Thomas Anders

Bernd Weidung was born on March 1, 1963 in the town of Münstermaifelde , near Koblenz . His father was a burgomaster and encouraged his son to study music. Thomas sang in the church choir, took piano lessons for almost ten years and learned to play the guitar himself. After graduation, he studied German studies ( German language and literature ) and musicology in Mainz . In 1979 he became the winner of the “Radio Luxembourg” competition.

In 1980, the first single of the artist - " Judy ". The producer found the name Bernd Weidung too difficult to pronounce and advised the singer to take the pseudonym Thomas Anders, with whom he went to the big stage, and then wrote in his passport along with the real name ^[2] .

After the release of the single, Thomas, with other young performers, made a 15-day tour of Germany. In 1981, he made his television debut on the Michael Schantz show. In 1983, while recording a cover version of the song FR David, he became acquainted with budding producer and composer Dieter Bohlen . Then there are a few more collaborations in German, as well as the English-language composition Catch Me I'm Falling (a cover version of the song of the Australian band Real Life), released as the Headliner project. The single Wovon träumst du denn reaches 16th place in the German charts.

The first period of Modern Talking

In October 1984, Thomas and Dieter joined the duo Modern Talking and released the single " You're My Heart, You're My Soul ", which became number one in Europe. This single lasted for half a year in the European lists of popularity. Over the next three years, Modern Talking recorded 6 albums and 9 singles, 5 of which were number one in the charts. The duo sold over 60 million sound carriers, who received 40 "platinum" and more than 200 "gold" awards. In 1987 Modern Talking ceased to exist due to the expiration of the contract and the reluctance of both parties to renew it. Thomas as "Thomas Anders Show" goes on a world tour, which was a great success.

After the collapse of the duet, Thomas collaborates with the trio Man-X, which supports the performer during a world tour, and is produced, together with his wife Nora Isabelle Balling, their Waiting So Long and I Believe singles. In 1988, Anders co-authored with Marc Cassandra and under the direction of producer Jack White (Jack White), writes for a famous singer Engelbert Humperdinka the composition I Can Never Let You Go , which is included in his album In Liebe .

Start solo career

In 1989, Anders released his first solo album, Different , whose producer and sound producer was Gus Dudgeon, best known for his work with David Bowie, Paul McCartney and Elton John.

In 1990, Anders (with SBK Music Publishing) created his own music publishing company, Thomas Anders Music, which in January 2000, with the participation of two partners Thomas Christian Geller and Guido Carp, was transformed into the music publishing company KA.GB Music GmbH, collaborating with Sony / ATV Music Publishing (Germany) GmbH.

In 1991, in London, Anders, along with producers Paul Muggleton and Mike Paxman, famous for working with Nick Kamen, began work on his second album Whispers , which was released in Germany, France, Taiwan, Korea, South Africa and other countries. Backing vocals on the album were performed by English singer Judie Tzuke. The first single from this album, " The Sweet Hello, The Sad Goodbye ", was donated to Anders by the duet of Roxette ; the second single, "Can't Give You Anything (But My Love)", was recorded in both English and Spanish.

In 1992, Anders switched to the record company Polydor (now Universal) and recorded the album Down On Sunset in the USA with famous producers - Christian de Walden (Amanda Lear) and Ralf Stemmann (Ricky Martin). One of the songs included in the album, Thomas sang a duet with Glenn Medeiros (Glenn Medeiros), known for his cover on " Nothing's Gonna Change My Love For You ". Down on Sunset opens his so-called "sunny" period of creativity (albums, written and produced by the same team in the period 1992-1994.). This period is characterized by light, cheerful songs of medium tempo, ballads, extensive use of "live" instruments when recording. The album was released by Polydor, because at the end of 1991, Anders, dissatisfied with the low activity of promotion of his products, was forced to leave East West, where the singer Whispers previous disc was released.

Thomas himself took an active part in songwriting, but under the pseudonym of Chris Copperfield, which was listed among the authors in the album booklet. The album includes 11 songs, including the song “Laughter In The Rain” - a cover version of the famous song of Neil Sedaki, released in the mid-70s. Another song of the album, “Standing Alone”, was recorded by Anders in a duet with the famous American singer Glenn Medeiros, who sang in 1987 the song “Nothing's Gonna Change My Love For You”, which became popular throughout the world. The idea of ​​their cooperation arose after their casual acquaintance in Los Angeles. As a result, a song was released that was later released as a single to the album and a video was shot.

In 1993, Anders gained new experience by playing a role in the Swedish film “Stockholm Marathon”. He also wrote the title track for this film.

