...

(''

Koyaanisqatsi ''Koyaanisqatsi'' is a 1982 American non-narrative documentary film directed and produced by Godfrey Reggio, featuring music by Philip Glass and cinematography by Ron Fricke. Described as an "essay in images and sound on the state of American ...

''), to create a film entitled ''

Songlines A songline, also called dreaming track, is one of the paths across the land (or sometimes the sky) within the animist belief systems of the Aboriginal cultures of Australia. They mark the route followed by localised "creator-beings" in the Dr ...

'' based on the album's tracks.

''Prostitute'' (1994)

The next album, ''Prostitute'', was not released until 1994. The first single released was " Fools", followed by the second and last single from the album, " The Impossible Dream". During the tour for this album

Robbie France Robert France (5 December 1959 – 14 January 2012) was an English drummer, record producer, arranger, journalist, music educator, and broadcaster. Early life France was born in Sheffield, and emigrated to Australia in March 1972. He studied ...

briefly joined the band on drums. In 1997, after the band went to record their next album, Echolette left the band because he decided to spend time with his family.

''Salvation'' (1997)

''Salvation'' followed in 1997. A limited edition box-set,

Dreamscapes The discography of German synth-pop Synth-pop (short for synthesizer pop; also called techno-pop; ) is a music genre that first became prominent in the late 1970s and features the synthesizer as the dominant musical instrument. It was p ...

, was issued in 1999. In 2000 '' Stark Naked and Absolutely Live'' was released. In 2001, the remix album '' Forever Pop'' and a DVD entitled ''Little America'' of two concerts performed in

Salt Lake City Salt Lake City, often shortened to Salt Lake or SLC, is the capital and most populous city of the U.S. state of Utah. It is the county seat of Salt Lake County, the most populous county in the state. The city is the core of the Salt Lake Ci ...

, Utah. Bernhard Lloyd did not contribute to the second limited edition box-set, the 2003 ''

CrazyShow The discography of German synth-pop Synth-pop (short for synthesizer pop; also called techno-pop; ) is a music genre that first became prominent in the late 1970s and features the synthesizer as the dominant musical instrument. It was p ...

'', and shortly after its release on 18 March 2003, he officially left the group; however, he stays in contact with Gold. The core stage members of Alphaville then were Gold and new recruits, Martin Lister (keyboards), David Goodes (guitars) and Jakob Kiersch (drums).

''Catching Rays on Giant'' (2010)

On 19 November 2010 the album ''Catching Rays on Giant'', the first commercial studio album in 13 years was released and entered the German album charts at number 9 in its first week. The touring musicians became members of the band at this point. The second single from the album was the track, "Song for No One", released on 4 March 2011. The band held an album release party, where they played a short unplugged set, at the Quasimodo Club in Berlin on the evening of 18 November 2010 to which their closest fans and friends were invited. The album featured band member Martin Lister on lead vocals for the track, "Call Me Down". In 2011 Maja Kim joined the band on bass. The first single and album releases were available at first only in Germany and through online shops and download platforms in German-speaking countries. The first single from album was titled "I Die for You Today", available as a digital download on 8 October 2010, released in CD format on 22 October 2010. It entered the German charts at number 15 in its first week of release and stayed in the top 100 for 8 weeks. In March 2011 Alphaville toured the album across Germany and had signed a new deal with the

Universal Music Group Universal Music Group N.V. (often abbreviated as UMG and referred to as Universal Music Group or Universal Music) is a Netherlands, Dutch–United States, American multinational Music industry, music corporation under Law of the Netherlands, ...

. On 21 May 2014, Martin Lister died unexpectedly, announced by the band via their Facebook page and Yahoo mailing list, a few days later. He was replaced by Carsten Brocker. In 2016, bassist Maja Kim left to follow new challenges, with the position filled by Alexandra Merl.

''Strange Attractor'' (2017)

''Strange Attractor'' was released on 7 April 2017 after an extremely long production time, with a video for the single "Heartbreak City". In August 2017, they performed a Concert Tour in

Houston Houston ( ) is the List of cities in Texas by population, most populous city in the U.S. state of Texas and in the Southern United States. Located in Southeast Texas near Galveston Bay and the Gulf of Mexico, it is the county seat, seat of ...

, New York City, Chicago, and San Jose and

Burbank, California Burbank is a city in the southeastern end of the San Fernando Valley in Los Angeles County, California, United States. Located northwest of downtown Los Angeles, Burbank had a Census-estimated population of 102,755 as of 2023. The city was ...

