Klaus Voormann

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Klaus Voormann (2018)
Klaus Voormann (1967)
LnR: Tom McGuinness , Dave Berry , Klaus Voormann, Mike Hugg, Manfred Mann , Mike d'Abo ( Schiphol , 1967)
Chart positions
Explanation of the data
Albums
A sideman's journey
  DE 26th 08/03/2009 (6 weeks)

Klaus Voormann (born April 29, 1938 in Berlin ) is a German musician and graphic artist .

Life

Voormann studied in Hamburg at the master school for design and worked as a graphic designer and illustrator when he met the Beatles in 1960 in Hamburg's Kaiserkeller and became one of their best friends with Astrid Kirchherr . Because of his close collaboration with the group, he is sometimes referred to as the “ fifth Beatle ”. At the end of 1961 he bought the bass from Beatles bassist Stuart Sutcliffe , when the latter withdrew from music and stayed in Hamburg. When the Beatles became world famous, he remained connected with them, especially since he also moved to London in 1964 . Here he founded his own beat band The Eyes , which later became Paddy, Klaus and Gibson . During this time he played in various clubs in the Star Club chain, including a. in Hamburg and Bielefeld . From 1966 he played the bass guitar with Manfred Mann and began a career as a musician in addition to his graphic design.

In 1966 Voormann designed the cover for the Beatles album Revolver during his time in London , on which he can also be seen on the right edge of the title collage and for which he received a Grammy in 1967 for the best record cover . The magazine Hörzu expelled the plate initially in Germany and placed its logo in the center of the cover. But Voormann was never a layouter for Hörzu , as is often wrongly assumed. In 2011, Rolling Stone readers voted the cover one of the ten “best of all time”.

Voormann also designed the cover for the Bee Gees albums Bee Gees 1st (1967) and Idea (1968). The influences on his style are manifold; Max Liebermann and expressionist painters like George Grosz play an important role .

His friendship with the Beatles meant that he played bass in numerous solo projects by John Lennon , Ringo Starr and George Harrison and became an internationally sought-after studio musician. So he was u. a. Founding member of John Lennon's Plastic Ono Band and was involved in such LPs as Imagine , Ringo or All Things Must Pass and the Concert for Bangla Desh . He also played bass on Lou Reed's album Transformer . As a studio bassist, he has also worked with Carly Simon (he wrote the bass intro to You're So Vain ), Harry Nilsson , Randy Newman and B. B. King , among others. At times he lived near Los Angeles .

In 1979 he returned to Germany and became a music producer . His first success was the then completely unknown band Trio . With her he produced one of the greatest hits on Neue Deutsche Welle : Da Da Da . He also worked with artists such as Marius Müller-Westernhagen , Nena and Heinz Rudolf Kunze .

In the mid-1990s he was responsible for the cover design of the Beatles anthology . He also remained on friendly terms with Paul McCartney after the Beatles broke up and in 1999 created some graphics for his album Run Devil Run .

On November 29, 2002, he took part in the Memorial Concert for George Harrison , which was held at the Royal Albert Hall in London. There he played bass on the songs All Things Must Pass and Wah Wah .

In 2003 he published his book Why don't you play "Imagine" on the white piano, John? . Voormann describes his time with the Beatles, but also numerous other encounters and life in the international music scene.

Klaus Voormann also created the cover for the album Scandinavian Leather by the Norwegian death punk band Turbonegro , which was released in 2003. He has now designed over 100 album covers.

For the 40th anniversary of Revolver's appearance in 2006, Voormann once again designed the cover of an official anniversary edition, which has not yet been published.

50 years after the founding of the Beatles, the news magazine Der Spiegel dedicated its cover story to the “Fab Four” on May 22, 2010. The title was designed by Klaus Voormann, stylistically based on the cover of the album Revolver .

In 2009 Voormann's first solo album A Sideman's Journey appeared , on which many of his old companions, whom he accompanied as a “sideman” on their “Journey”, participate, such as Paul McCartney, Ringo Starr or The Manfreds. The album reached number 26 in the album charts in Germany. In September 2010 he performed at Mando Diao's MTV Unplugged concert , which was released in November 2010.

In 2012 Klaus Voormann designed the artwork for the album Who is jo King? Based on the Revolver cover . the band Fools Garden . On September 22nd, 2012 he was awarded the Blues-Louis award, named after Louis Armstrong , at the 32nd Lahnstein Blues Festival .

In April 2018, Voormann was awarded the ECHO for his life's work at the Echo Awards. The laudator was Wolfgang Niedecken , with whom Voormann also recorded the song Mighty Quinn . A few days later he gave the award back to Kollegah and Farid Bang in protest against the controversial award ceremony .

On June 11, 2018, Voormann performed as a surprise guest with Ringo Starr and His All-Starr Band at a Ringo Starr concert in Hamburg's Stadtpark.

Klaus Voormann lives with his wife Christina , his son and his daughter on Lake Starnberg near Munich .

Book publications

  • With Astrid Kirchherr and Ulf Krüger : Hamburg Days. With a foreword by George Harrison. Genesis Publications, Guildford 1999, ISBN 0-904351-72-6 .
  • Why don't you play Imagine on the white piano, John? Heyne, Munich 2003, ISBN 3-453-87313-0 .
  • Four track stories. Munich 2005. (German, English)
  • Drawings & More - 1960–2010. Limited Edition Of 500, Handsigned and numbered by Klaus Voormann , Seeshaupt 2010. (German, English)

Filmography

Awards and nominations

literature

  • Thorsten Knublauch, Axel Korinth: Come on, give me your hand - The Beatles in Germany 1960–1970. Books on Demand, 2008, ISBN 978-3-8334-8530-5 .

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Chart sources: DE
  2. ↑ Readers Poll: The Best Album Covers of All Time: 7. The Beatles, 'Revolver'. RollingStone, archived from the original on June 29, 2011 ; accessed on January 12, 2018 .
  3. ↑ Record cover by Klaus Voormann . In: SWR1 (Ed.): Swr.online . ( swr.de [accessed on July 21, 2018]).
  4. ↑ Philipp Oehmke, Tobias Rapp : A decade for eternity . In: Der Spiegel . No. May 21 , 2010 ( spiegel.de [accessed July 21, 2018]).
  5. ↑ Corporate announcement: Subject: Title . In: Der Spiegel . No. May 21 , 2010 ( spiegel.de [accessed July 21, 2018]).
  6. ^ Christian Pfarr: Blues-Louis for ... Klaus Voormann. Lahnsteiner Blues Festival , archived from the original on February 11, 2013 ; accessed on January 12, 2018 .
  7. ↑ ECHO 2018: The life's work ECHO for legendary musician Klaus Voormann , accessed on April 12, 2018.
  8. ↑ Echo returns due to the award for Kollegah and Farid Bang - Next artist returns , Spiegel Online, April 16, 2018
  9. ↑ [1]
  10. ↑ Manfred Papst : The Beatles' oldest friend. In: Neue Zürcher Zeitung . October 3, 2010, accessed October 27, 2012 .
  11. ↑ All You Need Is Klaus . programm.ARD.de, October 21, 2012, accessed on January 12, 2018.
personal data
SURNAME Voormann, Klaus
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German musician and graphic artist
DATE OF BIRTH April 29, 1938
PLACE OF BIRTH Berlin