German pop singer Annette Humpe (left) was born in Hagen in 1950. Today she lives in Berlin, where she began her career in the early 1980s. Together with Ernst Ulrich Deuker (r.), Frank Jürgen Krüger (2nd from right) and Hans-Joachim Behrendt (2nd from left) he founded the band Ideal. Before that, she and her sister Inga were with babies.
Humpe was a singer and keyboard player at Ideal. The band quickly became one of the most prominent representatives of the Neue Deutsche Welle. Ideal’s most famous songs include “Blaue Augen” (1980), “Eiszeit” (1982) and “Keine Heimat” (1983). The band’s success didn’t last long, however, because …
… already three years later, Ideal announced the end. In 1983 the band officially announced: “Ideal was conceived as a project from the start, a work group that should exist as long as the differences between the individual members make the work exciting and creative.” But for Annette Humpe this was just the beginning of her career.
After the band disbanded, she initially worked as a producer. In 1985 he founded Humpe & Humpe with his sister (photo). Together they released two albums. With Adel Tawil he achieved even greater success as a duo.
In 2004 the two musicians founded the duo Ich + Ich. Above all, his single and self-titled album “Vomsame Stern” (2007) made it to the top of the German charts. In 2011 the duo separated. Adel Tawil (right) explained to “HNA”: “After three albums with Ich + Ich we felt we needed some distance, not from each other, but from the music. The moment was quite right”.
Humpe then turned to artist Max Raabe (r.), With whom she wrote an album together. Because Humpe had also made a name for itself as a producer. Before that he had already written and produced songs for Die Prinzen, Udo Lindenberg, Nena and the unnamed band. In 2009 she was awarded the German Music Author’s Prize and in 2011 ECHO Pop for her life’s work.
In 2018, Annette Humpe even received the Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany. In an interview with “Zeit” he told about his work: “I like clear and unambiguous language. I understand irony very badly, it was already like that during the NDW period”.
And other artists also celebrated the successes after the NDW period. Hubert Kah – his song “Sternenhimmel” became an absolute hit in 1982 – initially fell ill with depression and withdrew from the public. In 1996, however, new music was released by him, in 2005 he began a second comeback with the album “Seelentaucher”.
Meanwhile, Hubert Kah is also moving into the German trash TV landscape. In 2014 he participated in the show Sat.1 “Promi Big Brother”. Together with his wife Ilona, he was also seen in July 2016 in the RTL reality show “Das Sommerhaus der Stars – Kampf der Promipaare”.
Singer Nena also started her career as part of the Neue Deutsche Welle. The hit “99 Luftballons” (1983) of his band Nena became known beyond the borders of the country. In 1989 the singer began her solo career.
In 2001 Nena made a comeback when she covered some of her old songs. Their new version of “Irgendwie, somewhere, something” with Kim Wilde entitled “Anyplace, Anywhere, Anytime” reached number three on the German charts in 2003. He continued this success with his subsequent albums. He recently released his new album “Licht”.
In 1982 Peter Schilling celebrated his first big hit with his song “Major Tom (completely detached)”. The Neue Deutsche Welle star even made it to number 14 on the American Billboard charts with the English version. More blows followed. In 1989 the artist interrupted his career due to a burnout.
Meanwhile, Peter Schilling works primarily as an author. In 2005 he published the men’s guide “Pleasure Factor Wellness – Wellbeing Management for Men”. A few counseling books and an autobiography followed. The “Little Major Tom” children’s book series now has twelve volumes. Furthermore, Schilling is still on stage today as a musician.
She too celebrated her greatest hits at the time of the Neue Deutsche Welle: Fräulein Menke preferred to appear in a dirndl, in line with her hit “Hohe Berge” (1982). Among other things, she was the protagonist of the hit parade ZDF. But with the end of the NDW, their records were no longer sold. Her subsequent albums “Immaculate” (2005) and “My Star” (2017) have not built on their success since then.
In 2017 Miss Menke took part in the RTL jungle camp and was promptly eliminated as the first candidate. “I didn’t expect that. Once I swallowed it wasn’t that bad anymore. I just comforted myself with the fact that people are rated out based on age,” she told the agency ad. He is currently causing a stir by supporting the lateral thinking initiative. The picture shows them at a demonstration in Hamburg.
With “Goldener Reiter” Joachim Witt conquered the world of German music in 1981. Two years later, the success was over: a hard blow for Witt. “I lost everything. My money, my marriage, my career. I lived on the pillar, I haven’t left the house for months. I felt so empty that I let women pull me out of loneliness just to feel something.” . he told “Bild am Sonntag”.
The 71-year-old is still active as a musician. In recent years he has released other albums and singles in which he exercises social criticism. In 2014 the album “Neumond” even reached number eight on the German charts. In 2016 he moved to the Sat.1 “Celebrity Big Brother” house, where he stayed for 13 days. He recently launched his album “Rübezahls Returns” (2020) on the market.
Markus Mörl, also known as Markus M. or simply Markus, is also one of the big stars of the NDW. After initially performing with the Nylon Euter band, he began his solo career. Successfully: his song “Ich will Spass” reached the top of the German charts in 1982. A year later he also celebrated successes with “Kleine Flashlight burn”.
Like some of his NDW colleagues, Markus Mörl also landed on Trash TV. With his partner Yvonne König (photo) he moved to the RTL “Summer House of the Stars” in 2017 and in 2020 they said yes on live television. Mörl is still on stage.
And what about successful former bands? The Extrabreit band caused a sensation with rock numbers – especially “Hurray, Hurray, school is on fire!” (1981). Indeed, the band still exists, but now in a new composition. Guitarist Stefan “Kleinkrieg” Klein, singer Kai “Havaii” Schlasse and drummer Rolf Möller are still there. The new album “AUF EX!” It will be released on November 13, 2020.
