Joe Menke

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Joe Menke (born April 1, 1925 in Greven ; † February 6, 2001 ) was a German pop composer , music producer and founder of the " Tonstudios Maschen " ( Harburg district ), who is particularly known as the music producer of the German country group Truck Stop .

Career

Menke studied violin, trombone and piano at the Rheine Music School and was called up in August 1942 for the "SA-Standarte Feldherrenhalle" music parade . After the war, he founded the Geller Quintet (with Hans Blum ) in February 1948 , from which the Hansen Quartet emerged in 1951 . At the Hansen Quartet he met Nana Gualdi and stayed with the quartet until June 1953. After that, he was in the founding formation of “Die Starlets”, with which from May 1952 Nana Gualdi also sang. From 1954 Menke was married to Adriana Klein alias Nana Gualdi, son Thomas was born in the same year. However, the marriage broke up after a short time. Another wife of Joe Menke was Karin Menke, who had sung part-time with the Les Humphries Singers in the Maschen studio. Other children were Alexander and Franziska ( Miss Menke ; born November 4, 1960).

Compositions

Mona Baptiste - Stop! Stop! (Hold on to your husband)
Nana Gualdi - Oh la la the calypso is here
Leo Leandros - All girls want to kiss

Menke initially began both as a lyricist and as a composer, also under the pseudonym Joe Homsen. His recognizable first composition was Monbijou from Paris for Lys Assia (recorded on August 30, 1951), it followed for Angèle Durand I keep my fingers crossed (B-side of Wiewas denn ; May 1953). The starlets took over play me a boogie on the harmonica (1955), Mona Baptiste sang his composition Halt! Stop! (Hold on to your husband) (B-side of O Jackie-Joe ; December 1955). His ex-wife Nana Gualdi published the title The Men with Gray Temples (1956) as the B-side of I don't want to be an angel at all . In a duet with Werner Overheidt, Nana Gualdi then sang the Menke composition Wo ist der Mann (November 1957), which was Joe Menke's first hit as a composer with a 10th place on the German charts . In 1958 Gualdi Oh La La took over , the Calypso is here .

For Leo Leandros , Menke wrote the title All Girls Want to Kiss , which was selected as B-side by Carmen Ramona in March 1959 . But it should be the B-side that later achieved successes. Because Lance Fortune brought out an English version under the title Be Mine in January 1960 (Great Britain rank 4), before Peter Kraus took up the German title and launched it on March 1, 1960 (German charts rank 15). Die Toten Hosen released the single All girls want to kiss from their LP Rote Rosen in 1987 .

Siw Malmkvist chose Menke's composition Der Vogel Baion as B-side by Augustin , presented at the Swedish "Melodifestivalen" on January 21, 1959. Dieter Thomas Heck & Eva May took over the Bummel-Fox , the GDR duo Aurora Lacasa & Thomas Lueck brought this can only love out (September 1969). Bärbel Wachholz , who also sang in the GDR , picked up and then took my hand back (July 1960). Liselotte Malkowsky took over A Sailor Doesn't Stay Home (recorded September 1, 1959) and Beautiful Island of Hawaii (September 4, 1959). For Caterina Valente he wrote Rosalie does not have to cry (October 1960, rank 7), Maria & Franco Duval took over your love as a gift for me (B-side of Das Lied vom Glück , October 1960). The initially highest-ranking Menke composition was created for Die Tramps under the title Am Missouri (October 1961, 4th place).

Menke's creation Sing Little Bird for Ann-Louise Hanson came last at the German Schlager Festival on February 17, 1962 (hit parade 48th). Under the pseudonym Joe Homsen the music was written for you're nobody if nobody love you have for Ivo Robic and show you not for an EP by him (1962). He provided Ted Herold & Lill Babs with We young people and Tschau Tschau goodbye for a KaDeWe Flexi commercial single (1962). Menke wrote a variety of hits for René Kollo , including All Young People Dream about in a duet with Monika Grimm was a promotional flexie single for Hertie (Alsterhaus; 1962), Schöne Rose vom Rio Grande (September 1963), Alles Glück auf hier Welt (music and text) was one of the 6 selected titles for the program A Song for Naples or Red Was Her Mouth (June 1965) broadcast on February 27, 1965 .

In the meantime Menke wrote the Schotten-Twist for Alice and Ellen Kessler (October 1963), Sweet Fräulein for Hans Messner (October 1963) or The Boy of My Dreams for Sonnie (October 1964). Marion Litterscheid , with love at first sight / Mister Boyfriend, became the winner of the Pepsi-Cola talent competition in Hanover in 1964 and did not take on promise too much (B-side of Terry ; 1965) before she could celebrate her great successes. For the tramps, Menke wrote the title White Dove from Red River Valley (1964), an early forerunner of German-language country music by Truck Stop. Ivo Robic took over in 1964 Don't look around , later who's as young as you (B-side of red is wine ; 1966). The Pied Piper received the German version Hart wie ein Stein (1966), Tony Sheridan brought everything out of love for you (B-side of Wolga-Lied ; 1966), Wencke Myhre took over when the little word If not (B from Flower- Power Dress ) (1968), for Michael Reinecke he wrote Faith in it (1969). Daliah Lavi took over Sing me the song of love (1976). His greatest success as a composer was one of his last works, namely for Boney M. the title Belfast (published September 19, 1977, rank 1), the Menke together with James Robert "Jimmy" Bilsbury (co-founder of the Les Humphries Singers) and Drafi German wrote.

