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Modern Talking was a German Dance pop duo consisting of Thomas Anders and Dieter Bohlen. Genre-wise they were often classified under Europop. By sales, it is the most successful and popular group in Germany.

The beginning of Modern Talking

First formed at the end of 1984, they unexpectedly became immensely popular with their eurodisco hit single You're My Heart, You're My Soul with which they occupied the number one position in 35 countries including their homeland where it perched at the top for six weeks, the single went on to sell eight million copies world-wide. The track was then followed by another number one hit You Can Win If You Want in the middle of 1985 from the The First Album. The album went on being certified platinum in Germany.

Soon after the second hit, Modern Talking released the single Cheri Cheri Lady which also quickly climbed to the top of the charts in Germany, Switzerland, Austria and Norway meanwhile entering the top-10 in Sweden and The Netherlands. The single, being the only track released from their second album Let's Talk About Love, managed to push the album to a platinum status in Germany. The success continued with two other number one singles such as Brother Louie and Atlantis Is Calling (S.O.S. for Love) both from the third album Ready For Romance. The duo also charted high with their sixth single Geronimo's Cadillac from the fourth album In the Middle of Nowhere and Jet Airliner from their fifth album Romantic Warriors.

During this era Modern Talking were successful in Europe, Asia, South America, Middle East, particularly in Iran, where all Western pop music was banned after the 1979 Islamic revolution, and also in several African countries. In the United Kingdom they entered the top ten only once with the song Brother Louie (#4 UK in 1986). 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. They released two albums a year between 1985 and 1987 while also promoting their singles on television all over Europe eventually selling 65 million records within three years.

Between 1987 and 1998

After the duo split up in 1987, Bohlen formed his own project Blue System immediately after the splitting and enjoyed several high chart positions with tracks like Sorry Little Sarah, My Bed Is Too Big, Under My Skin, Love Suite and Déjà Vu. Anders went solo and recorded some of his new pop like material in Los Angeles and London, and also in his native country. As a solo artist, Anders toured in places like Moscow, Sun City, Hong Kong and Santiago de Chile during which time he would sing songs from his pop solo albums, in the meantime keeping his thousands of enthusiastic loyal fans satisfied with former Modern Talking material. Anders recorded five solo albums in English Different, Whispers, Down on Sunset, When Will I See You Again and Souled and one album in Spanish Barcos De Cristal. Both his voice and vocal delivery advanced with every album he recorded; however, he found more success in foreign countries than at home. Despite all the quarrels and disagreements that Dieter and Thomas experienced between themselves in the past, Anders and Bohlen began keeping in touch again after Anders moved back to Koblenz, Germany in 1994.

The Reunion: 1998–2003

In the beginning of 1998 the duo reunited, and had their first performance together in March on Germany's biggest TV show Wetten, dass..?. The duo re-started things off with the re-packaged version of their '84 single You're My Heart, You're My Soul '98. The single; however, no longer sounded like a mellow Europop track, instead it was a typical up-tempo Eurodance number featuring rapper Eric Singleton on the rap vocals. Their first comeback album Back For Good which included four new tracks as well as all of the previous hits redone with modern techniques stayed at number one position in Germany for five consecutive weeks and managed to top the charts in 15 countries, eventually selling six million units worldwide. The duo won the award at World Music Awards for being the Best Selling German Band that year. The follow-up album Alone which also went straight to number one in Germany was very successful elsewhere as well, the album managed to sell well over one million units in Europe alone. Bohlen followed his '80 Modern Talking pattern as he chose to release two singles from each album again as in the past. A series of singles and four more albums followed such as Year of The Dragon, America, Victory and Universe. After reaching the point where they had already collected over 400 gold and platinum awards worldwide, Bohlen and Anders decided to split up again in 2003. Bohlen's involvement in Deutschland sucht den Superstar, 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. They released one more compilation album in 2003 calling it The Final Album which contained all of the duo's singles. 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

In 1998 Bohlen quoted the hit single Precious Little Diamond by Fox the Fox as his inspiration for using falsetto choruses. The studio vocal line up of Rolf Köhler, Michael Scholz, Detlef Wiedeke and (on early albums) Birger Corleis, in addition to Bohlen and Anders, produced the high choruses characteristic of Modern Talking. Köhler, Scholz and Wiedeke later went on to work with Bohlen in Blue System, before joining with songwriter Thomas Widrat to form Systems in Blue. Köhler, Scholz and Wiedeke were never credited on the Modern Talking albums, and eventually went to law over the matter. They received an out of court settlement and Bohlen published a sleeve note for his next release (Obsession, by Blue System), acknowledging the trio's contribution.

