Pure

This article describes the band; for other meanings see Pur (disambiguation) .

Pure
Hartmut Engler, Ingo Reidl, Rudi Buttas and Joe Crawford from Pur (2009)
General information
Genre (s)	pop
founding	Founded in 1975 as Crusade , renamed to Opus in 1980, renamed Pur in 1985
Website	pur.de
Current occupation
singing	Hartmut Engler (since 1976)
Bass , choir singing	Joe Crawford (since 1979)
guitar	Rudi Buttas (since 1980)
Keyboard	Ingo Reidl (since 1975) Matthias Ulmer (since 2018)
Guitar, keyboard, accordion	Martin Ansel (since 1993)
Drums	Frank Dapper (since 2015)
Keyboard, vocals	Cherry Gehring (since 2001)
former members
Drums , guitar, choir singing	Roland Bless (1975-2010)
Drums	Martin Stoeck (1995-2015)
Tour musician
singing	David Hanselmann (1993-2004)
Percussion	Bernd "Mini" Kleppin (until 1994)

Pur is a German pop band from Bietigheim-Bissingen in Baden-Württemberg .

Band history

1975 to 1979

Roland Bless and Ingo Reidl , two high school students from Bietigheim, founded the band Crusade with a few friends . The rehearsals took place in the cellar of the Pauluskirche in Bietigheim. The band mainly played cover versions.

Hartmut Engler took piano lessons from Reidl in 1976. Eventually he auditioned for Crusade and became the new singer.

In 1979, the band brought in Jörg Weber, known as "Jo", as the second guitarist. After the band was changed, he, who studied music like Reidl, became bassist. After his marriage, Weber took his wife's last name and has called himself Joe Crawford ever since.

1980 to 1985

In 1980, Rudi Buttas completed the line-up, which remained the same until May 2010. The guitarist had studied his trade and had already gained experience in other bands. They experimented both musically and in terms of content: German texts were tried out; Engler wrote on interpersonal and social issues. The group name was changed to Opus . As an opus, the five musicians recorded their first album with the title Opus from their savings . But there was no record company that wanted to release this first work. The band sold the album at their concerts. Today, the album, which was included in the repertoire of Intercord 1990 subsequently carries the title Opus I . Opus's second album, also financed out of pocket, was entitled Caution fragile in 1985 . This work did not find a record company either and until 1990 was only sold through self-distribution and at concerts. In 1985 the Austrian band of the same name released the single Live Is Life , which also became the best-selling single of the year in Germany, whereupon the German band changed its name to Pur . The LP Caution Zerbrechlich was re-released with a different cover.

1986 to 1989

1986 national rock winners. 3000 artists and bands submitted recordings for this competition. At first Pur advanced to become regional winners, then they were also awarded the prize for the most promising band in the entire Federal Republic (in the GDR , the Puhdys also won this competition in 1986 ). Due to the politically tense situation and the critical texts by Pur, there was no German-German elimination, as initially planned. A live recording of the song Dragons should fly appeared on the documentary LP Deutscher Rockpreis 1986 . The song Got me drunk again on you led to a record deal with Intercord in 1987. With the self-produced album Pur , an album under the new band name was released for the first time. Pur won the Golden Europe award for young talent in 1988 . In addition to numerous appearances in the provinces, Pur also recorded their next album. For Wie im Film , Intercord engaged the producer F. Ferdinand Förster, who shortly before had the hit Überdose Glück with the band Fux . He gave Pur a sound dominated by keyboards and e-drums, which is viewed negatively by the band today, as it is very much influenced by the style of Munich Freedom . The album contains the original version by Kowalski , with whom the Engler / Reidl team of authors created a fictional character who satirized the "typical German" and who appeared repeatedly on various Pur albums over the years. With sparkling pearl eyes , they also achieved their first radio hit far beyond the Baden-Württemberg broadcasting area. The German Record Critics' Prize was awarded to Pur in 1989.

1990 to 1999

The album Infinitely More from 1990 was not only the first pure CD that they produced with Dieter Falk , but also the first to appear in the German album charts. It became a commercial success. Before the album was released, the band played alongside Tina Turner and Simple Minds in front of over 100,000 spectators as part of an open air festival . The singles Friends and Brothers fueled album sales.