For the next album, the manager presented Thomas the seventies hit hit “ When Will I See You Again ” by The Three Degrees. This song led the new album, giving it its name. The musicians decided to invite her original performers. Thus, by the twentieth anniversary of the song, Thomas Anders re-performed the hit "When Will I See You Again" with The Three Degrees. This short-term project has grown into further cooperation. Thomas gave the band a new beginning by writing a few songs for their album “Out The Past Into The Future”, which gained great popularity. Another cover version on the album is the ballad “Midnight”, originally performed by Nikka Costa in 1989. The song “Marathon Of Life” was written specifically for one of the episodes of the series Commissioner Martin Beck , called the Stockholm Marathon, where Thomas Anders played one of the roles, which was the first experience of the singer in the movie. The song "Dance In Heaven" was written by Thomas after a telephone conversation with his elderly American fan Ethel, with whom he had personally met a few years before. During the telephone conversation, Ethel was very weak, she hardly spoke, and after Thomas hung up, he realized that he would never be able to talk to her again, after which he wrote the song ^[3] . It was originally planned to release the song “Stay A Little Longer” as the first single to the album, recorded in December 1992 and recorded in the studio a month later. In addition to the main album version, two remixes were recorded, and even a print of maxi-singles was printed. However, after reaching an agreement with the trio “The Three Degrees”, the song “ When Will I See You Again ” was chosen as the first single.

In 1994, Anders released the US album Barcos de cristal in Spanish, intended for the Latin American market. In Argentina, the album ranked the top of the charts; Thomas also wrote the title song for the Argentine television series and the song Tal Vez for Marta Sánchez, which became number one in Mexico.

While working in the US, Thomas met producer Peter Wolf, who was famous for working with Frank Zappa, and in 1995 they recorded and published the album Souled . Souled was recorded between May and November 1994 in The Embassy, Los Angeles . The material is significantly different from the previous works of Thomas Anders and is a "blue-eyed" soul (Blue-eyed soul). During this period, Anders radically changes the image (for the first time she cuts very short, wears black) and the musical style inherent in the previous albums of the singer. The producer of the album was Peter Wolf. Work on the album was very hard. Months of work in the studio exhausted Anders' forces to a faint, in connection with which he had to be hospitalized and interrupted work for some time ^[4] . The album includes 11 songs, as well as an introduction and conclusion. The lyrics of most songs written by Ina Wolf. Each song is a carefully revealed story: about mature childhood friends, when a young man falls in love with his girlfriend ("The Heat Between The Girls And The Boys"), about the wine of adultery ("Look At The Tears"), about the death of a spouse (" Road To Higher Love ”), about parting (“ South Of Love ”), about the severity of forced separation from a loved one (“ A Little Bit Of Lovin '”). The album also features a cover version of the 1965 hit by the British band The Beatles Michelle. Also on the album are two re-singing of more modern performers - “Never Knew Love Like This Before” from Stephanie Mills, originally released in 1980 and “Feel For The Physical”, sung by the duet with the original singers of this song - “The Pointer Sisters”.

In 1996, Thomas Anders, hiding under the pseudonym “ Phantomas ”, took part in the dance project of the same name and together with producers Ramon Zenker (Fragma), Andreas Schneider (Kosmonova) and Olaf Dickman (Aquagen), having recorded a couple of singles: “Our House” ( cover of the Madness hit), and “No Doubt About It”.

Another dance project in which Thomas Anders took part was called Chain Reaction . The single single “Every Word You Said” was released in 1997 in collaboration with producer Axel Braytung (DJ Bobo). Several songs for this project were written by David Brandes (E-Rotic, Bad Boys Blue), but they were never released.

After the success of the Stockholm Marathon, Thomas played in the German film Phantom Pain (Phantomschmerz) and sang a song for this film.

Developing as a musician and creative person, Thomas Anders found for himself an additional incentive in his work, performing jazz. In early 1997, he released a “live” album, on which he performed famous jazz standards . Anders has previously included jazz numbers in his solo concerts, performing classical American songs, such as “Summer Wind”, “Mack The Knife”, “The Girl From Ipanema”, “I Get A Kick Out Of You”, “The Lady Is A Tramp ”and others, but for the first time the singer recorded a jazz concert and released it as an album. Accompanied Thomas a jazz band Lilly Thornton with Meinhard Jenne, Klaus Koch, Roland Döringer, Volker Dorsch and Lilly Thornton. The album includes songs from the repertoire of Frank Sinatra and Barry Manilow . The album did not go on sale widely, but was distributed only to members of the singer's fan club.

