Udo Dirkschneider

Dirkschneider live at Wacken Open Air 2018

Udo Dirkschneider live 2017 at the Rock Hard Festival

Udo Dirk Schneider (* 6. April 1952 in Wuppertal ) is a German heavy metal - singer , formerly a singer of the metal band Accept worked. After leaving Accept in 1987, Dirkschneider founded the band UDO. This band took a break while Dirkschneider had briefly returned to Accept. Udo Dirkschneider is known for his "grating voice" as well as for his small stature.

Adolescence

At the age of twelve, Dirkschneider received the Beatles record I'm Down . From then on his passion for music began. After hearing the Rolling Stones, the Beatles looked like "washcloths" to him. At the age of 14, Dirkschneider received a keyboard. At this point he was not interested in singing. One of Dirkschneider's classmates was the later producer Michael Wagener . He started playing the electric guitar at the same time , so they both formed a band. Dirkschneider later decided to sing instead of playing the keyboard. After playing in clubs for three years, they changed the name of their band to Accept in 1971.

Career

Thanks to the producer Dieter Dierks , Dirkschneider and his band Accept became the figurehead of German metal in the early 80s. Worldwide success and over two million copies of the album Balls to the Wall sold solidified the status of the band.

In 1987 he left the band in friendship because his voice was not considered compatible with the masses and the rest of the band wanted to try music in the style of the Scorpions .

Dirkschneider then founded the band UDO in which he is the only constant. With UDO he stayed true to classic heavy metal, and with the first album Animal House he continued the style of Balls to the Wall . In 1990 the band's tour had to be canceled due to Dirkschneider's physical problems. A year later the band split up completely. In the years 1992–1996 Udo Dirkschneider spent his time with the reunion of his old band Accept. When the group separated again, he reactivated the band UDO. On October 16, 2013, Accept obtained a hall ban for Dirkschneider and his band UDO for the Christmas Metal Festival on December 15, 2013 in Geiselwind .

Collaboration with other musicians

Udo Dirkschneider 2004

In 1999 Hammerfall recorded a version of the Helloween classic I Want Out , on which Udo Dirkschneider and Kai Hansen had guest appearances. Dirkschneider sang the back-up vocals , while Kai Hansen and Joacim Cans sang the lead vocals . Dirkschneider also sang as a guest singer on the Hammerfall version of the Accept song Head Over Heels .

He can also be seen in a music video for the song Shtil '(Штиль) by the Russian heavy metal band Arija (Ария) .

Dirkschneider also recorded a version of the song Born to Be Wild in 1983 with the NWOBHM band Raven . A well-known collaboration is the duet on the rock ballad Dancing with an Angel with Doro Pesch . In 2006 he recorded the song They Only Come out at Night with the band Lordi for their album The Arockalypse . Two years later he sang this song live with Lordi at Wacken Open Air . Mr. Lordi himself said in a Kerrang! -Interview that UDO's songs Don't Look Back and Blitz Of Lightning changed his life.

In 2015 Dirkschneider performed with the Bundeswehr Orchestra at the Wacken Open Air.

Dirkschneider is guest singer on the song "Addicted to Metal" on the Kissin 'Dynamite album of the same name . Udo Dirkschneider completed a tour through Russia in 2012 and in December 2013 on a special Christmas Metal Symphony Tour with the 32-strong Magnum Opus Rockestra under the direction of Marcel Heijnen. Other singers on this project were Michael Kiske , Joey Belladonna , Chuck Billy , Joacim Cans and Floor Jansen .

Discography

Chart positions Explanation of the data

Albums

Live - Back to the Roots   DE 24 04/11/2016 (2 weeks)

solo

• 2016: Live - Back to the Roots
• 2017: Live - Back to the Roots - Accepted!

Accept

• see Accept discography

UDO

• see UDO discography

Trivia

• The character Dark Schneider in the Japanese manga and anime series Bastard !! is named after Udo Dirkschneider.
• Skid Rows Sebastian Bach explained that Dirkschneider had the "most metal name of all time" (the most metal-sounding name of all time).

Web links

Commons : Udo Dirkschneider  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

• Official web site
• Bob Nalbandian: Interview with Udo Dirkschneider. In: HardRadio.com. August 25, 2016 . 

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Udo Dirkschneider: Volume. In: Website of the band “Dirkschneider & UDO”. Accessed July 31, 2018 (English). 
2. ↑ laut.de biography: UDO In: laut.de . Retrieved July 31, 2018 . 
3. ↑ Sebastian Kessler: Hall ban for Udo Dirkschneider Accept vs UDO In: Metal Hammer . October 16, 2013, accessed July 31, 2018 . 
4. ↑ Aria & Udo - Still (Calm). (Video on YouTube, 4:50 minutes) November 12, 2008, accessed July 31, 2018 . 
5. ↑ Christoph Fröhlich: Interview: Wacken boss: "We are not ready to adapt to the wishes of some bands". In: stern.de . July 30, 2018, accessed July 31, 2018 . Musikkorps Siegburg rocks in Wacken. (Video on YouTube , 5:17 minutes) Bundeswehr editorial staff, August 10, 2015, accessed on July 31, 2018 . 
    
6. ↑ Heavy Metal, Vodka & Kaviar - The German rock band UDO on tour in Russia. (mp4 video, 115 MB, 26 minutes) In: dw.com . December 8, 2012, accessed July 31, 2018 . 
7. ↑ Anthrax, Testament, Hammerfall, Ex Accept Singers To Take Part In 'Christmas Metal Symphony'. In: Blabbermouth.net . July 16, 2013, accessed July 31, 2018 . 
8. ↑ Charts DE