The Blizzards
The Blizzards from the Hanseatic city of Stade near Hamburg emerged from various skiffle groups founded by students .
Career
Since 1961, the group has played English-language hit parade titles in changing trio formations in front of a larger audience. From the beginning of 1962 the band appeared as a quartet with a constant line-up: Joachim Beutler, solo guitar, Gerd "Jerry" Dethlefs, rhythm guitar, Gernot Schäfer, bass guitar, and Dieter Meyer, drums. All musicians were singers at the same time. After they had already won a “ Jekami evening” in the first few weeks of their band existence , a forerunner of today's band competitions, they were engaged for youth dance events in the entire Lower Elbe area. Engagements in Bremerhaven and Hamburg followed.
In early 1963, two more guitarists and singers joined the band, Jürgen Nehrke and Horst George, who later wrote a number of songs for the Blizzards. Jerry Dethlefs took over the constant role of the front singer. The expansion to a sextet was short-lived, as Gernot Schäfer left the band and soon after founded his own group. In the summer of 1963, concert agents in Hamburg with extensive connections in northern Germany took the Blizzards under their management. This was followed by appearances in almost all large houses in Hamburg (including the Star Club ) as well as in Schleswig-Holstein, there for example in the Star Palaces in Kiel and Flensburg.
In 1964, after their front singer left the Bundeswehr, the remaining quartet switched to mainly polyphonic singing. With this they also impressed the producer Siegfried Loch, who then recorded the first Star Club single with German lyrics with them and continued to promote them significantly. This was followed by further recordings, interviews with well-known radio stations and television appearances. The Blizzards also acted as a backing band for other singing stars such as Tony Cavanaugh , Drafi Deutscher , Davy Jones and Suzanne Doucet in the studio or during live performances .
In the summer of 1965, drummer Dieter Meyer was replaced by Horst "Hotte" Kupczyk from Hamburg (previously with Gigi & The Night Shadows ) because he was drafted into the Bundeswehr . With him on the drums, other record titles were recorded, of which "Have no desire to get up today" ("Ik heb geen zin om op te staan") was the most successful recording of the Blizzards. During his military service Dieter Meyer performed with his former bandmates Jerry Dethlefs and Gernot Schäfer in the group "Jerry and the Beatnics", mainly in Hamburg and in southern Schleswig-Holstein.
In 1967 the Blizzards brought Jerry Dethlefs back to his former position as front singer. No further recordings followed, however, because the producers had made a change to full professional status a prerequisite for this. Since all band members now had relatively secure other main jobs, they preferred to continue to give guest performances as music semi-professionals. After another three years of stage activity, including repeatedly as a backing band for Drafi Deutscher and the then newcomer Howard Carpendale , the Blizzards disbanded in late 1969. The reason for this was the departure of Jürgen Nehrke and Horst George in early 1970 to Sardinia and Chile respectively. Both were teachers full-time. 1983 Dieter Meyer and Jerry Dethlefs formed the Blizzards again. They then existed until 1987 in several changing line-ups.
Mix-ups
The single Happy Cowboy , which hit the charts in 1963, comes from a band of the same name, of which singer Ronny was a member.
Publications
Singles
- 1964: Too beautiful / Isabel; Star Club 148 516
- 1965: Cruel City / How won, so melted away; Fontana 269 327
- 1965: Without you / I say goodbye to her; Fontana 269 330
- 1965: I'm Your Guy / 108 Pounds of Heartache; Fontana 269 333
- 1966: Don't feel like getting up today / Exodus; Fontana 269 341
LP
- 1965: I'm Your Guy, Fontana 885 424 (later as CD with 15 bonus tracks ROCK IN BOX RECORDS, RIB 049, 200)
literature
- Matthias Blazek: The Lower Saxony Band Compendium 1963-2003 - Data and facts from 100 rock groups from Lower Saxony . Celle 2006, ISBN 978-3-00-018947-0 .