2018–present: Collaboration and ''Eternally Yours''

For the 35th anniversary of the group in 2018, Alphaville held a concert on 25 and 26 May at the Whisky A Go-Go club in Los Angeles, California. In 2019, the LA Concert Group issued a limited box set recording of this show containing five CDs, two DVDs and two

Blu-ray Blu-ray (Blu-ray Disc or BD) is a digital optical disc data storage format designed to supersede the DVD format. It was invented and developed in 2005 and released worldwide on June 20, 2006, capable of storing several hours of high-defin ...

discs. In 2021, Alphaville teamed up with

Schiller Johann Christoph Friedrich von Schiller (, short: ; 10 November 17599 May 1805) was a German playwright, poet, philosopher and historian. Schiller is considered by most Germans to be Germany's most important classical playwright. He was born i ...

and released a new version of "Summer in Berlin" as Schiller x Alphaville. On 7 February 2022, Gold announced a symphonic album of Alphaville songs to be released by the end of 2022, supported by the release of three singles over the course of the year. "Big in Japan" was released on 29 April as the first song from the album. On 11 June, "Sounds Like a Melody" was released as the second song from the album, now titled '' Eternally Yours.'' "Dance With Me" was revealed to be the third song on 27 July, as part of a

podcast A podcast is a Radio program, program made available in digital format for download over the Internet. Typically, a podcast is an Episode, episodic series of digital audio Computer file, files that users can download to a personal device or str ...

presented by Gold and his daughter Lily Becker. ''Eternally Yours'' released on 23 September 2022, containing new symphonic versions of sixteen Alphaville songs, plus a new song also titled "Eternally Yours".

Projects

Gold has released two solo albums ('' So Long Celeste'', 1992, and ''

United United may refer to: Places * United, Pennsylvania, an unincorporated community * United, West Virginia, an unincorporated community Arts and entertainment Films * ''United'' (2003 film), a Norwegian film * ''United'' (2011 film), a BBC Two f ...

'', 1996, both mixing personal creations and covers), alongside his work in the band. Lloyd also worked on a project named ''

Atlantic Popes Atlantic Popes are a virtual music project by Bernhard Lloyd, co-founder and long-time member of the German synth-pop band Alphaville, and singer Max Holler. The duo produces electropop with a big variety of styles and soundscapes. In relatio ...

'' with singer Max Holler, releasing a 13-track CD. Alphaville participated in

Night of the Proms Night of the Proms is a series of concerts held annually in Belgium (since 1985), the Netherlands, Germany and Luxembourg. Regularly there are also shows in France, Spain, Austria, Switzerland, Poland, Denmark, the United States and Sweden. The c ...

in 2002, performing "Big in Japan" and "Forever Young". Gold also contributed to a group performance of "

Let It Be Let It Be most commonly refers to: * ''Let It Be'' (album), the Beatles' final studio album, released in 1970 * "Let It Be" (song), the title song from the album Let It Be may also refer to: Film and television * ''Let It Be'' (1970 film), ...

" with other performers at the event. On 25–26 May 2018, Alphaville and Marian Gold played two nights at the

Whisky a Go Go The Whisky a Go Go (informally nicknamed The Whisky) is a historic nightclub in West Hollywood, California, United States. It is located at 8901 Sunset Boulevard on the Sunset Strip, corner North Clark Street, opposite North San Vicente Boulev ...

club in

Hollywood Hollywood usually refers to: * Hollywood, Los Angeles, a neighborhood in California * Hollywood, a metonym for the cinema of the United States Hollywood may also refer to: Places United States * Hollywood District (disambiguation) * Hollywood ...

. The two concerts were also

live streamed Livestreaming, live-streaming, or live streaming is the streaming of video or audio in real time or near real time. While often referred to simply as ''streaming'', the real-time nature of livestreaming differentiates it from other non-live ...

. On 15 March 2019, the album " Forever Young" was remastered for the 35th anniversary. On 7 May 2021, the albums "

" and "

The Breathtaking Blue ''The Breathtaking Blue'' is the third album by German synth-pop band Alphaville, released in April 1989. A companion video, ''Songlines'', was released in September 1989. The CD release of this album was one of the first commercial CD+G format ...

" was remastered after the successful reissue of the album ''Forever Young''. To support the upcoming release of the symphonic album ''Eternally Yours'' in 2022, Gold and his daughter Lily Becker began a podcast discussing Alphaville songs and the album.

Legacy

Alphaville's song " Forever Young" was featured in the movie '' Listen to Me'' (1989) featuring

Kirk Cameron Kirk Thomas Cameron (born October 12, 1970) is an American actor, author, Evangelism, evangelist, television host, documentarian and producer. He first gained fame as a teen actor playing Mike Seaver on the American Broadcasting Company, ABC si ...

in one of his first film roles. "Forever Young" was played in a high school prom-related scene in the 2004 film ''

Napoleon Dynamite ''Napoleon Dynamite'' is a 2004 American Independent film, independent Coming-of-age story, coming-of-age comedy film produced by Jeremy Coon, Chris Wyatt (producer), Chris Wyatt and Sean C. Covel (producer), Sean Covel, written by Jared and J ...

''. "Forever Young" was also featured in the Canadian movie ''

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'' (2014), as well as a 2014 episode of ''

Regular Show ''Regular Show'' (known as ''Regular Show in Space'' during its Regular Show season 8, eighth season) is an American animated sitcom created by J. G. Quintel for Cartoon Network. It ran from September 6, 2010, to January 16, 2017, over the cours ...

