BIG IN JAPAN - ALPHAVILLE - (1984)

ALPHAVILLE is a German synthpop group which gained popularity in the 1980s. The founding members were Marian Gold (real name Hartwig Schierbaum, born 26 May 1954 in Herford), Bernhard Lloyd (real name Bernhard Gößling, born 6 June 1960 in Enger, North Rhine-Westphalia), and Frank Mertens (real name Frank Sorgatz, born 26 October 1961 in Enger, North Rhine-Westphalia). The band was at first named Forever Young before changing to Alphaville. They are best known for their two biggest hits, "Big in Japan" and "Forever Young". As of 2010 they have sold over 6,000,000 (six million) albums.

Beginnings - Forever Young

Alphaville was born in early 1982, when Marian Gold and Bernhard Lloyd met each other at the music project Nelson Community. Some months later, Frank Mertens joined the project. Together the three wrote Forever Young and recorded their first demo of the same name. In 1984, the newly-renamed Alphaville released their debut single, "Big in Japan", which Gold wrote in 1979 after hearing the music of Holly Johnson's band Big in Japan. In autumn 1984, they released their debut album, Forever Young. Despite its success, Frank Mertens left the band that year and was replaced in January 1985 by Ricky Echolette (born Wolfgang Neuhaus, in Cologne on 7 August 1960), who was credited on the Forever Young album.

Projects

Gold has released two solo albums (So Long Celeste, 1992, and United, 1996, both mixing personal creations and covers), alongside his work in the band. Lloyd also worked on a project named Atlantic Popes with singer Max Holler, a 13-track CD. In 1996, Frank Mertens started a musical project called Maelstrom, which was a combination of ambient-style music, impressionistic and colorful art in the form of paintings and sculptures, and etheric poetry. This project seems now to have been abandoned, though, as Mertens has not been visibly active with it. At present the band is still touring and working on new material and have signed new deal with the Universal Music Group. The actual single and album releases were released at first in Germany only and through online shops and download platforms in German-speaking countries. The first single from the upcoming, long awaited new album is titled "I Die For You Today". This became available as a digital download on October 8th, 2010. The single was released in CD format on October 22nd, 2010. It entered the official German charts at number 15 in its first week of release.
Marian Gold has indicated that the band will tour the album extensively in Germany in 2011.

• Music

  • "Big In Japan" by Alphaville (Google Play • AmazonMP3 • iTunes)

• Artist

  • Alphaville

• Category

  • Music

• License

  • Standard YouTube License