For the first time Pur landed a song in the singles charts in 1991: Lena. At the end of the year, the album Nothing Without Reason followed , which was created with international guest musicians partly in Bietigheim and partly in Los Angeles. It contains, among other things, the song for the forgotten, which Engler dedicates on behalf of all parents, as well as my friend Rüdi. Engler was awarded the Fred Jay Prize . Pur were on tour almost the whole year in 1991 and at the end decided to document this with a live album. At the end of their first tour, the band mixed the planned live album in 1992. The album Seiltänzertraum was released in 1993. It was a commercial success. The bestseller was listed in the German album charts for more than two years and found more than 1.5 million buyers. On the tour of the same name, well over half a million people saw Pur live. The band was awarded the Golden Tuning Fork for the first time (and also in the following years).

Pure went on a tour of Germany in 1993. After the second concert, Engler broke his upper arm and continued the tour in plaster and on crutches anyway. RTL awarded the band the Golden Lion . Pur were awarded the Echo at the beginning of 1995 and advanced to become the most commercially successful German pop band with their next album. The album Abenteuerland , recorded in Nashville and mixed by John Kelly in London, was released in August and immediately hit number one in the German charts. On some days the album reached a market share of up to 53%. More than a million fans saw the album tour. In 1996 Pur were again honored with an echo. A tightrope walker's dream in adventure land was the name of the ZDF broadcast that sought to get to the bottom of the pure phenomenon. This was followed by a number of invitations to all major television shows including Wetten, dass ...? . A major open-air tour that followed the indoor tour culminated in a concert broadcast live by Premiere in the sold-out Rheinstadion in Düsseldorf . A new live album, Live - the second, as well as a two-part band chronicle on video found huge sales. The adventure land album passed the two million sales mark. Pure received the golden tuning fork in platinum, the golden camera and a Bambi.

1997 Pur worked on the album Mächtig a lot of theater and Ulrich Roth became the group's new manager. The first pre-release single Wenn du da ist achieved a gold record, making it the most successful pure single to date. Pur received 4-fold platinum for Adventure Land, 3-fold platinum for Tight Dancer Dream, double platinum for Live - The Second and Gold for the video of the same name. In January 1998 the double platinum album Mächtig viel Theater was released in the same year - and immediately reached number one in the German charts. The song I want to get out of here, created in collaboration with the autistic author Birger Sellin , attracted a lot of attention , while Children are taboo vehemently took a stand against any form of sexual abuse of children . In 1999, the pur musicians mainly dedicated themselves to their families, but made guest appearances at several open-air festivals. Nevertheless, Pur dared a little musical excursion: On a party hit mix they presented a medley of their hits friends, 'I love you, listen carefully, when you're there, Lena, I got drunk on you again and Sparkling pearl eyes .

2000 to 2005

Pur started the decade with a new single, Adler shall fly , the musical accompaniment to RTL's ski jumping broadcasts, made it straight to ninth place in the German charts - making it the highest direct entry that Pur had ever had with a single. In the first months of the year, the Belgian Galaxy Studio recorded the album Mittendrin , which the band produced themselves and which was released on September 11, 2000. Previously released as another single Herzbeben . At the end of October 2000 the Mittendrin - Pur Tour 2000 started , for which Pur mingled with the fans on a centrally located round stage. The tour, which comprised 40 dates, was sold out before the start of the tour, just like the previous year. Right at the beginning of 2001, Pur received an echo as the best national pop band. The DVD Right in the middle and a lot around it received the DVD Champion Award .

After the indoor tour for the double platinum album Mittendrin , the band, which has now played together for 20 years, went on an open-air tour on the occasion of their anniversary. The concerts were mainly held in small towns and communities between Passau and Wilhelmshaven, which Engler also understood as a thank you to the fans. The musical program differed significantly from the last tour. The anniversary tour was a foray into the history of Pur, whereby the fans could express their wishes beforehand on the band's website and thus help to shape the course of the concerts. The two concerts in Gelsenkirchen's new AufSchalke football arena (today Veltins-Arena), which Pur inaugurated in front of more than 100,000 fans, rounded off the event. For these concerts, the middle stage of the Mittendrin tour was set up for the last time. Pur & Friends On Schalke there was film documentation and a DVD plus was released in December (DVD with CD layer on the back).

