Frank Becking

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Frank Becking (born August 17, 1955 in Hagen , North Rhine-Westphalia ) is a German rock musician who, as a guitarist and producer, had a decisive influence on the Hagen music scene. Frank Becking is a trained banker and has been a professional musician since the mid-1970s.

Becking started his musical career with the largely unknown formation Mandrake . The cast also included Ulrich Böhme (drums), FW Müller (keyboard), Steve Jehring (bass) and singer Reinhard Koch.

Frank Becking now lives in Berlin .

Life

The Ramblers

He first appeared in 1978 as the guitarist of the Hagen rock formation The Ramblers , consisting of: Hartwig Masuch aka Christian Schneider (singer), Carlo Karges (guitarist), Klemens Domning (bass) and Joe Hilscher (drums). The Ramblers got off to a good start: After appearing in Düsseldorf in November 1977 at a disco event organized by Bravo magazine , all teen magazines as well as Musikexpress and Sounds reported regularly about the newcomer band from Hagen. We want the world was the name of the first single and the accompanying debut album Kids are back to Rock n Roll (Hot Stuff / Interhandel Records).

In the 1978 Musikexpress rock election, the Ramblers achieved 9th place in the German bands category . First place went to the rough cut, also from Hagen .

The second Ramblers album Streetheat (Antagon Musikgesellschaft) was released in 1979 and was recorded in the same line-up as the first album. With the Australian musician Trevor Spencer , who was a much booked studio musician in the 1970s and worked for many international acts such as Olivia Newton-John and Cliff Richard , the Ramblers were able to win a real professional as a producer. In addition to countless concert appearances of their own, the Ramblers also made it into the opening act of international superstars such as Robert Palmer , Dr. Feelgood and the Runaways (a girls rock band with Joan Jett and Lita Ford ).

Some music magazines reported in 1979 about a success of the German Ramblers in the British singles hit parade, but these The Ramblers were a British school choir from Manchester that had landed in the UK top ten with the song The Sparrow ; However, this false report was never corrected. Apparently the name The Ramblers is not protected as there have been around a dozen bands with this name since the 1960s.

The Ramblers toured all over the country and made it into the ZDF music show Disco on June 25, 1979 with their second single, the title song of the first LP. On August 29, 1979, WDR recorded a Ramblers live show for in Cologne the highly acclaimed and successful Rockpalast concert series . The Ramblers played a total of 13 songs at this gig. Apart from Hartwig and Becking, nobody from the original line-up was there at this concert. Rüdiger Braune played the drums, Jürgen Meier played the bass, and Hermann Krull was the second guitarist. In this new line-up, the third album Strange Life was recorded, which was released in 1980 by the record company CBS. Rüdiger Elze played guitar for Carlo Karges and Hermann Krull on Strange Life .

The Stripes

During his time with the Ramblers, Frank Becking produced the first single for the new wave band The Stripes , also from Hagen , whose singer was none other than Nena .

Ecstasy is the name of the song that was released by CBS in late 1979 . On the cover you can see Rainer Kitzmann (guitar), Rolf Brendel (drums) and Nena as well as Becking, who can be described as a sporadic member of the Stripes. B. 1981 also took part when The Stripes made an appearance in the ZDF disco on February 16, 1981 with their third single Tell me your name .

The Ramblers released two more singles in 1980, namely the Rolling Stones cover Out of Time and Keep on Laughing . Frank Becking got out in 1980 and heralded the end of the Ramblers.

Caprifischer / Ina Deter Band / Extrabreit / Stefan Kleinkrieg / Samain / Tirami Su

In 1982 the band Caprifischer was founded, consisting of befriended musicians from Hagen. In addition to Becking, the cast included Rainer Kitzmann (guitar), Uwe Himmelrath (bass), Helmut Voigt (drums) and the singer Heike Grumpe. Despite the NDW boom, the album was not a success, and there was only one LP with the same name as the band.

In 1983 Becking belonged to the Ina Deter Band for a short time alongside George Kochbeck (keyboard), Helmut Voigt (drums) and Bernward Venth (bass).

In 1984 Becking was on board the first solo project by the extra- wide guitarist Stefan Kleinkrieg . Only for boys was the name of the LP, which was released in late summer 1984. It was noticeable that Becking is shown on the cover photos, but is not listed in the credits. The only guitarist listed is Extrabreit-Guitarist Public (Ulrich Ruhwedel). Also in 1984 Becking was a guest musician with the Hagen rock band Samain . The Samain album that Becking played on is called Vibrations of Doom . Becking also worked on Extrabreit's 84 LP of the week ( Metronome ). He composed the song Palermo (Voici Les Temps Des Assassines D'amour) , the lyrics are by singer Kai Havaii .

Nena was the German superstar in 1984, and a new band called Tirami Su was formed in Hagen , consisting of former members of the band The Stripes .

