Matthias Reim (born 26 November 1957) is a German

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

and Schlager singer. His 1990 single "

Verdammt, ich lieb' dich "Verdammt, ich lieb' dich" ("Damn, I love you") is a 1990 song by the German singer Matthias Reim from his first album ''Reim''. The song was Reim's first single, and remains his biggest hit, reaching the number-one spot in Germany, Switzerland ...

" ("Damn, I love you") was a hit in several European countries and spent 16 consecutive weeks at the number 1 spot in the

German charts The GfK Entertainment charts are the official music charts in Germany and are gathered and published by GfK Entertainment (formerly Media Control and Media Control GfK International), a subsidiary of GfK, on behalf of Bundesverband Musikindus ...

. He unexpectedly returned 23 years later to the top on the charts with " Unendlich" in 2013.

Early life

Reim was born on 26 November 1957 in

Korbach Korbach (pronunciation: ˈkoːɐˌbax), officially the Hanseatic City of Korbach (German: Hansestadt Korbach), is the district seat of Waldeck-Frankenberg in northern Hesse, Germany. It is over a thousand years old and is located on the German Timb ...

and grew up in Homberg. His father was the director of the gymnasium in Homberg. After receiving his ''

Abitur ''Abitur'' (), often shortened colloquially to ''Abi'', is a qualification granted at the end of secondary education in Germany. It is conferred on students who pass their final exams at the end of ISCED 3, usually after twelve or thirteen yea ...

'', he began his undergraduate studies in the German and English languages as well as Germanistic and Anglistic literatures in Göttingen. This took 18 terms – this is above average, as he spent its time predominantly in the music studio and not in the lecture-room.

Career

1980–89: Fallen Dice and Fair Fax

Reim's career began as a songwriter, writing for Bernhard Brink, Roberto Blanco and

Tina York Tina may refer to: People *Tina (given name), people and fictional characters with the given name ''Tina'' Places *Tina, Iran, a village in Khuzestan Province, Iran * Tina, Tunisia, a town in Sfax Governorate, Tunisia *Tina, Guadalcanal, Solomon ...

. He played in a rock band called Fallen Dice with Pete Goldenberg and Norbert Preis. Their debut album, ''Pasch 1'', was released in 1981. He spent a brief time as lead singer of the band Aqua before their dissolusion in 1984. In 1986, Reim formed the synthpop duo Fair Fax with Jörg Wiesner. They released one single, "Satellite Dream", through Hansa Records.

1990–99: Solo career

Reim's debut single "

" ("Damn, I love you") topped the German Singles Chart for sixteen consecutive weeks in 1990. It also reached no. 1 in Austria, Belgium, the Netherlands and Switzerland. His debut album, ''Reim'', was released through

Polydor Polydor Records Ltd. is a German-British record label that operates as part of Universal Music Group. It has a close relationship with Universal's Interscope Geffen A&M Records label, which distributes Polydor's releases in the United States. ...

on 15 June 1990. He released a further nine albums through Polydor, including 1994's ''Zauberland'' which was re-recorded in English the following year.

2000–2015: The Electrola Years

Reim began to see increased commercial success again in the 2000s after signing with

Electrola Electrola is a German record label and subsidiary of Universal Music Group. Based in Munich, its roster has included Chumbawamba, Matthias Reim, Helene Fischer, Brings, Höhner and Santiano. History On 8 May 1925 the British Gramophone Comp ...

. In September 2004, Reim released the single " Vergiß Es (Forget It)" with

Bonnie Tyler Gaynor Sullivan (née Hopkins; born 8 June 1951), known professionally as Bonnie Tyler, is a Welsh people, Welsh singer who is known for her distinctive husky voice. Tyler came to prominence with the release of her 1977 album ''The World Start ...

. It featured on Reim's compilation album, ''Déjà Vu'', and reached no. 64 on the German Singles Chart. They recorded a second duet on Reim's thirteenth album, ''Sieben Leben'' (2010). In 2011, Reim released a Christmas album titled ''Die große Weihnachtsparty'', which includes a German cover of "

Last Christmas "Last Christmas" is a song by British pop duo Wham!, originally released in December 1984 on CBS Records internationally and as a double A-side on Epic Records with "Everything She Wants" in the UK. Described as a "high watermark of mid-80s ...

" by

Wham! Wham! (briefly known in the US as Wham! U.K.) were an English pop duo formed in Bushey in 1981. The duo consisted of George Michael and Andrew Ridgeley. They became one of the most commercially successful pop acts of the 1980s, selling more ...

. In 2013, Reim topped the German Albums Chart for a second time with '' Unendlich''.

2016–present: Recent work

Reim moved to

RCA Records RCA Records is an American record label currently owned by Sony Music Entertainment, a subsidiary of Sony Corporation of America. It is one of Sony Music's four flagship labels, alongside RCA's former long-time rival Columbia Records; also ...

in 2016 for the release of his sixteenth album, ''Phoenix'', which peaked at no. 2 in Germany. His subsequent albums ''Meteor'' (2018), ''MR20'' (2019) and ''Matthias'' (2022) all peaked within the Top 3.

Discography

Albums

References

External links

* Biography of Reimon

AllMusic AllMusic (previously known as All-Music Guide and AMG) is an American online music database. It catalogs more than three million album entries and 30 million tracks, as well as information on musicians and bands. Initiated in 1991, the dat ...

Biography of Reim
on

IMDb IMDb (an abbreviation of Internet Movie Database) is an online database of information related to films, television series, home videos, video games, and streaming content online – including cast, production crew and personal biographies, p ...

{{DEFAULTSORT:Reim, Matthias 1957 births Living people People from Korbach German male singers German singer-songwriters Schlager musicians University of Göttingen alumni