Immediately after the tour, the album Hits Pur - 20 Years of a Band was released, which contains not only current hits but also newly edited classics. In the first week after its release, the album entered the German album charts and stayed at the top for five weeks. The illustrated book Pur - Our Story , which Ralph Larmann created in close collaboration with the band, undertook another journey through the history of the band. It is the first biography authorized by Pur.

The band took a break in 2002 and retired to the studio. Rudi Völler asked the band to play at the final party of the national soccer team in Japan. This performance was organized within a few days.

In the summer of 2003, I think of you, the harbinger of the new studio album What happened? which was released in September. The creation was overshadowed by Engler's separation from his second wife and the death of his father, so that a very personal and emotional work was created. A major tour of Germany was scheduled for autumn.

Ten years after winning their first Echos , Pur were awarded the music prize for the fourth time in early March 2004. As in 1995, 1996 and 2001, the most successful German-speaking pop band emerged as the winner in the National Pop / Rock category. In summer Pur played at various festivals. The band had rearranged many of their best songs classically especially for the occasion and presented these versions, supported by the 41-piece German Pops Orchestra, at the two concerts in front of almost 150,000 spectators. The new studio single Halt dich fest , recorded as a classically orchestrated ballad, was released a few days before the concerts. Pur Klassisch was documented in the best possible way for posterity: The CD Pur Klassisch - Live on Schalke 2004 was released in early October. The DVD of the same name followed in November.

While Pur took a break in 2005, the singer Engler released his first solo album . With Just a Singer , the title of the album with exclusively English-language songs, the singer fulfilled a long-cherished wish. In the meantime, the solo project has ended until further notice.

Pure in the Veltins-Arena

2006 to 2009

In March 2006 the single SOS was released , the title of which was used for Action 6 Villages for 2006 . In May 2006 Pur gave a best-of concert in the TUI Arena. On August 4th the single Because you are with me was released together with a live version of the title SOS recorded in Hanover . On September 1, 2006, the album Es ist wie es ist , hit number 1 in the German album charts. In autumn Pur went on a hall tour that began on November 9th, 2006 in Halle / Westphalia and ended on December 21st, 2006 in Munich and is documented in a DVD released on December 15th, 2006.

In March 2007 Pur were again nominated nationally for the Echo in the category Best Rock / Pop Group . After the great demand for the indoor tour in 2006, Pur decided to play a small open-air tour in June and July 2007.

On July 6, 2007, the single Es ist wie es ist from the album of the same name was released.

On July 13, 2007, PUR was awarded the renowned HELIX hearing experience prize from the 'Besser Hören' forum. The laudation was given by TV presenter Reinhold Beckmann . "Pure has given us a musical listening experience that is second to none for over 25 years," said Beckmann at the award ceremony in Hamburg. Pur frontman Hartmut Engler thanked him with the words: “That is the greatest compliment you can give a band. We are pleased that our musical work is ennobled with the HELIX. We have already received a lot of prizes, but this one is very special. ”At the evening open-air concert in Hamburg's Stadtpark, thousands of fans cheered when the band presented the HELIX on stage. The HELIX annually honors personalities who have created outstanding listening experiences. Before PUR these were: Xavier Naidoo , Iris Berben , Anna Maria Kaufmann , Mario Adorf and Udo Jürgens .

On September 8, 2007 there was another concert at Schalke. Guest musicians were Christina Stürmer & Band, John Miles , Purple Schulz & Josef Piek and once again the GermanPops Orchestra under the direction of Bernd Ruf . At the last two mega-events Pur & Friends at Schalke and Pur Klassik , other stars such as Laith Al-Deen , Nena , Peter Maffay , Nubya , Fools Garden and Heinz-Rudolf Kunze appeared.