The singer of the band was Katja Rischenau, who once played with Phillip Boa (Ulli Figgen) in the band Lolitas . The press quickly tried to sell Katja as the new Nena, but it failed. A total of two singles by Tirami Su were released, both of which flopped. Apparently these songs were unreleased tracks by the Stripes, which were then rewritten in German. The B-side of the single Two Steps (Mercury) is called Today 'Nobody stops us and identifies Frank Becking and Rainer Kitzmann as composers.

The Riffs / Riff / Crash N 'Burn

The band Riff 1990. From left to right: Burkhard Westerhoff, William Lennox, Volker Britz, Frank Becking

In 1985 Becking founded together with Volker Britz (drums) and Burkhard Westerhoff (bass) the combo The Riffs, which initially functioned as a trio, in which Becking was also the singer for the first time, but was replaced at the microphone in 1986 by William Lennox from Newcastle. At this point the band name was shortened to "Riff". With the single Fortune Teller , the band also had TV appearances. B. on the first German music channel Musicbox and also on Swiss television, where Becking and Lennox could be seen as singers, mind you, to the same playback. Later, Peter Szimannek also joined as a guitarist and singer. The band lasted for 6 years, and the last album Fever (BMG) was released in 1991 under the new band name Crash N 'Burn with ex-Nena drummer Rolf Brendel on drums and Thomas Gareth on bass. For Single Hot like Fire one was clip with live atmosphere rotated and MTV Europe in London took this title in his Playlist with on. An honor that was only given to a few German bands at the time.

The album was produced by Grammy winner John Hampton, who passed away in 2014.

Nena

Through the collaboration with Rolf Brendel on Crash N 'Burn , Frank Becking became a permanent member of Nena, who is now a solo artist, for almost exactly two years from 1992 . In addition to Brendel and Becking, Jürgen Dehmel (bass), Karo Straub (keyboard) (Ex- Morgenrot ), Gustl Lütjens (guitar) and initially Heiko Schramm (guitar) also belonged to the Nena band line-up . Bongo Girl is the name of Nena's album, released in October 1992, on which Frank Becking was able to shine as a guitarist. The album was mixed in Barbados in the Blue Wave Studios, which is owned by reggae star Eddy Grant . The whole band spent a work holiday in Barbados for the album Bongo Girl , which is also where the video for the second single Conversation was made . The pre-decoupled single Sometimes a day is a whole life ends with a furious guitar solo by Becking, which only really comes into its own on the extend version, as the single and album versions are faded out earlier.

In March 1993 Nena, Becking & Co. went on a Bongo Girl tour. In this series of concerts it was Becking in particular who was given some solos. How does he play in the Nena classic ? (Question mark) instead of the saxophone part a successful guitar solo, just as much as the heavy rock part in Sometimes a day is a whole life . Towards the end of every Bongo Girl show, Becking was suddenly the center of attention and played a grandiose intro to the song Ich kann nich nich more , which is very reminiscent of the title Eruption by Van Halen ( Eddie van Halen ) and was probably originally designed as a finger exercise.

Together with Nena, Becking and the rest of the band did over 30 TV appearances in Germany between 1992 and 1994, including: Gottschalk's Late Night, B. meets, Hollymünd, ARD request concert, Do you understand fun ?, Disney Club, Elf 99, ARD -Sportgala, RSH-Gold, Die Goldene Stimmgabel and others. In 1993 the Deutsche Welle recorded the Bongo Girl concert in Neu-Isenburg and a little later broadcast a cut that was reduced to 90 minutes. The NDR also presented a live concert with Nena in 1993, recorded during the Kiel Week .

Becking contributed perhaps his most beautiful composition to the 1994 Nena album And everything rotates (RMG). The song is called Homesick for Yesterday and sounds a little beatlesque . His Ramblers colleague Carlo Karges wrote the text together with Nena.

At the end of 1994 Becking and Nena parted ways. The last live gig with Becking took place on September 18, 1994 in front of the Berlin Reichstag . At the end of the show, to the surprise of the fans, Nena's old bandmates came on stage. Nena planned a comeback of her original Nena band in 1995 and 1996, but this did not happen because Nena was not satisfied with the performance of her ex-band members.

In 1997 Nena released the album Jamma nich , on which various studio musicians can be heard. The guitarist on the album is Peter Weihe , who could already be heard on Wunder gescheh'n . Since the fall of 1997, Nena had mostly American guitarists in her band (Tony Bruno, Richard Fortus from Guns N 'Roses , Mike Taite, Marc Bosch and, for the past 10 years, John Andrews). But a young guitarist from Becking's and Nena's hometown of Hagen also played for Nena between 2007 and 2010. His name: Arne Brinkmann from the Hagen punk rock band Backyard 20 . However, Brinkmann only played the guitar in TV appearances or in the video for You are so good for me (2009).