Second Period Modern Talking

In the spring of 1998, there was a sudden resurgence of the duet Modern Talking , which had collapsed more than ten years before. Thomas Anders and Dieter Bohlen record an album of remixes and old hits of the group ( Back For Good ) and go to the concert together. However, after 5 years (in 2003), the history of the duet again stops.

During the existence of the revived Modern Talking, Thomas does not leave work on projects with other stars, for which he writes songs and participates in their production. Among them are cooperation with No Angels , T-Seven (the project of the former soloist of Mr. President ’s band popular in the mid-1990s), Marta Sanchez, Isabel Varell, It Girls.

The personal life of the singer also does not stand still - after the proposal made for Christmas in 1999, on July 15, 2000 in Stromburg, Thomas Anders is married to Claudia Hess (Claudia Hess). Two years later, Anders becomes the father - on June 27, 2002, he had a child, Alexander Mick Weidung.

Continuing solo careers

On May 31 and June 1, 2003, Thomas first gave several concerts in the USA ( Atlantic City , New Jersey and Chicago ), and in September 2003, together with the Scorpions group, he played a grandiose concert in Moscow on Red Square.

In 2004, Anders released his 7th solo album, “ This Time ”, which brought him the highest places in the charts in the entire history of his solo career. With the first single, “ Independent Girl, ” Thomas instantly took 17th place in the hit parade of Germany and 6th in Russia. Recording the album, Thomas attracted the cooperation of an international production team, previously working with Britney Spears.

Thomas Anders wrote the official anthem for the ice ballet “Holiday On Ice”, which is listed in the Guinness Book of Records. The ballad of Thomas “ Just Dream ” became the main theme of the two programs - “Fantasia” and “Diamond Dreams”, which were included in the “Dream Tour 2004-2005”.

On April 16 and 17, 2005, Thomas Anders gave two more concerts in the USA (in New York and Chicago), and from October 27 to October 29, 2006 - three more concerts: in Chicago, Irvington (New Jersey) and New Britain.

In March 2006, Thomas realized his long-held dream and recorded an acoustic album in orchestral accompaniment, inviting the Warsaw Symphony Orchestra and the Orchestra of the UFA film studio in Babelsberg for this purpose. The album " Songs Forever ", produced by Peter Ries (N'Sync), collected the most popular songs of the eighties, re-arranged in the swing style. In April, the DVD Collection was released, following in the footsteps of Songs Forever ; This DVD includes twenty videotapes by Thomas for his entire creative career.

Eurovision 2004 and 2009 Thomas announced the votes from Germany.

In March 2010, the album "Strong" was released , recorded specifically for the Russian market. The disc was the first experience of Thomas’s collaboration with the Russian team of the Good Taste Music production center. Before the release of the disc, a marketing study was conducted, which showed that the singer’s fans were waiting for him to return to melodic pop music. It is in this style that the new album was made. “Strong” made its debut at the 2nd place of the Russian charts (it was bypassed only by Sergey Lazarev's Electric Touch album) and became “golden” in the fourth week of sales. The total circulation of the album in Russia exceeded 1 million copies, and as a result it became three times platinum, becoming the most successful in the solo career of the singer. To promote the album, video clips were made, remixes were made and singles were released for the main hits of the album - “Why do you cry?” And “Stay with me”. All the songs for “Strong” were written by Russian composer Sergei Revtov , the video clips were shot by Pavel Khudyakov’s studio, working with American pop stars. The video for the second hit from the album, “Stay with me”, was filmed in Moscow and London. According to the artist, this is more like a cinema blockbuster, where he acted as a secret superspy. The single “Why do you cr?” Ranked first in the charts of 14 Russian radio stations. The dance remix from “Soho Rooms / Jeff & Black version” was especially popular. . For this project, album producer Vladimir Nichiporuk drew several well-known DJs, including Italian Danny Verde, who presented their versions of the main hits from the album to the public. Three different versions of the album were released - a three-disc Deluxe Edition, including a disc with 15 remixes and a bonus DVD with the video “Why do you cry?”, The original edition with three previously unreleased remixes and a special limited edition by Oriflame with an exclusive the track “I Miss you” and the new arrangement for “Suddenly”. To popularize the new album during 2010–2012, Thomas introduced his new “Strong Tour” in Russia, visiting more than twenty Russian cities with concerts. After recording material for “Strong” there are a few unreleased tracks.

In an interview in April 2011, Thomas Anders announced the imminent release of the single and the new album. This album became a duet with the famous German musician Uwe Farenkrog , the first single Gigolo was released on May 27, 2011; Two album - June 10, 2011. The name of the duet is “Anders | Fahrenkrog”. The album TWO includes two songs from the Russian edition of "Strong" - "Why do you cry?" And "I miss you", in new, previously unrepresented arrangements.