In 2008 the members of Pur took a break, the break was only interrupted in September by a single benefit concert in their hometown under the motto We want to help . This raised € 300,000 for charity.

2009 was dominated by the new album Wünsche , which was released on September 4th, and the hall tour in November and December with a new stage concept. The single Irgendwo was released on August 21st . The album entered the album charts at number 1 and soon reached gold status.

Since 2010

On May 3rd, 2010 it was officially announced that Roland Bless and Pur will go their separate ways from now on because of "human and musical differences".

In October, their anniversary album Live the Third - Akustisch was recorded in front of a small audience at Scala in Ludwigsburg. In 2011 the band celebrated their 30th anniversary. She toured in smaller halls with her acoustic tour. On September 17th, Pur played a benefit concert for the second time in her hometown of Bietigheim-Bissingen in front of 17,500 spectators, at which a donation of 210,000 euros was collected.

At the end of October 2012, the first single was released, The Best Possible Attempt on the previously unreleased new studio album. On November 2, the second single Stark was released. The album Schein & Sein was released on November 16, 2012 .

At the beginning of 2013, the band started the Schein - & - Sein -halle tour, which ended with the last concert on March 23, 2013 in Dortmund's Westfalenhalle . The opening act was the band Ewig with lead singer Jeanette Biedermann . A live recording of this tour was released on June 14, 2013, the 1000th concert in Berlin on CD, DVD and Blu-Ray. On June 1, 2013, the Open Air Summer 2013 begins with the first performance in Freiburg . The Cherry Gehring Band performed as the opening act with the title Machs laut, s'isch STEREO .

On his album Herr Gott again from 2014 Karel Gott sang the pure song Ein Graues Haar .

In 2015 Pur released their album Achtung .

On September 2, 2017, Pur gave their sixth Pur & Friends concert in front of over 60,000 visitors in the Veltins Arena in Gelsenkirchen . Andreas Bourani , Daniel Wirtz and Bülent Ceylan were invited as guests . It was the only concert in 2017.

The album Between the Worlds was released in 2018 and achieved gold status. In 2018 the Between the Worlds - Arena Tour 2018 took place in front of 150,000 spectators.

In 2019 the band was awarded a Golden Camera in the category Best Music National . During the performance of the song End Dreams , Thomas Gottschalk entered the stage and sang in the choir with the band. Gottschalk thus redeemed his betting debt, since 18 years earlier he had lost a city bet against Hartmut Engler in his show Wetten Dass . In the same year the band played their Open Air Tour 2019 in front of over 200,000 spectators. In October 2019 an MTV Unplugged tour was announced, during which a new album will also be recorded.

