Gerhard Laartz

Gerhard "Hugo" Laartz (born July 29, 1940 in Berlin ) is a German rock and fusion musician ( keyboards ). He directed the bands Music-Stromers and Modern Soul Band, popular in the GDR .

Life

Laartz, who did an apprenticeship as a telecommunications mechanic from 1957 after attending high school, founded the skiffle band Music-Stromers in the late 1950s , initially as a trio with Peter Schadetzky and Gunter Stein. The band, initially an amateur group, appeared from 1960 as a quintet and at times also as a sextet. In early 1964 the style of the band changed and they played beat music and also covered numerous English hits. After a performance ban in 1968 and an interlude as a bass player in the Michael Fritzen Combo , Laartz founded the Modern Septet with professional musicians in the summer of the same year . This resulted in the Modern Soul Band he led in 1970 , which existed until 1990 (and after a short break (1991) is still under his direction today) and made numerous recordings for Amiga , some in combination with Klaus Lenz's big band . He also composed for the DEFA films Do you know Urban? (1971) and Grown up from today (1985). After the reunification he worked as a keyboard teacher, organizing concerts and recordings with the Modern Soul Band again since 1991 . He has lived mainly in Spain since 2001.

Filmography

1985: Grown up today

literature

HP Hofmann: Beat Lexicon. Performers, authors, technical terms . VEB Lied der Zeit Musikverlag, Berlin (GDR) 1977.
Werner Josh Sellhorn : Jazz - GDR - facts. Performers, discographies, photos, CD . Neunplus 1 Edition Kunst, Berlin 2005, ISBN 3-936033-19-6
Short biography for: Laartz, Gerhard (»Hugo«) . In: Who was who in the GDR? 5th edition. Volume 1. Ch. Links, Berlin 2010, ISBN 978-3-86153-561-4 .

Web links

Short biography
Gerhard Laartz on the homepage of the Modern Soul Band
Gerhard Laartz in the Internet Movie Database (English)

Individual evidence

↑ Laartz worked from 1960 to 1965 at the telecommunications office in Berlin I, then at Interflug . Since 1962 he was also training as a musician, so that he was then also admitted as a professional
^ Portrait ( Memento from April 28, 2012 in the Internet Archive ) on ostmusik.de
↑ Portrait on deutsche-mugge.de
^ Werner Josh Sellhorn : Jazz - GDR - facts. Performers, discographies, photos, CD . Neunplus 1 Edition Kunst, Berlin 2005, ISBN 3-936033-19-6 . In addition to the aforementioned bands, he also directed the Amiga Blues Band , which was a pure session line-up.

personal data
SURNAME	Laartz, Gerhard
ALTERNATIVE NAMES	Laartz, Hugo (nickname)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION	German rock and fusion musician (keyboards)
DATE OF BIRTH	July 29, 1940
PLACE OF BIRTH	Berlin

[1] Laartz worked from 1960 to 1965 at the telecommunications office in Berlin I, then at Interflug . Since 1962 he was also training as a musician, so that he was then also admitted as a professional

[2] Portrait ( Memento from April 28, 2012 in the Internet Archive ) on ostmusik.de

[3] Portrait on deutsche-mugge.de

[4] Werner Josh Sellhorn : Jazz - GDR - facts. Performers, discographies, photos, CD . Neunplus 1 Edition Kunst, Berlin 2005, ISBN 3-936033-19-6 . In addition to the aforementioned bands, he also directed the Amiga Blues Band , which was a pure session line-up.