Biography

Many different experiences and paths have shaped my life as a musician.

As a result, my diverse musical influences are hard to pin down. It was and always will be crucial for me to be moved by music on an emotional level. For me, it isn’t about genre or style, but whether musicians really means what they do.

Over the years, these criteria have been satisfied by what, for me, are “classic songwriters” (such as Neil Young, Paul Simon or Leonard Cohen), by punk and especially post-punk (e.g. The Chameleons and Joy Division), “between times” by the Waterboys (Mike Scott) and prog (Van der Graaf Generator/ Peter Hammill, Genesis, Pink Floyd, etc.), but also by the more traditional styles of Celtic/British folk (such as Planxty/ Christy Moore, Fairport Convention and Altan).

Contemporary songwriters who have left an impression on me include artists like Damien Rice and Lisa Hannigan, and bands like The National or Fink.

All of these influences can definitely be heard and felt in my own music. Less clear is the influence of the music that I now listen to very often, such as minimal or neoclassical music.

My music has reflected these sources of inspiration since the mid-80s. Earlier years in a folk duo, a cover rock band and a pop group taught me a great deal, before I found my musical home playing bass and singing in the band Faite Main that still exists today.

I was involved in Celtic folk music for 10 years in the band Musical Priest. I had plenty of live experiences, especially at regular gigs in pubs and bars, including some I don’t miss.

I have been developing my solo repertoire since the beginning of the 2000s, and regularly play live. Since 2009, my experiences have been broadened by collaboration with the label and music network “Songs & Whispers”.

For example, I toured around England with Someday Jacob and Robert Carl Blank, where I met musicians whose tours I had already supported here.

Appearances at the Breminale festival or at Sendesaal Bremen (with Daisy Chapman, among others) are always highlights for me, but I equally love small, intimate venues where the attention is 100% on me.

I do a variety of different types of live performances.

Solo performances give me the freedom to reinterpret songs, to relive them and rediscover them each time.

If I play with Katharina-Dorothea Lichte, we focus on duets and the resulting dynamism. My performances with Till Brüggemann are shaped by our many years of shared experience, including playing in bands. And, in appearances with Jens Potenberg (Faite Main) or Martin Denzin (Someday Jacob, Daisy Chapman, among others), my solo programm becomes a band.