Pell, Axel Rudi

He began his career in the metal band “ Steeler ”. After breaking up with The Stiler, Pell immediately organized his own project and proudly called him Axel Rudi Pell. Axel picked up quite famous musicians for his company - the first line-up of “ARP” included drummer Jörg Michael (“ Stratovarius ”, “ Rage ”, “ Mekong Delta ”), vocalist Charlie Khan (“ Gary Moore ”, “ Victory ”), bassists Volker Kravchak ("Steeler") and Jörg Deisinger (" Bonfire "). From the first disc, Pell’s landmarks became clearly clear - the guitarist led his team along the course laid by Ritchie Blackmore during the time of Rainbow . Melodic metal with a touch of neoclassicism and sentimental hooks - this is the recipe for almost all ARP albums.

The second record, "Nasty Reputation", was already recorded with Rob Rock at the microphone, but after the release this vocalist returned to "Impellitteri". I had to urgently look for a new frontman, and the group played the rest of the promotion tour with former Malmsteen partner Jeff Scott Soto.

With the arrival of Jeff, the gang's backbone stabilized for a long time, and further castling concerned only the keyboardists. In 1993, Pell began to conquer a female audience by releasing a collection of ballads with the appropriate name. Beautiful ladies liked the idea, and later the guitarist and his group continued to rivet the discs from this series. Meanwhile, Axel Rudi Pell took a good place on the German metal scene and, starting in 1994, almost every studio album spent at least two weeks on the national charts. In 1998, the team still had to part with Soto, and instead, Axel introduced the Hardline vocalist Johnny Gioely to the public.

At the same time, keyboardist Ferdy Dornberg appeared on the team, replacing Christian Wolf. The personnel changes did not end there, since after the release of Oceans of Time, Jörg Michael left the group. But the drum kit was not empty for long, and already in the December 1998 tour it was occupied by former colleague Yngwie Malmsteen and Tony McAlpin Mike Terran.

After releasing the second batch of tear-filled ballads, Axel Rudi Pell took part in the creation of an album dedicated to Axel's favorite vocalist, Ronnie James Dio, performing the classic Rainbow repertoire, Still I'm Sad. In the same 1999, the team held a successful club tour and appeared at the festival in Wacken. The year after the release of The Masquerade Ball, Pell decided it was time to get a collection of best things and, based on a survey conducted on the Axel Rudi Pell website, built a double compilation called The Wizards Chosen Few. In 2002 and 2004, two ARP albums were released. But if in the first case the studio work was accompanied by the release of a concert, then in the second it was accompanied by another ballad collection.

In 2005, the Pell team limited itself to festival performances and a series of solo concerts, and the next year returned to studio work. The Mystica album took 27th place in the German charts, only five points short of the record set with the Shadow Zone. Axel composed his next album, entitled “Diamonds Unlocked”, from covers of his favorite performers.

Current squad

• Axel Rudi Pell ( guitar )
• Johnny Joely ( vocals )
• Ferdy Dornberg ( keyboards )
• Volker Kravchak ( bass )
• Bobby Rondinelli ( drums )

Former members

Vocals

• Charlie Khan ( 1989 )
• Rob Rock ( 1991 )
• Jeff Scott Soto ( 1992 - 1997 )

Bass

• Jörg Dizinger ( 1989 )
• Thomas Smushinski ( 1989 )

Percussion

• Jörg Michael ( 1989 - 1998 )
• Mike Terran ( 1998 - 2013 )

Keyboard

• Georg Khan ( 1989 )
• Rüdiger König ( 1989 )
• Kai Raglevsky ( 1991 - 1992 )
• Julie Gro ( 1993 - 1996 )
• Christian Wolff ( 1997 )

Studio Albums

• Wild Obsession ( 1989 )
• Nasty Reputation ( 1991 )
• Eternal Prisoner ( 1992 )
• Between the Walls ( 1994 )
• Black Moon Pyramid ( 1996 )
• Magic ( 1997 )
• Oceans of Time ( 1998 )
• The Masquerade Ball ( 2000 )
• Shadow Zone ( 2002 )
• Kings and Queens ( 2004 )
• Mystica ( 2006 )
• Diamonds Unlocked ( 2007 )
• Tales of the Crown ( 2008 )
• The Crest ( 2010 )
• Circle of the Oath ( 2012 )
• Into the Storm ( 2014 )
• Game of Sins ( 2016 )
• Knights Call ( 2018 )

Collections

• The Ballads ( 1993 )
• The Ballads II ( 1999 )
• The Wizard's Chosen Few ( 2000 )
• The Ballads III ( 2004 )
• The Best of Axel Rudi Pell: Anniversary Edition ( 2009 )
• The Ballads IV ( 2011 )
• The Ballads V ( 2017 )

Live Albums

• Made in Germany ( 1995 )
• Knights Live ( 2002 )
• Live On Fire ( 2013 )

DVD

• Knight Treasures (Live and More) ( 2002 )
• Live Over Europe ( 2008 )
• One Night Live ( 2010 )
• Live On Fire ( 2013 )

• Axel Rudi Pell at MusicMight
• Axel Rudi Pell on rockfaces.ru (Russian)
• Discographies and reviews on Russian Darkside e-Zine
• Lyrics
• Biography