Lothar Krell
Lothar Krell - musician, producer, keyboard player and composer. A native of Frankfurt, Germany, he is regarded as one of the most innovative professionals in the country...
ARTIST-INFO
Born in 1955 in Eppstein/Ts, a small town in the hills around Frankfurt. Lothar, the youngest of 5 children, was inspired by his father, an experienced piano player who would liven the family evenings with classical music, and the young boy wanted to become a conductor. Fulfilling his son´s wish, Dad arranged piano lessons for Lothar, now 5 years old, with the late Prof. Dr. Fleury, who immediately saw talent in his young pupil and encouraged him to study musical theory.
Lothar, now a Teenager and under the influence of pop music - first and foremost the music of the Beatles - abandoned the dream of becoming a conductor and began studying electronics in 1973, graduating in 1977. Still bearing the desire to become a musician, he would earn money as a piano player and keyboarder in various bands and bars, recording his first album in 1978 with Paladyn, his first rock band.
That same year he received an offer from a certain Kurt Hauenstein to play in his band Supermax. This was an opportunity Lothar didn't want to miss, and what followed proved him right ; numerous hit songs, app. 3.500.000 sold records, and several tours through Europe and Africa.
After four years, Krell grew tired of playing disco music, and decided to return to his roots and play some solid rock music. In 1981 he founded an produced, together with bassist Ken Taylor and guitarist Robby Musenbichler, the band Tokyo.
After 3 albums, app. 300.000 sold records and success full tours throughout Europe, he left the band in 1984.
Since 1982, Lothar has been a much sought after keyboarder and arranger, and so, from now on, he focused on his career as studio musician and producer. In 13 years he played on more than 150 albums and various singles with numerous artists, including several hits by German pop icons Hubert Kah and Markus, three albums by Edo Zanki and Ina Deter, followed by several European tours in 6 years with Marius Müller Westernhagen and JoJo, among others.
1985 Lothar composed and arranged the European Top Ten hit "Your Heart Keeps Burning" for the band Blind Date - it sold 480.000 copies in Germany alone. As producer and arranger for the band Hob Goblin he received the Goldene Europa-award for the hit single "Gnadenlos Erotisch".
In 1989 Lothar received the first request to compose a soundtrack - for the movie "Singles", at the same time he made his first excursion into the field of instrumental and world music and composed "Sinnfonie für Amphitrite". The work´s premiere took place in Mannheim in front of 35.000 people, accompanied by a monumental laser show.
The next stages of Lothar´s carreer were no less exceptional: A song he composed for Maggie Reilly sold 400.000 copies. A year later, he produced the music for a spectacular Laser show at the Olympic Games held in Barcelona. The production of the world music project "Echnaton´s Return" by MacDowell/Krell followed, as well as numerous other CD´s ; "Flatsch", "Tom Becker" (an album whose every single entered the charts) "Richard Sanderson", "The Riverboys" (charted for 19 weeks), "Schweizer", "Laurie Jones" and Sally Oldfield (16 weeks in the charts), to name a few. Lothar fervently pursued the expansion of his musical activities. His next aim was to realise his dream of having his own company for contemporary world music.
When he met Andreas Schardt, attorney-at-law in 1997 and told him about his idea, Schardt was thrilled - Lothar had found his partner. In August 1998, the label "Music Of One World" was founded.
Lothar set about preparing various productions. The first single release - Tony Baez (spanish flamenco pop) - was followed by Tülay, a Turkish R&B singer. Mehmet Badan, another young turkish singer released an entire album. Amerindia, a collaboration with Tony Osanah, a native of Argentina with Calchaqui Indian background, and a CD compilation of world music tracks followed.
Subsequently, Lothar recorded "Kol el alam" - a song featuring the Egyptian singer "Shayma". The CD was produced in co-operation with the German handball society and the DSF sports federation and released as the hymn for the German National Handball Team for the World Cup 2000.
After three years of doing only studio work, Lothar was itching to go on stage again. Mario Adorf, immensely popular actor and entertainer, called upon Krell to play keys on his "Ciao" Tour - an offer he couldn´t turn down. Achala, an ambitious project fusing asian music influences recorded together with singer and multiinstrumentalist Tony Clark was released in June of 2001.
Since the beginning of 2001, Lothar Krell has been working mainly as label manager, spending the rest of his time with the development and preparation of new world music projects.