Toni Krahl

Toni Krahl (right) in a talk show with Gregor Gysi (2010)

Toni Krahl (born October 3, 1949 in Berlin ) is a German musician and singer in the band City .

Life

Krahl at a concert in Nuremberg (2016)

Krahl grew up in the GDR . While his parents went to England, where his father worked as a correspondent, Toni Krahl lived in the children's home of the Foreign Trade Ministry in Falkenberg-Cöthen. When his parents worked in Moscow , he went to school there. After returning to the GDR, he attended the Alexander von Humboldt School in Berlin-Köpenick from 1965 and trained as a fitter in the Oberspree cable works (KWO). During this time he lived in Oberschöneweide . In 1967 he founded his first band "Wurzel minus 4" with Rainer Köchling, Frank Pfeifer and Peter Gross.

At the age of 19, Toni Krahl was sentenced on November 29, 1968 by the IA criminal panel of the Berlin City Court in Littenstrasse to three years' imprisonment for a protest demonstration and a leaflet campaign against the invasion of the Czechoslovakia by the Warsaw Pact states , which after three months in prison in Berlin-Pankow Was commuted to a two-year suspended sentence. His father Franz Krahl was therefore replaced as head of department at Neues Deutschland and transferred to the archive. During this time Toni Krahl was given a job as a sheet metal fitter at VEB Werkzeugmaschinenfabrik “7. October “ in Weißensee . Krahl graduated from night school. After the end of his job, he worked as a mechanic in the medical technology department of the Charité . In 2008, the Czech Prime Minister Mirek Topolánek honored Toni Krahl with the Karel Kramar Order for his proof of solidarity .

In the early 1970s, Krahl appeared in the groups "Die Kleine", the Hanert-Combo, the Maddogs and Suwami - later a college formation - as a singer. During his time with this band he worked as a contract delivery agent for the German Post Office of the GDR , delivering telegrams as a freelancer . From 1973 to 1975 he attended the Friedrichshain Music School in order to obtain a professional music certificate.

Krahl has been the singer of the band City since 1975 . At that time, on the advice of the manager Edeltraud “Traudel”, he replaced Bröckel Emil Bogdanow , who left the band and moved to Western Europe via Yugoslavia. At City Krahl also wrote his first song lyrics. City's first album , which was also released in the Federal Republic of Germany , was Am Fenster and received a gold record . The title song Am Fenster sung by Krahl is one of the greatest hits in GDR rock history. In 1978, Krahl made his first appearance in West Germany with City. He later received two more gold and one platinum records with City .

In 1986 he was a member of the "All-Star-Band" Gitarreros .

From the end of 1988 Krahl was chairman of the rock music section of the entertainment arts committee . He was one of the initiators of the resolution by rock musicians and songwriters for a democratization of GDR society on September 18, 1989. On October 25, 1989, he took part in the concert "Hierbleiber für Hierbleiber" in the House of Young Talents in East Berlin.

In 1990 Krahl became chairman of the Musik-Szene eV association. Together with Fritz Puppel, he founded the first independent GDR record company, K&P Musik . Over the years, K&P Music has released records from Karat , Keimzeit , The Inchtabokatables and several albums by their own band City.

In 2005 he played in the movie Max and Moritz Reloaded .

Krahl lives in Glienicke / Nordbahn north of Berlin and is married for the third time.

Award

In 2007, Krahl and his band City received the largest East German media prize, the Golden Hen .

Literary works

Toni Krahl in the Nordhausen City Library (2016)

• Toni Krahl's rock legends. New life, Berlin 2016, ISBN 978-3-355-01840-1 .

literature

• Rainer Bratfisch:  Krahl, Toni . In: Who was who in the GDR? 5th edition. Volume 1. Ch. Links, Berlin 2010, ISBN 978-3-86153-561-4 .

Web links

Commons : Toni Krahl  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

• Toni Krahl in the Internet Movie Database (English)
• K&P Music

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Toni Krahl: Toni Krahl's rock legends. New Life, Berlin 2016, ISBN 978-3-355-01840-1 , p. 16 f.
2. ↑ Toni Krahl: Toni Krahl's rock legends. Neues Leben, Berlin 2016, ISBN 978-3-355-01840-1 , pp. 13-14.
3. ↑ Toni Krahl: Toni Krahl's rock legends. New Life, Berlin 2016, ISBN 978-3-355-01840-1 , p. 18.
4. ↑ Toni Krahl: Toni Krahl's rock legends. New Life, Berlin 2016, ISBN 978-3-355-01840-1 , p. 19.
5. ↑ Toni Krahl: Toni Krahl's rock legends. Neues Leben, Berlin 2016, ISBN 978-3-355-01840-1 , pp. 40–44.