Dan / Hands Off Dan

Becking founded the project Dan in 1995 together with the singer and saxophonist Dan , the group is now called Hands off Dan and last toured Germany in 2014. In addition to Becking and Dan, the current line-up also includes bassist Francesco Pocai and drummer Phillip Zwirchmayr.

Discography

  • 1978: We Want the World (Single) - The Ramblers (Guitar, Composition)
  • 1978: The Kids Are Back to Rock 'n' Roll (single + LP) - The Ramblers (guitar, composition)
  • 1979: Streetheat (LP) - The Ramblers (guitar, composition)
  • 1979: Ecstasy (single) - The Stripes (production)
  • 1980: Keep on Laughing (Single) - The Ramblers (Guitar, Composition)
  • 1980: Out of Time (single) - The Ramblers (guitar)
  • 1980: Strange Life (LP) - The Ramblers (guitar, composition)
  • 1980: Your greatest successes (LP) - Extrabreit (guitar - which piece is not recorded)
  • 1982: Caprifischer (LP) - Caprifischer (guitar, mix)
  • 1983: Europa (LP) - Extrabreit (co-producer)
  • 1984: Remembering the Days (EP) - Days of Sorrow (Production)
  • 1984: Today nobody stops us (single B-side of Zwei Steps) - Tirami Su (composition)
  • 1984: Palermo (title of the LP of the week ) - Extrabreit (composition)
  • 1985: It's just all to dance to (LP) - Modern Dance (co-producer)
  • 1985: Walking on a Wire (single) - The Riffs (guitar, vocals, composition)
  • 1985: Dancing on colored Ice (single / EP) - The Riffs (guitar, vocals, composition)
  • 1986: A thousand Faces (Single) - Days of Sorrow (Production)
  • 1986: Always there (LP) - The Fact (Production)
  • 1986: Fortune Teller (single) - The Riffs (guitar, composition)
  • 1989: All or nothing (single) - Riff (guitar, co-production)
  • 1989: No Mercy (single) - Riff (guitar, co-production)
  • 1989: Mission of Love (LP) - Riff (guitar, co-production)
  • 1991: Fever (LP) - Crash N 'Burn (guitar, composition)
  • 1991: Hot like Fire (single) - Crash N 'Burn (guitar, composition)
  • 1992: Sometimes a day is a whole life (single) - Nena (guitar)
  • 1992: Bongo Girl (LP) - Nena (guitar, composition)
  • 1992: Conversation (single) - Nena (guitar)
  • 1993: Without End (single) - Nena (guitar)
  • 1993: Far too much luck (single) - Nena (guitar)
  • 1994: Get Me Back (single) - Nena (guitar)
  • 1994: And everything turns (LP) - Nena (guitar, composition)
  • 1994: I hold you tight (single) - Nena (guitar)
  • 1995: Weisses Schiff live (single) - Nena (guitar)
  • 1995: Nena live (LP Bongo Girl Tour 1993) - Nena (guitar)
  • 1995: Ship of Dreams (single) - DAN (guitar, composition, production)
  • 1995: My Love has turned to Hate (single) - DAN (guitar, production)
  • 1995: Next Week (LP) - Paradocs (producer, mixer)
  • 1995: You've gotta choose (Single) - Paradocs (Producer)
  • 1996: Come when you wanna (LP) - DAN (guitar, composition)
  • 1996: Much Too Blond (LP) (Title from the album Every Day - Every Night) - Extrabreit (composition)
  • 1996: Demo (EP) - Die Ex-Perten (producer)
  • 1997: Everyone's a Winner (single) - Peal (producer, mixer)
  • 1999: Do-O-Shite (single) - Jasmin Tabatabai (producer)
  • 2002: Come with me (LP) - Hannes Orange (producer)
  • 2008: Better than Wisdom (LP) - Super Lieutenant (Producer)
  • 2008: Blue (LP) - Hands off Dan (guitarist)

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ THE RAMBLERS - WDR Studio-L Cologne August 29, 1979 Rockpalast Archive, accessed January 28, 2016
  2. ↑ See en: The Stripes
  3. ↑ Disco - Hits and Gags with Ilja Richter in ZDF Kultur Archiv, accessed on January 28, 2016
  4. ↑ a b Riff: Rock is Unlimited November 16, 1989 in Metal Hammer , accessed on January 27, 2016
  5. ↑ Restart of RIFF with old friends from Dortmund and Hagen in lokalkompass.de, accessed on January 22, 2016
  6. ↑ Information about the album Bongo-Girl on Nena's official website, accessed on January 22, 2016
personal data
SURNAME Becking, Frank
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German rock musician
DATE OF BIRTH 17th August 1955
PLACE OF BIRTH Hagen , North Rhine-Westphalia