Discography

→ Main article : Pure / discography

Studio albums

year	Title music label	Top ranking, total weeks, awardChart placementsChart placements (Year, title, music label , placements, weeks, awards, notes)			Remarks
		DE	AT	CH
1983	Opus Intercord / EMI	-	-	-	First published: 1983
1985	Beware of Fragile Intercord / EMI	-	-	-	First published: 1985
1987	PUR Intercord / EMI	-	-	-	First published: March 1, 1987
1988	Like in the movie Intercord / EMI	-	-	-	First published: June 1, 1988
1990	Infinitely more intercord / EMI	DE45 gold (8 weeks)DE	-	-	First published: March 1, 1990 Sales: + 250,000
1991	Nothing without a reason Intercord / EMI	DE13 gold (20 weeks)DE	-	-	First published: August 22, 1991 Sales: + 250,000
1993	A tightrope walker's dream Intercord / EMI	DE2 × 3 Triple platinum (128 weeks)DE	AT33 (1 week) AT	-	First published: August 1, 1993 Sales: + 1,500,000
1995	Adventure land Intercord / EMI	DE1 × 3 Triple platinum (72 weeks)DE	AT26th gold (14 weeks)AT	CH3 platinum (37 weeks)CH	First published: Aug 21, 1995 Sales: + 2,075,000
1998	A lot of theater Intercord / EMI	DE1 × 2 Double platinum (48 weeks)DE	AT22 (11 weeks) AT	CH3 × 2 Double platinum (17 weeks)CH	First published: Jan 19, 1998 Sales: + 1,100,000
2000	Right in the middle of it all, EMI Electrola	DE1 × 2 Double platinum (29 weeks)DE	AT26 (6 weeks) AT	CH3 gold (13 weeks)CH	First published: September 8, 2000 Sales: + 625,000
2003	What happened? Blast First / EMI Electrola	DE1 × 2 Double platinum (24 weeks)DE	AT25 (5 weeks) AT	CH5 (9 weeks) CH	First published: September 5, 2003 Sales: + 400,000
2006	It's like it's EMI / Universal Music	DE1 × 3 Triple gold (24 weeks)DE	AT46 (3 weeks) AT	CH16 (8 weeks) CH	First published: September 1, 2006 Sales: +300,000
2009	Wishes EMI / Universal Music	DE1 platinum (30 weeks)DE	AT27 (3 weeks) AT	CH13 (7 weeks) CH	First published: September 4th, 2009 Sales: + 200,000
2012	Schein & sein Universal Music	DE2 platinum (31 weeks)DE	AT44 (2 weeks) AT	CH28 (4 weeks) CH	First published: November 16, 2012 Sales: + 200,000
2015	Attention Universal Music	DE1 platinum (34 weeks)DE	AT19 (2 weeks) AT	CH9 (8 weeks) CH	First published: September 18, 2015 Sales: + 200,000
2018	Between the worlds of Universal Music	DE2 gold (34 weeks)DE	AT33 (1 week) AT	CH14 (6 weeks) CH	First published: September 14, 2018 Sales: + 100,000

Awards

• Bambi
  • 1996: for Pop National

• ECHO Pop
  • 1995: for the National Group
  • 1996: for the National Group
  • 2001: for the National Group
  • 2004: for the National Group
  • 2016: for the National Group

• Golden Europe
  • 1988 (young talent award)
  • 1995

• Golden camera
  • 1996 for best pop music
  • 2019 for Best Music National

• Golden tuning fork
  • 1993, 1994, 1995, 1996 (platinum), 1998, 2001, 2004, 2007

• RSH gold
  • 1994: for the National Group
  • 1995: for the National Group
  • 1996: for the National Group
  • 1999

• Others
  • 2015: Munich Olympic Walk of Stars

literature

• Nils Löber: The best band in the world - or the worst . In: Jan U. Welke (Ed.): Play it again. 50 years of pop music in the Stuttgart region . Regional culture publisher, Heidelberg / Ubstadt-Weiher / Basel 2005, ISBN 3-89735-412-8 . More detailed online version ( PDF ; 95 kB) - cultural studies essay on the contrast between pure fans and pure haters
• Ralph Larmann, Pur: Our story in photographs & texts . te Neues Buchverlag, Kempen 2001, ISBN 3-8238-5481-X .
• Ralph Larmann: PUR - That happened! The illustrated book for the 2003 tour . Schwarzkopf & Schwarzkopf, Berlin 2003, ISBN 3-89602-481-7 .

Web links

Commons : Pur  - collection of pictures, videos and audio files

• Official website
• Pure at laut.de

swell

1. ↑ Roland Bless leaves Pur ( Memento from September 11, 2012 in the web archive archive.today ) Article from the Stuttgart Journal.
2. ↑ April 25, 2013 - Pre-order the 1000th live concert on CD, DVD and Blu-ray now! ( Memento from May 1, 2013 in the Internet Archive )
3. ↑ June 1, 2013 - PUR - Start Open Air Summer 2013 - Concert in Freiburg sold out ( Memento from June 11, 2013 in the Internet Archive )
4. ↑ "Pur and Friends" in the event calendar of the city of Gelsenkirchen. derwesten.de, September 7, 2014.
5. ↑ Thomas Gottschalk pays betting debts after 18 years. Retrieved April 21, 2019 . 
6. ↑ RSH Gold Award 1994
7. ↑ RSH Gold Award 1995
8. ↑ RSH Gold Award 1996
9. ↑ RSH Gold Award 1999