Recording studio

In 1964 Joe Menke started to set up his own recording studio in the basement of his house in Maschen. The discography of early studio recordings is patchy. Reinhard Mey was one of the first in 1965 on the mesh when the provided with German words by Joe Menke Donovan -Hit Catch The Wind ( Go and catch the wind ) was recorded. It was Mey's debut single, but Menke had incorrectly noted the name as "Rainer May". The underrated Liverpool beat band The Remo Four recorded their only LP Smile in early 1967 ! at Joe Menke's. Three German beat bands also found their way to Maschen. The debut LP A Deeper Blue of petards created after June 1967 within two days in the studios of Joe Menke and sold for release on November 4, 1967 a total of 75,000 copies. The German Bonds' single Skinny Eleonore was created here in July 1968, The Rattles were on 11/12. November 1968 in the studio for the single Mr.… / … Keep Your Hands Off My Sister with an intro reminiscent of (I Can't Get No) Satisfaction .

The Les Humphries Singers -LP The New Freedom Singers (other title: Put Your Hand in The Hand ) was created in 1970 with multiple voices overdubbing in order to make the group, which still has few members, sound more voluminous. The single To My Father's House was number one hit in October 1970 for 4 weeks in the Netherlands and Belgium, the LP title Show me the way was written by Menke. The German progressive rock group Lucifer's Friend had their eponymous LP leveled in November 1970. The progressive rock band Eulenspygel recorded their LP "2" between July 19 and 21, 1971 in Maschen .

From 1972, 16-track technology was used. This already included the Brave New World LP Impressions on Reading Aldous Huxley (1st to 3rd, 7th and 14th May, 9th and 11th June, mix 11th, 24th and 26th June 1972). The Thirsty Moon debut LP You'll Never Come Back was made in July 1973, the LP All die because I like by the folk rock band Ougenweide was made in Menkes Studios in 1974. Marius Müller-Westernhagen also came here between the 9th and 30th October 1974 for his debut LP, which was released under the title The First Time . His second LP Bittersüß was made in August and December 1976. AC / DC recorded the never-released single I'm A Rebel on September 15, 1976 after a bottle of whiskey had been consumed. The LP Baccara by the Spanish female duo of the same name was partially recorded in Maschen from May 1977. It also contained the hits Yes Sir, I Can Boogie and Sorry I'm a Lady , but they were not made in stitches. Their second LP Light My Fire was almost completely recorded in Maschen in July / August 1978 (producer: Günther Zipelius). Volker Lechtenbrink's LP Who plays with me was created between December 1981 and January 1982, the LP Silverbird by the Scot Ian Cussick was immortalized in 1981/82.

Joe Menke's daughter Franziska had already observed many artists in her father's recording studios as a 2-year-old. He recorded a total of 4 tracks with her in early 1982, which were produced by Harry Gutowski and were intended for an EP. Polydor initially planned to extract the title Komm Computer as a single from the EP. Due to the regional airplay , the label decided on the single Hohe Berge / You must be my coincidence (Polydor # 2042 390), which was released in April 1982 under the artist name Frl. Menke . It was assigned to the Neue Deutsche Welle , sold around 2.5 million copies and thus became the best-selling product from the Maschen studio.

Truck stop

Truck Stop - The wild wild west

Menke first produced a demo tape with the German country band in the Maschen studio and presented it to several record companies without success. Telefunken finally offered the group a record deal in 1973. The first LPs still contained English-language titles. Menke then gave the group the idea in 1977 to present German-language country music. The result was the LP home (August 1977, published October 1977), of which 150,000 copies were sold. The first single hit from this was Die Frau mit dem Gurt (September 1977, number 27 on the German hit parade). Further LPs such as Aufachse (June – July 1978, published October 1978), Please kindly (October 1979), and Truck Stop (October 1990) followed. In the hit Der wilde wilde Westen (April 1980, rank 5) Menkes recording studio is mentioned in the chorus:

"The wild, wild west
starts right behind Hamburg.
In a studio in Maschen,
right next to the autobahn"

Joe Menke was partly responsible for the success of the band, which moved to another recording studio in May 1995 after more than 20 years. His withdrawal was due to his age, as he had already reached the age of 70.

Withdrawal and death

Joe Menke, now 70 years old, announced in 1995 that he would retire from the music business. His long-time sound engineer Volker Heintzen took over the producer role at Truck Stop. Son Alexander Menke (* 1967) continues the Maschen studio. Joe Menke died of a stroke on February 6, 2001.

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Sikorski Music Publishers
  2. ^ Matthias Bardong / Hermann Demmler / Christian Pfarr, Lexikon des Deutschen Schlers , 1992, p. 249
  3. ↑ Photos of the Passed: Picture of the SA Standarte Feldherrnhalle Musikzug 1942  ( page no longer available , search in web archives )  Info: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.@1@ 2Template: Toter Link / photos-of-the-past.de  
  4. ↑ Original: I Am A Rock by Simon & Garfunkel
  5. ↑ Florian Tennstedt, Rock Music and Group Processes: Rise and Descent of the Petards , 1979, p. 25 (PDF; 9.9 MB)
  6. ↑ Dutch Charts entry
  7. ↑ Murray Engleheart / Arnaud Durieux, AC / DC: Maximum Rock and Roll , 2009
  8. ↑ Hamburger Abendblatt from June 22, 2012, Do you know Miss Menke from Maschen?
  9. ^ Christian Graf, Das NDW-Lexikon , 2003, p. 104
  10. ^ The German version of the Del Reeves hit Girl on the Billboard
  11. ↑ recorded in Studio Maschen II, called "Mashville"
  12. ↑ Hamburger Morgenpost of February 12, 2001, A world between Truck Stop and AC / DC
personal data
SURNAME Menke, Joe
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German music producer
DATE OF BIRTH April 1, 1925
PLACE OF BIRTH Greven
DATE OF DEATH February 6, 2001