MODERN TALKING

'Modern Talking' was a German pop music duo consisting of composer/producer/background singer Dieter Bohlen and singer Thomas Anders. By sales, it was the single most successful pop group in Germany.^[1]

Contents

History

1980s

1990s/2000s

Production and sales figures

Solo careers

Trivia

References

Discography

Albums

Singles

Compilations

See also

History

1980s

First formed at the end of 1984 (Anders was 21), they unexpectedly became immensely popular with their standalone disco hit "You're My Heart, You're My Soul", which was then followed by "You Can Win If You Want" and "Cheri, Cheri Lady". They released two albums a year between 1985 and 1987 while also promoting their singles on television all over Europe.

Modern Talking were successful in Europe, Asia, South America, Middle East, particularly in Iran, where all Western pop music was banned after 1979 Islamic revolution, and several African countries. In the United Kingdom they entered the top ten only once with the song "Brother Louie" (in 1986, #4 UK). They did not feel very good about promoting their singles there due to being marketed in England as a gay group like Erasure and Culture Club. In their videos and tv performances after this hit, Bohlen and Anders were usually shown standing far apart. Since 1985 Anders had also been wearing a necklace which spelled out his girlfriend's name in gold letters.
Like most European pop groups, they were almost unknown in North America, never appearing in the US charts, although they did become one hit wonders in Canada when 'Brother Louie' hit #34 in 1987. Composer Dieter Bohlen employed mood-evoking lyrics and intellectually-designed synthesizer-based music which was out of vogue in the U.S. before Modern Talking even formed. Those that know of Modern Talking in North America are either avid fans of Eurodance and/or Dance-pop or one of the few DJ's that play their songs in clubs here and there.

1990s/2000s

After splitting up in 1987, the duo reunited in 1998, at first only testing the waters with new versions of hit singles and again reaching the top of the charts unexpectedly. A series of singles and albums followed. Bohlen and Anders split again in 2003 due to Bohlen having insufficient time to deal with so many projects. His involvement in Deutschland Sucht Den Superstar aka DSDS, the German edition of the UK's Pop Idol, was one of the major reasons, and he said he knew it was best to stop while still on top. Thomas Anders started another solo career immediately, while Bohlen had by now begun devoting most of his time to new talents, especially those he discovered on DSDS.

Production and sales figures

The songs before the first split were produced in a style that can be vaguely described as Euro Disco. At the time (mid 80s) central/east and southern Europeans, used to call this music style "Italo-disco". Also, many dance schools in Eastern Europe, used to teach this music style in a discofox way, so some remember it as "discofox". In 1998 Bohlen quoted the hit single "Precious Little Diamond" by Fox the Fox as his inspiration for using falsetto choruses. Further influences include German-language Schlager music, disco pop (Bee Gees) and romantic English-language songs of Italian and French origin, like Gazebo's "I Like Chopin". Some of the lyrics were reminiscent of Hot Chocolate. After the 1998 reunion Bohlen produced Eurodance (with heavy mid 90s euro-house influences), as well as American-style MOR ballads.
The songs where originally recorded using up to five background singers; in live situations the songs were performed using playback. Anders did begin to perform the songs live when he toured the world shortly after the break-up. In the late 90's Bohlen and Anders went on their first official tours under the band name.
Global sales of Modern Talking records were 120 million units, according to BMG in June 2003, and they have become the biggest-selling German music act in history, so far outselling even Frank Farian's projects Boney M and Milli Vanilli, Michael Cretu's Enigma, Sandra, the Scorpions, Snap! and Rammstein.
Dieter Bohlen also worked with other artists even while Modern Talking existed, among them Chris Norman of Smokie fame whose song "Midnight Lady" (1986) remains Bohlen's most popular composition. He also wrote a large number of disco tracks for C.C.Catch ("House of Mystic Lights") using an accelerated, less romantic sound. Some English Bohlen songs like "You're My Heart, You're My Soul" were also recorded with German lyrics by Mary Roos using the same playback tracks. When Modern Talking split up in 1987, a number of tracks written for the last album were instead moved onto Dieter Bohlen's first solo album which appeared almost at the same time, among them his first solo single "Sorry Little Sarah". Bohlen's solo project was called Blue System, although it was basically him, Modern Talking co-producer Luis Rodriguez, and the familiar background singers. At the time, a lot of listeners couldn't get used to the voice "changing" while the music stayed similar. The success of Blue System in Germany declined after the third album and Bohlen later admitted that he lost touch with developments in the music scene.