In September 2011, Strong released a digital album in Europe, which contains 5 previously unreleased songs, and Anders’s autobiographical book In 100 Anders also saw the light of the month. In November, Nora Balling sued Thomas for insulting remarks to her address contained in the book, and won the case. The court called on Thomas to remove these offensive quotes or (in case of refusal) to pay 100 thousand euros; he chose both.

February 8, 2012 the song “No ordinary love” was released - a duet of Thomas Anders and Ukrainian singer Kamaliya , the premiere was held at the Ukrainian Music Awards (YUNA). The song was written by Uwe Farenkrog.

In March, Thomas received a "Platinum Award" for the sale of the album Strong, at the award, he said that he was already working on a new album, which will be released in November ^[5] . Uwe Farenkrog did not participate in the recording, the name of the album is Christmas for You , there are 14 songs in it. The release took place on November 16th. However, he did not reach the popularity of his two predecessors, having started on the 99th place of the German charts.

In 2013, Thomas released the single "We Are One", recorded by a duet with the Persian singer Omid. The song is half in English, half in Farsi. A video was also shot for the song, visualizing the meaning of the text.

In April 2014, Thomas announced the imminent release of the new single, as well as the release of his new album in the autumn ^[6] , but in the end everything was limited to the single “Everybody Wants to Rule The World”. In the same year, the three-disc compilation “The Love In Me” was released, which contains a previously unreleased song supposedly from 1992 “Promised Land”. In April 2015, in an interview with Thomas, he mentioned that the release of his album was postponed to September ^[7] .

On August 8, 2015, Thomas gave a solo concert in Yoshkar-Ola at a celebration dedicated to the day of the city. The hourly performance of Thomas ended with a salute. He performed the song “You're My Heart, You're My Soul” with a guitar and dedicated to Yoshkar-Ola ^[8] . In October, two songs came out with an opera singer from Boston Deborah Sasson (Deborah Sasson) - reruns from the musicals “The Beauty and the Beast” and “True Love”. In the same year, Thomas Anders gave two successful concerts in the United States - in Los Angeles and New York.

On May 27, 2016, the new studio album “History” was released, which consists of 13 re-recorded hits of the duet and two new songs - “Lunatic” and “Take the Chance”. "Lunatic" was released as a single and was recorded according to the structure of the songs "Modern Talking" and with backing vocals that fell well into the sound of Dieter Bohlen. On June 10, 2016 in Moscow in “Crocus City Hall” there was a concert, which was broadcast live on the radio station “Retro-FM”.

On April 7, 2017, another studio album “Pures Leben” was released, this time entirely from new songs and for the first time in German (before that, Thomas Anders had only singles in German, even before participating in Modern Talking ). On February 25, the video was released on the single “Der Beste Tag Meines Lebens”, which turned out to be the title one. The album took 14th place in the charts of Germany ^[9] , causing a pleasant surprise from Thomas himself, who had long been accustomed to the fact that his popularity abroad was much higher than in his native Germany.

In May 2018, it became known that Thomas would become a judge in the revived German X-Factor ^[10] .

On June 8, a new single, Das Leben ist jetzt, was released, which was the first from the upcoming new album Ewig Mit Dir, scheduled for November. On October 19, the new album Ewig Mit Dir was released, which, like his previous work, was performed in German. This very solid and diverse album is very warmly received by most fans around the world. The quintessence of performance of the singer, interesting musical material and richness of sound, bring this work to the category of the best for Anders's many-sided career and contributed to the fact that this album took the 12th place in German chats in the first week - the highest position during the solo period of the singer.

Studio Albums

Project Anders I Fahrenkrog

Outside songs

All songs sung by Thomas over the period 1980–1984 are out of album.

