Dieter Bohlen

Dieter Bohlen
Dieter Bohlen live in Moscow 2009
Background information
Birth name	Dieter Günther Bohlen
Born	7 February 1954 (1954-02-07) (age 57)
Origin	Berne, Lower Saxony, Germany
Genres	Pop Eurodance Europop Euro disco
Occupations	Musician Songwriter Record producer Singer
Years active	1978–present
Labels	BMG
Associated acts	Modern Talking (Thomas Anders), Blue System, C.C.Catch, Anna Garcia (Sheree), Bonnie Bianco, Chris Norman, Bonnie Tyler, Les McKeown, Dionne Warwick, Smokie, Mary Roos, Marianne Rosenberg, Nino de Angelo, Mark Medlock, Al Martino, Yvonne Catterfeld, Touche, Tony Wegas, The Teens, Roy Black, Errol Brown, Engelbert Humperdinck, Bernd Clüver, Monza, Sunday, Alexander Klaws, Daniel Küblböck

Dieter Bohlen (born Dieter Günther Bohlen, 7 February 1954, Berne, Lower Saxony, near Oldenburg) is a German musician, songwriter, entertainer, TV personality, producer and writer. Bohlen is best known for being part of popular pop-duo Modern Talking during 1984–1987 and 1998–2003.

Biography

He did his Abitur in Oldenburg. In 1978 Dieter Bohlen was part of Monza. In 1981 he was member of trio Sunday, and they had a hit "Hale Hey Louise", which covered several artists in Germany, for example Ricky King. From 1984 to 1987 and from 1998 to 2003, Bohlen was part of the pop duo Modern Talking as a producer, songwriter and frontman. From 1985 to 1988, he was a producer and songwriter of disco queen C.C.Catch.

In 1988, Dieter Bohlen signed a young 15 year old singer named Anna Garcia Sheree "Ronnie Talk to Russia". The record was short lived after a sex scandal involving Dieter Bohlen.

After the first split-up of Modern Talking in 1987, he formed Blue System. For most projects Bohlen employed studio singers to produce a high-pitched chorus, and his frequent collaborators in the studio were Luis Rodriguez and Ralf Stemmann. Rivalen Der Rennbahn is soundtrack written by Bohlen. It was one of the best-selling albums in 1989 in Germany. Bohlen produced the German boygroup Touché which was founded by one of the group's five members, Karim Maataoui. In 1986, Bohlen wrote and produced Chris Norman's "Midnight Lady" for an episode of the German crime show Tatort, a song that became a major hit in central Europe.

He has been in the jury of Deutschland sucht den Superstar for seasons 1 through 7 and has scored several major hits with the participants. He is often criticized for his controversial and insulting comments ("You sing like a garden gnome on ecstasy", "Your voice sounds like Kermit when someone treads on his behind"). Bohlen has also released two autobiographical books about his career and his women and his experiences with singers. The first book was an unprecedented success in Germany. Both books were also released as audio books.

In 2006, Bohlen issued a new album called Dieter: Der Film that was a soundtrack to a movie of the same name. Global sales of Bohlen's acts Modern Talking and Blue System were 125 million units and sales of all singles and albums produced by Dieter Bohlen exceed 165 million units.

He has been a judge on all four seasons of German TV series Das Supertalent, the German version of America's Got Talent. He became a judge at the shows air in 2007 and has unlike the other judges remained part of the show.

Bohlen is the only foreigner ever given the title People's Artist of the USSR (in 1989).^[1]

Personal life

Bohlen was married to Erika Sauerland from 1983 to 1994 and has three children from this marriage. Even before he was legally divorced, he lived with – but never married – his new girlfriend Nadja Abd el Farrag AKA Naddel, a pharmaceutical laboratory assistant; she was a background dancer for Blue System at that time. In 1996, he married model and singer Verona Feldbusch but divorced her after thirty days, propelling Verona to celebrity status (she went on to host television shows such as Peep and Veronas Welt). After breaking up with Verona, he eventually returned to Naddel, but the two split up again in 2000. Bohlen and Naddel both confirmed that Bohlen suffered a penile fracture at one of their encounters.^[2] Later, Bohlen lived with the 1979 born model Stefanie Küster until 2006. They have one son, Maurice, born mid-2005. He met his current girlfriend Carina in Majorca, Spain, where one of the castings of Deutschland sucht den Superstar (the German version of Pop Idol) was produced. Bohlen lives in the village of Tötensen near Hamburg.

Discography

No. 1 Hits in Germany

Artists with Bohlen as producer (selection)

Awards

• 1985: Goldene Stimmgabel, Most successful composer and producer
• 1989: People's Artist of the USSR
• 1998: VIVA Comet – Lifetime Achievement Award
• 2001: Top Of The Pops Award, Top Artist Germany
• 2003: German Book Prize, Second accoding to the public audience
• 2003: Goldene Feder
• 2003: Media Control Award, 25 Jahre Media Control
• 2003: GQ Man Of The Year
• 2003: Unsere Besten, position #30 as the greatest German ever
• 2003: Bambi, Pop National
• 2004: Echo, best national producer
• 2004: Echo, Single of the year We have a dream
• 2008: Platin-Otto, Lifetime achievement award

Literature

By Bohlen

• Dieter Bohlen, Katja Kessler: Nichts als die Wahrheit, Heyne, Munich 2002, ISBN 3-453-86143-4
• Dieter Bohlen, Katja Kessler: Hinter den Kulissen, Blanvalet, Munich 2003, ISBN 3-89830-698-4
• Dieter Bohlen: Meine Hammer-Sprüche, Heyne, Munich 2006, ISBN 3-453-60045-2
• Dieter Bohlen: Nur die Harten kommen in den Garten! Der Weg zum Superstar, Heyne, Munich 2008, ISBN 978-3-453-60101-7
• Dieter Bohlen: Der Bohlenweg – Planieren statt Sanieren, Heyne 2008, ISBN 978-3-453-15535-0; also as audio by Random House Audio, spoken by Dieter Bohlen, ISBN 978-3-86604-965-9

About Bohlen

• Reginald Rudorf, Frank Farian, Dieter Kaltwasser: Stupid Dieser Bohlen. Die Wahrheit und nichts als die Wahrheit über den Pop-Hochstapler, Franks Kleiner Buchverlag, Berlin 2004, ISBN 3-9809531-0-6

References

External links

• http://www.laut.de/wortlaut/artists/b/bohlen_dieter/diskographie/index.htm
• Dieter Bohlen at Discogs