'', Skip's Story. In 2006, Australian guitar band

Youth Group Youth Group is an Australian rock band based in Newtown, New South Wales. Built around the vocals of singer Toby Martin and production of Wayne Connolly, the sound of Youth Group is reminiscent of indie rock artists such as Teenage Fanclub, ...

took their remake of "Forever Young" to No. 1 in the Official Australian Charts. "

Young Forever "Young Forever" is a song by American rapper Jay-Z, released in early 2010 as the fifth single from his 2009 album '' The Blueprint 3'' on the Roc Nation label. The song was produced by Kanye West. It is a rework of Alphaville's 1984 song " Fo ...

" is the fourth single by American hip hop rapper

Jay-Z Shawn Corey Carter (born December 4, 1969), known professionally as Jay-Z, is an American Rapping, rapper, businessman, and record executive. Rooted in East Coast hip-hop, he was named Billboard and Vibe's 50 Greatest Rappers of All Time, the ...

from his album ''

The Blueprint 3 ''The Blueprint 3'' is the eleventh studio album by American rapper Jay-Z, released September 8, 2009, on Roc Nation and Roc-A-Fella, through distribution from Asylum Records and Atlantic Records. It is the third album in the ''Blueprint'' series ...

'' on the

Roc Nation Roc Nation is an American entertainment company founded by Jay-Z in 2008. Headquartered in New York City, the company is a successor to his previous Roc-A-Fella Records label, with additional offices in Los Angeles and London. It serves as a re ...

label. It is a mild rework of Alphaville's 1984 song "Forever Young": the original melody is retained,

Mr Hudson Benjamin Hudson McIldowie (born 26 June 1979), better known by his stage name Mr Hudson, is an English singer, songwriter, and record producer from Birmingham, England. He formed the band Mr Hudson and the Library in 2006, for which he served ...

sings the original lyrics (primarily during the chorus), and Jay-Z raps in place of the verses. In 2024, Alphaville's single " Forever Young" gained wide popularity on the social media app TikTok, 40 years after the song's release. " Forever Young" gained so much popularity via the app, that the song reached No.1 on the Billboard charts in the United States of America and stayed there for 10 weeks. TikTok was widely credited for the gain in popularity of the song " Forever Young" in 2024.

Band members

Current members

– lead vocals (1982–present) *David Goodes – guitars (2009–present; touring 1995–1998; 2003–2009) *Jakob Kiersch – drums (2009–present) *Carsten Brocker – keyboards, drum programming (2014–present) *Alexandra Merl – bass guitar (2016–present)

Former members

– keyboards, guitars (1982–2003; not touring 1996–1999, 2000–2003) *

– keyboards (1982–1984) * Ricky Echolette – keyboards, guitars (1985–1997; not touring 1995–1997) *Martin Lister – keyboards, backing vocals (2009–2014; touring 1995–2009; died 2014) *Maja Kim – bass guitar (2011–2016)

Former touring musicians

*Rudy Nielson – guitars (1993–1995) *Hans-Joachim Behrendt – drums (1993–1995; died 2023) *Alex Slavik – bass guitar (1995–1997) *

– drums (1995–1997; died 2012) *James Mack – drums (1997) *Rob Harris – guitars, backing vocals (1998–2000) *Pierson Grange – drums (1998–1999, 2002–2009) *Shane Meehan – drums, percussion (1999–2001) *Christian Marsac – guitars (2000–2003)

Timeline

Awards and nominations

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, rowspan=2, Themselves , Best Group , , - , rowspan=2,

Rockbjörnen Rockbjörnen (Swedish: ''the Rock Bear'') is a music prize in Sweden, divided into several categories, which is awarded annually by the newspaper ''Aftonbladet''. The prize was first awarded in 1979, and is mostly centered on pop and rock. In ...

, Best Foreign Group , , - , '' Forever Young'' , Best Foreign Album ,

Discography

Studio albums

* '' Forever Young'' (1984) * ''

'' (1986) * ''

'' (1989) * ''

Prostitute Prostitution is a type of sex work that involves engaging in sexual activity in exchange for payment. The definition of "sexual activity" varies, and is often defined as an activity requiring physical contact (e.g., sexual intercourse, non-pe ...

'' (1994) * ''

Salvation Salvation (from Latin: ''salvatio'', from ''salva'', 'safe, saved') is the state of being saved or protected from harm or a dire situation. In religion and theology, ''salvation'' generally refers to the deliverance of the soul from sin and its c ...

'' (1997) * ''

Catching Rays on Giant ''Catching Rays on Giant'' is the sixth studio album by German synth-pop Synth-pop (short for synthesizer pop; also called techno-pop; ) is a music genre that first became prominent in the late 1970s and features the synthesizer as the d ...

'' (2010) * ''

Strange Attractor In the mathematics, mathematical field of dynamical systems, an attractor is a set of states toward which a system tends to evolve, for a wide variety of starting conditions of the system. System values that get close enough to the attractor va ...

'' (2017) * ''Eternally Yours'' (2022)

References

External links

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Alphaville (Band) Musical groups established in 1982 English-language musical groups from Germany German synth-pop groups 1982 establishments in West Germany Culture in Münster Musical groups from North Rhine-Westphalia Metropolis Records artists Hansa Records artists Polydor Records artists Atlantic Records artists Warner Music Group artists