Ralf Hütter
| Ralf Hütter | |
|---|---|
.jpg) Ralf Hütter by Ueli Frey, 1976 | |
| Background information | |
| Birth name | Ralf Hütter |
| Born |
20 August 1946 Krefeld, Rhine Province, Germany |
| Genres |
Electronic music Synthpop Krautrock |
| Occupation(s) | Musician and vocalist |
| Instruments | Synthesizer, keyboards, vocoder, guitar, bass guitar, drums, percussion, vocals |
| Years active | 1965–present |
| Associated acts |
Kraftwerk Organisation The Phantoms[1] The Quartermasters[2][3] |
| Website | http://www.kraftwerk.com |
Ralf Hütter (born 20 August 1946) is the lead singer, keyboardist, founding member and leader of the electronic-music band Kraftwerk. Since the departure of Florian Schneider in 2008, he is the group's sole remaining founding member.
Biography
Hütter was born in Krefeld, Germany. He now lives near Düsseldorf but does not like to talk about his personal life.[4] He met Florian Schneider while studying improvisation at the conservatory in Düsseldorf.[5]
Cycling interests
Ralf Hütter is an enthusiastic cycling fan, a fact reflected in some of the band's work. It was widely claimed that, when he was on tour, the group's bus would drop off Hütter 100 miles away from the next venue and he would cycle the rest of the way, a story that Hütter later confirmed.[6] The band members took up cycling when recording the album The Man-Machine in the late 1970s. Ralf Hütter had been looking for a new form of exercise. The single "Tour de France" includes sounds that follow this theme, including bicycle chains, gear mechanisms and the breathing of the cyclist. At the time of the single's release Ralf Hütter tried to persuade the rest of the band that they should record a whole album based around cycling. At the time this did not happen, but the project eventually was released as Tour de France Soundtracks in 2003.
Hütter was involved in a serious cycling accident in 1983, during the initial period of recording of the since-abandoned album Techno Pop.[7] Only the single "Tour de France" and demos of "Techno Pop" and "Sex Object", would find their way into bootleg releases after this accident. He was put in a coma as a result of it. Karl Bartos stated the first thing he said when he awoke from his coma was "Where is my bicycle?", a story Hütter later disputed in a June 2009 interview in The Guardian.[7]
References
- ↑ Kollektiv - MySpace Music
- ↑ Ralf And Florian Appreciation Society - Facebook
- ↑ Ralf And Florian Appreciation Society - Facebook
- ↑ John Harris interviews Ralf Hütter: 'I got a new head, and I'm fine', The Guardian, 19 June 2009. Accessed 6 February 2013
- ↑ Jon Savage interview with Ralf Hütter. 30 August 2012. Accessed 6 February 2013
- ↑ http://www.theguardian.com/music/2009/jun/19/kraftwerk-hutter-manchester-international
- 1 2 Pascal Bussy (1993). Man, Machine, and Music
External links
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