Stephan Eicher
Stephan Eicher ( born August 17, 1960 in Münchenbuchsee near Bern ) is a Swiss ( rock ) cabaret singer. He sings in his songs in French, German, English, Italian and German Bern, sometimes even within one piece. He became known in the German-speaking world in the 1980s with his band gray area and their NDW chart single polar bear, since he is successful in France and Switzerland, with various albums, tours and number-one hits.
Life and work
Stephan Eicher comes from a Jenische family. He spent his childhood in Munich Buchsee, later he attended the Ecole d' Humanité in boarding Hasliberg. His musical training took place at the Zurich Art School F F, where he learned, among other things, to use the computer for composing.
His first recordings polar bear took Stephan Eicher with his brother Martin as NDW - band gray zone 1980. The preference for French chansons à la Jacques Dutronc, Antoine and Serge Gainsbourg influenced his subsequent solo releases. The LP / CD tracks Les Chansons Bleues refers to Eicher's melancholy mood this time. His theme is loneliness.
The two then following albums Stephan Eicher established. The album I tell this night rose in 1985 in the Swiss charts at # 10 and stayed 12 weeks in the top list. Eicher Two years later, was able to record 3rd in the Swiss Top 10 with the album Silence and was 14 weeks out on the charts. Both albums were recorded by Stephan Eicher almost single-handedly.
With My Place Stephan Eicher in 1989 there was a new path. The French lyrics were written by Philippe Djian, a renowned French writer, with the Eicher also is private friends and later renewed wrote lyrics for Eicher's albums. In the instrumentation he sat additionally a string quartet. His greatest commercial success was in 1991, the album Engelberg, located in Switzerland alone could hold five weeks for the 1st place and stayed a total of 46 weeks in the album charts. Déjeuner en paix The title also developed in France for a number -one hit. All of the following albums Stephan Eicher came regularly to the places 1 to 5 of the Swiss album charts. One of the most played title on Swiss radio remains Eicher 1992 version of Hemmige, brought to the point of Mani Matter philosophy.
As part of a world tour that also took him, among other things on the African continent, he took in 1994 to his first live album.
Published in 2001, Stephan Eicher his first best-of album, titled Hôtel 'S. The Hotel Hess in the Swiss Engelberg was long years for him a second home. Martin Hess, brother of hoteliers Geny Hess and his close friend, was producer. Eicher chose the title Hôtel 'S as a tribute to this grand hotel that was demolished in the same year. About picking the album he let the fans vote on his website. In the Kursaal in Engelberg also created the albums Engelberg and Louanges.
He loved it always implement unusual ideas into tangible projects, in In the taxi from Hamburg to Palermo, a musical journey through the cultures of 2003, which he realized literally and as an album. The title track taxi Europe he sang in the interplay with Herbert Grönemeyer and the Italian Max Gazzé.
In July 2006, Eicher opened the Blue Balls Festival in Lucerne and for the first time presented this two songs he co-authored with the Swiss author Martin Suter (I know what it nid isch and Charlie ). In April 2007, the album Eldorado appeared.
On 18 December 2009 Eicher has received the Art Prize of the City of Zurich, which incidentally was awarded for the second time in the category of Pop / Rock. He is winner of the Swiss Award 2013 in the category «Show ».
Collaboration with other artists
Stephan Eicher worked throughout his career with numerous musicians. In the major European festivals, he came along with others, I Muvrini, Moondog, Ismaël Lô, Axelle Red and Texas.
He was accompanied live and on some of his albums by drummer Manu Katché, guitarist Sonny Landreth and Tommy Vetterli ( Coroner, Kreator ) and bassist Pino Palladino. With the Zurich songwriter Sophie Hunger, he took photos for her album Monday's Ghost to 2008 the song mirror image, which was not published only on the Swiss version of this album.
Stephan Eicher also produced the Swiss musician Tinu Heiniger and produced, composed and wrote with rapper Kutti MC Album free float.
Discography
Publications with gray area, see their complete discography.