Solo careers

In 2006 Bohlen included a secret message in his song "Bizarre Bizarre" which was played backwards: "There will never be an end to Modern Talking". However, Bohlen said he was referring to the existing music, and Anders also reaffirmed that the group will never be back. Anders has kept the Modern Talking songs in his repertoire and produced songs in a similar vein for his solo records ("Independent Girl"). In 2006 he produced an album of Swing and Jazz versions of popular songs (including Modern Talking's first hit). Bohlen has written two autobiographical books, one of which also detailed Modern Talking's history from his perspective, sold a million copies in Germany. The sequel was heavily criticised for his unfairness towards the people he worked with. As a result of that, he withdrew from the public for a year until 2006, when he said he regretted putting out the second book. Anders had not been the only one pressing charges against Bohlen and demanding that sections of the book be modified. Frank Farian was angered by Bohlen's literary output and released a book in which he tried to expose Bohlen as a fraud, but this didn't get down well with the public, either. Bohlen's first book was the basis of an animated comedy film called ''Dieter - Der Film''. The soundtrack of this film contained one previously unreleased Modern Talking song ("Shooting Star") which had obviously been written for the ''Universe'' album. Anders recently had his first and Bohlen his fourth child.
Bohlen and Anders split again. Bohlen went on to the German version of Pop Idol and Anders became a musician on its own after being the "second violine" in the shadow of the flamboyant Bohlen.

Trivia

★ They have claimed to have sold 100 million records or more

★ Modern Talking is the only band to score five consecutive number one singles in Germany, apart from Boney M.

★ Their biggest hit "You're My Heart - You're My Soul" reached number 1 in 35 countries.

★ Their hit "Cheri Cheri Lady" reached Number 1 in 11 countries including: Lebanon, Israel, Germany, Austria, Greece.

★ Their hit "Brother Louie" stayed on the UK Singles Chart, for 12 weeks and reached chart position No. 4 there.

★ In 1988 Modern Talking record sales reached 85 million copies.

★ In 1998 the comeback 7th album ''Back for Good'' sold 700,000 copies in the first week in Germany.

★ In 1998 at the first concert outside of Germany after their comeback in Budapest they played to 514,000 people and were shown on MTV Europe.

★ They sold in excess of 100,000 copies of 'Back for Good' in a smaller market like South Africa, which translates to double platinum in that country.

★ In 1999 the third version of "Brother Louie" reached the top 5 on the UK Dance chart.

★ The post-reunion singles like "Sexy Sexy Lover" regularly reached the top 20 on the MTV Europe chart.

★ In 2001 they were awarded the Top of the Pops Award as best German band, in Manchester.

★ The singles "Win the Race" and "Ready for the Victory" were written at the request of the German TV station RTL for their broadcasts of Formula One racing contests.

★ Many songs, including "You're My Heart, You're My Soul" and "Cheri, Cheri Lady", have been covered by Cantopop artists during the 1980s.

★ Rap artist Eric XL Singleton was hired for rap versions of several Modern Talking songs between 1998 and 2001, including "You're My Heart, You're My Soul"; "Brother Louie"; "You Are Not Alone"; "Sexy Sexy Lover"; "China in Her Eyes"; "Don't Take Away My Heart" and "Last Exit to Brooklyn". These were officially released as singles between 1998 and 2000 along with the original songs. A rap version of "Cheri, Cheri Lady" appeared as an additional track on the "Brother Louie" single.

References

1. talking".''thomas-anders.com''.

Discography

Albums

★ 1985 ''The 1st Album'' (Ariola) [#1 Germany, #6 South Africa, #8 Netherlands, #2 Switzerland]

★ 1985 ''Let's Talk About Love'' (Hansa Records) [#2 Germany, #17 Netherlands, #1 Switzerland]

★ 1986 ''Ready for Romance'' (Hansa Records) [#1 Germany, #19 France, #76 UK, #1 Switzerland, #1 South Africa]

★ 1986 ''In the Middle of Nowhere'' (Hansa Records) [#1 Germany, #3 Switzerland]

★ 1987 ''Romantic Warriors'' (Hansa Records) [#3 Germany, #8 Switzerland]

★ 1987 ''In the Garden of Venus'' (Hansa Records) [#35 Germany, #1 Turkey]

★ 1998 ''Back for Good'' (Ariola) (BMG) [#1 Germany, #1 South Africa, #3 Netherlands, #9 Italy, #1 Europe, #2 World sales, #1 Switzerland]

★ 1999 ''Alone'' (BMG International) [#1 Germany, #1 Argentina, #5 Sweden, #9 South Korea, #11 France, #13 Spain, #17 South Africa, #6 Europe, #8 World sales, #3 Switzerland]

★ 2000 ''Year of the Dragon '' (BMG International) [#3 Germany, #4 Switzerland, #5 Austria, #10 Europe]

★ 2001 ''America'' (BMG International) [#2 Germany, #10 Switzerland, #7 Austria, #9 Europe]

★ 2002 ''Victory'' (BMG) [#1 Germany, #14 Switzerland, #7 Austria, #20 Argentina, #9 Europe]

★ 2003 ''Universe'' (BMG) [#2 Germany, #25 Switzerland, #10 Austria, #11 Europe]