• 1991 - Mas Que Amor (track from single Can't Give You Anything (But My Love), Spanish version of this song)
• 1994 - Caught In The Middle (track from the single “The Love in Me”)
• 1995 - A Little Bit Of Lovin '[airplay mix] (a newly recorded song with a different arrangement, a track from the eponymous single)
• 1996 - No Doubt About It (Anders album album single released under the anonymous project Phantomas)
• 1996 - Our House [radio mix] (Anders album out of single album, released under the anonymous project Phantomas, cover version of the Madness hit)
• 1997 - Every Word You Said (out of album album by Anders in Chain Reaction prior to the reunion of the duet Modern Talking )
• 2004 - Never Been Loved Before (track from the single Tonight Is The Night)
• 2004 - The First Cry (Demo Song) (track from the single Tonight Is The Night)
• 2004 - Just Dream (out of album)
• 2006 - A Very Special Feeling (single album)
• 2006 - Cry For Help (track from the single Songs That Live Forever )
• 2008 - Ziele (feat. Sistanova) (not included in Anders album)
• 2008 - Ibiza Baba Baya (feat. Sound Chateau ) (out-album single)
• 2008 - For You (feat. Sound Chateau) (extra-album single)
• 2008 - Kisses For Christmas (out-of-album Christmas gift)
• 2009 - The Night Is Still Young (duet with Sandra) (included in Sandra's album “ Back to Life ”, 2009)
• 2009 - Geboren (out of album album)
• 2009 - Good Karma (album)
• 2009 - Forever In A Dream (feat. Kasia Nova) (album album)
• 2009 - Tenderness (out of album)
• 2009 - Everybody Wants To Rule The World (album album)
• 2011 - Now Or Never (track from the single of the duo Anders / Fahrenkrog - No More Tears On The Dancefloor)
• 2012 - No ordinary Love (feat. Kamaliya ) (extra-single album)
• 2013 - We Are One (feat Omid) (album album)
• 2014 - Everybody Wants To Rule The World (single to download)
• 2014 - Promised Land (track from The Love In Me compilation)
• 2015 - The Beauty and the Beast (feat Deborah Sasson) (included in singer Deborah Sasson's album)
• 2015 - True Love (feat Deborah Sasson) (included in singer Deborah Sasson's album)
• 2016 - Lunatic (single to download)
• 2016 - Love Is In The Air (single album)

You can also mention the following extra-album tracks:

• "Tell Me" (feat. Nora) (Live in Chili 1988) - 1988
• " Mandy " (Thomas Anders / Modern Talking Fan Club CD) - 2000
• “Cryin 'in the Night” (Thomas Anders / Modern Talking Fan Club CD) - 2001
• "If I Can't Have You" (Thomas Anders / Modern Talking Fan Club CD) - 2001
• Cry for You (Thomas Anders / Modern Talking Fan Club CD) - 2001

Concert albums

Singles

• Heißkalter Engel, 1983
• Es geht mir gut heut 'Nacht, 1984
• Love Of My Own, 1989
• One Thing, 1989
• Soldier, 1989
• Can't Give You Anything (But My Love), 1991
• Standing Alone, 1992
• Road To Higher Love, 1994
• Independent Girl, 2003
• King Of Love, 2004
• Tonight Is The Night, 2004
• All Around The world, 2006
• Cry For Help, 2006
• The Night Is Still Young (duet with Sandra ), 2009
• Why do you cry ?, 2010
• Stay With Me, 2010
• Gigolo ( Anders / Fahrenkrog) 2011
• No More Tears On The Dancefloor ( Anders / Fahrenkrog ), 2011
• No ordinary love, 2012 (duet with Kamaliya)
• We Are One, 2013 (duet with Omid)
• Der Beste Tag meines Lebens, 2017

• 1988 «I Can Never Let You Go» (Co-wrote for Engelbert Humperdinck)
• 1989 "Soldier, " (Written and produced by Alan Tarney)
• 1991 «The Sweet Hello, The Sad Goodbye» (Written by Per Gessle)
• 1992 «Standing Alone» (Duet with Glenn Medeiros)
• 1993 «When Will I See You Again» (Duet with The Three Degrees)
• 1993 «Emotional Thing» (Co-wrote for The Three Degrees)
• 1993 «Question of Love» (Co-wrote for The Three Degrees)
• 1993 «Ain't No Woman» (Co-wrote for The Three Degrees)
• 1994 «Tal Vez» (Co-wrote for Marta Sánchez)
• 1995 «Feel for the Physical» (Duet with The Pointer Sisters)
• 2000 ZLATKO & JUERGEN — Grosser Bruder (автор)
• 2001 «Hey Mr. President»
• 2001 «Cry for You» (Co-wrote for No Angels)
• 2002 «Stay» (Co-wrote for No Angels)
• 2002 «Funky Dance» (Co-wrote for No Angels)
• 2008 «Ziele» (Sistanova featuring Thomas Anders)
• 2008 «Ibiza Baba Baya» (Sound-Chateau featuring Thomas Anders)
• 2008 «For You» (Sound-Chateau featuring Thomas Anders)
• 2009 «The Night Is Still Young» (Sandra featuring Thomas Anders)
• 2009 «Forever In A Dream» (Kasia Nova featuring Thomas Anders)
• 2012 «No Ordinary Love» (Kamaliya featuring Thomas Anders)
• 2013 «We Are One» (Omid featuring Thomas Anders)

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