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. After the 1998 reunion Bohlen produced eurodance, as well as American-style MOR ballads.

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 as well as Scorpions 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, and comprised him, Rolf Köhler, Modern Talking co-producer Luis Rodriguez, and the backing singers.

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 meant to say that the music of Modern Talking will live forever". 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 Songs Forever 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, and 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.. 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 been written for the Universe album. Anders recently had his first and Bohlen his fourth child.

Members

Discography

Albums

Singles

Compilations

• 1986 You're My Heart, You're My Soul (AMG Release)
• 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 (Release)
• 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 (Re-release)
• 2001 Selected Singles '85-'98
• 2001 The Very Best of Modern Talking
• 2002 The Very Best of Modern Talking (Re-release) (#14 France) (Compilation Chart)
• 2002 Gotcha: Your Hits 2002
• 2002 The Golden Years (3 CDs)
• 2002 We Still Have Dreams – The Greatest Love Ballads of Modern Talking
• 2002 The Final Album (2 CDs South African Edition)
• 2003 The Final Album
• 2003 Romantic Dreams (Re-release)
• 2003 Let's Talking! … Best of Modern Talking
• 2003 Greatest Hits 1984–2002 (Korean Edition)
• 2006 Nur Das Beste (1998–2003 Collection)
• 2006 Nur Das Beste: Modern Talking - Die Hits (1998–2003 Collection) (Release from iTunes)
• 2007 The Hits (2 CDs)

See also

• Blue System
• Systems in Blue
• C.C.Catch
• Euro disco
• Best selling music artists - World's top selling music artists chart.

References

1. ^ "Dieter Bohlen - Germany's Prince of Pop". Deutsche Welle. 2003-02-121. Retrieved 2009-08-10. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |date= (help). Cite error: The named reference "Dieter Bohlen - Germany's Prince of Pop" was defined multiple times with different content (see the help page).
2. "Argentine Biz Worries That '98 Gains Will Deflate In '99". AllBusiness.com. 1998-11-21. Retrieved 2009-08-02..
3. "Dieter macht Schluss mit Thomas" (in German). Stern (magazine). 2003-06-08..
4. ^ "Thomas Anders" (in German). MTV Germany.
5. ^ "Chartverfolgung / MODERN TALKING / Single". Musicline.de.
6. "Modern Talking - Cherri Cherri Lady". swisscharts.com.
7. "UK Top 40 Database". everyhit.com.
8. ^ "Modern Talking Biography at Sony Music (Germany)". Sony Music.
9. "IFPI Platinum Europe Awards: 1999 Awards". IFPI Europe.
10. ^ "Bohlens Sänger ist tot (Bohlen's singer is dead)" (in German). 2007-09-18. Retrieved 09-08-13. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |accessdate= (help)
11. http://www.systems-in-blue.de/ Systems in Blue
12. "Modern Talking-Polendisko" (in German). Süddeutsche Zeitung. 2005-04-28.
13. "shortnews.de
14. "sueddeutsche.de
15. "Modern Talking: Germany's Album Positions" (in German). Musicline.de. Retrieved 2009-11-26.
16. "CHARTS-DEUTSCHLAND Album Top 100 (May 25, 1985)" (in German). charts.de. Retrieved 2009-11-26.
17. ^ "Modern Talking: Europe's Album Chart Positions". Swisscharts.com. Retrieved 2009-11-26.
18. "Gli album più venduti del 1998". Hit Parade Italia. Retrieved 2009-11-21.
19. ^ Roberts, David (2006). British Hit Singles & Albums (19th ed.). London: Guinness World Records Limited. p. 373. ISBN 1-904994-10-5.

External links

• Official Thomas Anders Page
• Dieter Bohlen at IMDb

• 1980s music groups
• 1990s music groups
• 2000s music groups
• Synthpop
• Electronic music duos
• German New Wave musical groups
• German electronic music groups