Wonderwall (band)

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Wonderwall
General information
Genre (s) Pop , folk
founding around 1994, 2009
resolution 2005, 2011
Website archive
Founding members
singing
 Kathrin "Kati" Schauer (born December 25, 1981, in Cologne )
singing
 Daniela " Ela Paul " Förstel (born March 17, 1982 in Cologne)
singing
 Julia "Jule" Beck (born September 11, 1983 in Leverkusen ) (until 2003)
Last occupation
bass
 Ela Paul
singing
 Jessica "Jessy" Bremes (* 1983, in Mönchengladbach )
former members
singing
 "Jana" Reiss (* 1982, in Kaiserslautern ) (2009-2011)

Wonderwall was a German pop band. The line-up has changed many times in the short history of the band. The only remaining founding member was, until the end, Ela Paul .

Wonderwall made catchy, romantic, vocals based acoustic pop with folk influences. The band wrote all the songs themselves and wrote lyrics in English.

Career

Jule Beck and Kati Schauer got to know each other at ballet, Kati and Ela Paul knew each other from school and started making music on acoustic guitars as a hobby. During this time, around the age of twelve, they called themselves McDowell Brothers , wrote English lyrics and came up with melodies. All three then got to know each other through a joint play and then appeared in threes. They played their songs at garden festivals and local events in the Cologne area . By chance they came across a producer who met their ideas.

The first single Witchcraft was released in May 2001 and landed at number 77 in the singles charts. The following single ( Who Am I ? , November 2001) did not hit the charts.

The breakthrough came with a cross-promotion with the ARD series Marienhof when Just More was played for several weeks in the ARD soap opera . This went a long way towards making the group known and making Just More Wonderwalls' biggest hit to date. The single Just More was released in May 2002. It entered the German single charts at number nine and then stayed at number two for three weeks.

The first album Witchcraft , which was released shortly afterwards, reached number four in the German album charts. In September 2002, the fourth single In April reached number 33 in the charts. Then the three went on a European tour with Ronan Keating as his opening act. At the 2003 Echo Awards, Wonderwall was nominated four times and was recognized nationally as the best newcomer. The second album ( What Does It Mean? ), Which Ela and Kati released in November 2003, only reached number 48 on the album charts. The single (One More) Song for You , released shortly before with Jule, was also less successful.

In January / February 2004 Ela Paul and Kati Schauer went on tour in Germany for the first time with their band The Mighty Sleepwalkers . In March 2004 the single Silent Tears was released. With this title Wonderwall also entered the German preliminary decision for the Eurovision Song Contest 2004 and took fourth place there.

On April 8, 2004 it was announced that Wonderwall would leave its previous label, the Warner subsidiary WEA, and will henceforth be under contract with the record company Seven Days Music of producer Jack White . Together with the film composer Hans Zimmer , Wonderwall then worked on the music for the cartoon Lauras Stern , a German production that was released on September 23, 2004. For this they composed, among other things, the title song Touch the Sky, which was released as a single on September 20, 2004. In the fall of 2004 Wonderwall released their third album Come Along , and from March 3rd to April 2nd, 2005 Wonderwall and their band were on their second tour of Germany, the Come-Along tour, which led through 14 cities. On April 25, 2005, Wonderwall released the single Losin 'You , which was also not a commercial success despite another cross-promotion with the ARD series Marienhof.

Under the impression of lower sales figures, Paul and Schauer announced in August 2005 that they would postpone their careers until 2008 and not record any songs or records until then. Afterwards they devoted themselves to private projects (Ela: Acting School Cologne; Kati: Musical Academy Bremen) and performed live sporadically.

Ela Paul and Kati Schauer have worked on several audio books for the audio book series Freche Mädchen - cheeky audio books , published by Der Audio Verlag , for which they each contributed music and in which they took on speaking roles.

In 2008 there was a re-establishment, consisting of Ela Paul and the new band members Jana Reiss and Jessy Bremes. In November 2009, their first single, This Is Christmas , was released. Since 2011 the group consists only of Ela Paul and Jessy Bremes. On May 13, 2011, the single Me and the City was released.

Discography

Studio albums

year title Top ranking, total weeks, awardChart placementsChart placements
(Year, title, rankings, weeks, awards, notes) 		Remarks
DE DE AT AT CH CH
2002 Witchcraft DE4th
gold
gold

(31 weeks)DE 		AT26 (11 weeks)
AT 		CH30 (18 weeks)
CH
First published: May 21, 2002
2003 What does it mean? DE43 (2 weeks)
DE 		- -
First published: November 10, 2003
2004 Come Along - - -
First published: November 22, 2004

Singles

year Title
album 		Top ranking, total weeks, awardChart placementsChart placements
(Year, title, album , rankings, weeks, awards, notes) 		Remarks
DE DE AT AT CH CH
2001 Witchcraft
Witchcraft 		DE77 (9 weeks)
DE 		- -
First published: May 28, 2001
2002 Just More
Witchcraft 		DE2
gold
gold

(22 weeks)DE 		AT5 (22 weeks)
AT 		CH7 (27 weeks)
CH
First published: April 15, 2002
In April (You Call My Name)
Witchcraft 		DE31 (9 weeks)
DE 		AT27 (9 weeks)
AT 		CH58 (5 weeks)
CH
First published: September 9, 2002
2003 Witchcraft 2003
What Does It Mean? 		DE48 (5 weeks)
DE 		- -
First published: February 24, 2003
(One More) Song for You
What Does It Mean? 		DE75 (2 weeks)
DE 		- -
First published: October 20, 2003
2004 Silent Tears DE90 (2 weeks)
DE 		- -
First published: March 8, 2004
Touch the Sky
Come Along 		DE76 (4 weeks)
DE 		- -
First published: September 20, 2004
2005 Losin 'You
Come Along 		DE70 (3 weeks)
DE 		- -
First published: April 25, 2005

more publishments

  • 2001: Who Am I? (Release: November 26, 2001)
  • 2009: This Is Christmas (released November 20, 2009)
  • 2011: Me and the City (release: May 13, 2011)

Awards

swell

  1. ↑ a b Music One: Biography of the band
  2. ↑ Review by Robert Kneschke of the album Witchcraft by Wonderwall from May 28, 2002 on Bloom.de.
  3. ↑ a b Chart sources: DE 1 DE 2; AT; CH
  4. ↑ a b gold and platinum database of the German regional group of IFPI

Web links