★ 2003 ''The Final Album'' (compilation, BMG) [#3 Germany, #1 South Africa, #14 Europe, #53 Switzerland]

Singles

★ 1984 "You're My Heart, You're My Soul" [#1 Germany, #56 UK, #2 South Africa, #1 Lebanon, #15 Japan, #1 Israel, #1 Switzerland] [8 mil. sales]

★ 1985 "You Can Win if You Want" [#1 Germany, #1 Lebanon, #70 UK, #10 South Africa, #1 Israel, #2 Switzerland]

★ 1985 "Cheri, Cheri Lady" [#1 Germany, #1 Lebanon, #1 Israel, #7 Italy, #1 Hong Kong, #1 Greece, #1 Switzerland]

★ 1986 "Brother Louie" [#1 Germany, #4 UK, #1 Lebanon, #1 South Africa, #34 Canada, #2 Switzerland]

★ 1986 "Atlantis is Calling (SOS for Love)" [#1 Germany, #1 Spain, #3 Lebanon, #4 Italy, #55 UK, #3 Switzerland]

★ 1986 "Geronimo's Cadillac" [#3 Germany, #1 Spain, #23 Italy, #6 Switzerland]

★ 1986 "Give Me Peace On Earth" [#29 Germany, #7 Belgium]

★ 1986 "Lonely Tears in Chinatown" [#9 only for Spain]

★ 1987 "Jet Airliner" [#7 Germany, #16 South Africa, #3 Spain, #12 Switzerland]

★ 1987 "In 100 Years" [#30 Germany, #18 South Africa]

★ 1998 "You're My Heart, You're My Soul '98" [#2 Germany, #5 Lebanon, #8 Ireland, #4 Switzerland]

★ 1998 "Brother Louie '98" [#16 Germany, #1 Argentina, #8 Lebanon, #2 France, #21 Switzerland]

★ 1998 "Cheri Cheri Lady '98" [#1 ArgentinaAir Play chart, #20 Hong KongAir Play Chart]

★ 1999 "You Are Not Alone" [#7 Germany, #5 Spain, #13 France, #10 Japan /Airplay top 100, #15 Sweden, #36 Brazil, #12 Switzerland]

★ 1999 "Sexy Sexy Lover" [#16 Germany, #20 Argentina, #25 Sweden, #35 Switzerland]

★ 2000 "China in Her Eyes" [#8 Germany, #6 Spain, #26 Sweden, #20 Switzerland]

★ 2000 "Don't Take Away My Heart" [#41 Germany, #8 Hungary]

★ 2001 "Win the Race" [#5 Germany, #1 Romania, #16 Argentina, #36 Sweden, #31 Switzerland]

★ 2001 "Last Exit to Brooklyn" [#37 Germany, #7 Russia, #94 Switzerland]

★ 2002 "Ready for the Victory" [#7 Germany, #9 Russia, #11 Spain, #13 South Korea, #62 Switzerland]

★ 2002 "Juliet" [#25 Germany, #4 Paraguay, #10 Russia, #83 Switzerland]

★ 2003 "TV Makes the Superstar" [#2 Germany, #4 Russia, #11 Europe single chart, #55 Switzerland]

Compilations

★ 1986 ''The Singles Collection''

★ 1987 ''The Modern Talking Story'' (Scandinavian Edition)

★ 1988 ''Best Of Modern Talking''

★ 1988 ''You're My Heart, You're My Soul''

★ 1988 ''Romantic Dreams''

★ 1988 ''Greatest Hits Mix''

★ 1989 ''Hey You''

★ 1989 ''The Greatest Hits Of Modern Talking''

★ 1991 ''The Collection''

★ 1991 ''You Can Win If You Want''

★ 1994 ''You Can Win If You Want'' (re-release)

★ 2000 ''You're My Heart, You're My Soul''

★ 2001 ''Selected Singles '85-'98''

★ 2001 ''The Very Best Of Modern Talking''

★ 2002 ''Best Of Modern Talking'' (re-release) [#14 France] (Compilation Chart)

★ 2002 ''The Golden Years'' (3xCD)

★ 2002 ''We Still Have Dreams – The Greatest Love Ballads Of Modern Talking''

★ 2003 ''Romantic Dreams'' (re-release)

★ 2003 ''Let's Talking! … Best of Modern Talking''

★ 2002 ''The Final Album'' (2 CDs South African Edition)

★ 2003 ''Greatest Hits 1984-2002'' (Korean Edition)

★ 2006 ''Nur Das Beste'' (1998-2003 Collection)

★ 2007 ''The Hits'' (2 CDs)

See also

★ Official Site of Thomas Anders

★ Hispanic Fansites

★ Tribute to Thomas Anders

★ The biggest Modern Talking media exchange community

★ |ModernTalking.Biz|