Biography

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1959

Born near Stuttgart , Germany

1978-1982

After I had discovered the freedom and life-style of a professional busker, there was no turning back. My old Citroen van was converted into a rolling home, and off I went. First on the road with pantomime Habbe Ehrenfeld, later as “Bombadil`s Big Band”, I travelled to most European cities and played where ever possible. From downtown pedestrian streets in Northern Europe to street-cafés and squares in France and Italy.

Invitations to participate in several Festivals, such as the Nyon Folk Festival in Switzerland.

1983

I left for the United States of America.

In California I bought an old school-bus and travelled up and down the west-coast for six months, playing on the street and markets. I was very surprised by the success I had and the warm welcome I received almost everywhere I went.

I was invited to perform live at various radio stations such as KPFA Berkeley, where Chris Strachwitz, founder of the prestigious “Arhoolie Records” label presented new talents.

Up north I participated in several colourful festivals like the “Oregon Country Fair” or “Bumbershoot” in Seattle.

1984-1985

With fellow One Man Band College Chris Lejeune I flew to Bangkok. As the “Hot Feet Brothers” (a double One Man Band act) we made our way through Thailand, Malaysia, Singapore, Hong Kong and Japan.

In the summer I came back to the US to team up with the “Old Time, New Age Chautauqua,” a travelling Vaudeville Show presented by the legendary folk-singer and story-teller U.Utah Phillips. It was a great honour to travel and perform with personalities like him, Faith Petric, Tom Noddy, Artis the spoonman, The Flying Karamazov Brothers or Jazz musicians like Peter Apfelbaum or Steven Bernstein and many more wonderful people.

This colourful caravan took me to many places in the north-west, from small venues like the Blackfoot Indian Reservation near Browning, Montana to big Festivals like the Vancouver Folk Festival.

The winter saw me back in East-Asia ,where I stopped off to make some money in Japan, then on to the Philippines, Indonesia and back to Thailand, where I met up with Chris again. On the island of Koh Samui, then still a low budget travellers` paradise, we happened to meet two other One Man Bands, Bernd Meyer-Snyder and Jim Franklin, who where travelling the world individually and, like us, played wherever their fancy took them. We called ourself the “Koh Samui Allstars” and performed up and down the beaches of this gorgeous little island.

Later I went to the Peoples Republic of China to explore some rather unknown busking territory. Secretly accompanied by a chinese girl named Yi, I ventured through Southern China, playing music in the streets for nothing but idealistic reasons and causing quite some uproar.

Back in America I ran into guitarist Michael Hedges, whom I had met the year before and became friends with. He liked my act and invited me to his studio and offered to produce my first album “Hot Feet” for free.

1986-1987

After a longer stay in Boulder/Colorado I decided to cross over to the east coast, where in Quebec, Canada I met Odette, a French Canadian lady with a fascinating street show involving dance and juggling. We got together and performed as “The Honeymoon Roadshow” in Europe and America.

As a solo-performer I was invited to the Buskers 87 Festival in Halifax, Nova Scotia, where, overwhelmed by the positive response, I got a rare taste of stardom: huge cheering crowds, lots of money and nation-wide coverage on TV, radio and newspapers.

1988-1989

A new chapter. I went down south to Mexico and fell in love with Latin-America. Every town has a central square where it was very easy to gather an audience. I never had a problem to make enough for some basic meals and a cheap hotel.

In Guatemala I spend a long time at the magical Lake Atitlan, performing amongst other musicians in the town of Panajachel, where I also recorded my second album “Live in the circus.” There I met my wife Annelis from Switzerland with whom I travelled throughout South-America in 89.Via Costa Rica we flew to Colombia, overland to Ecuador, Peru, Bolivia, Brazil, Argentinia ,Chile and overland back to Colombia.

1990-1991

We arrived in Guatemala exactly one year after we had left, New Years Day 1990, not knowing yet, that soon another important chapter in the book of life was to be opened: Our daughter Soluna Samay was born. We settled down at the lake-shore just outside of Santiago Atitlan for 2 years, building a house, growing our own vegetables, baking bread and washing dirty diapers. Without electricity or running water, but lots of free time to spend in, on or by the lake. Only when necessary I left for an occasional tour to Mexico to perform amongst many other cities at the Music and Theatre Festival “Cervantino” in Guanajuato .

1992-1993

First summer in Europe since 10 years. In a “motor home” I started up my old european busking routine again. I discovered East Germany and other newly opened cities like Prague, where, on the Karls Bridge, I did some of my best shows that summer. In Germany I got invited to play on several TV Shows and by the end of `93 I met up with my old friend guitarist Dagobert Böhm, who helped to produce my first CD One Man Bandstand.

1994-1996

Finally made it up to Norway for the first time, meeting a lot of legendary performers, some of whom like Don Partridge, Phil Free, Lawrence Gleister, Des Bader or Dr.Harmonica I remembered from working in Switzerland before going overseas, others like Jim Pizza, Leo Gillespie or Moti Rymarczuk I met for the first time after hearing about them for years.

After the season in late August we all met in a little mountain resort for a tiny buskers festival. In October I recorded my second CD “Rockin´the Rhythm, Rollin´the Blues".

In January 95 the travelling family left for South-Africa. In Johannesburg we bought an old Mercedes and took off to Cape Town. There I performed everyday at the famous Waterfront and after six weeks of hard work had saved up enough to explore the rest of the region. We drove up to Namibia visiting this country`s incredible nature reserves and drove through the Caprivi strip westwards to Zimbabwe. From there over horrendous roads to Zambia, Malawi, Mozambique and back to South-Africa. 6 months and 20.000 unforgettable kilometres.

My daughter Soluna started passing around the hat the age of three, but soon became involved in the music itself by picking up and accompanying me on percussion. At the age of 5 she sat behind her own little drum kit for the first time, leaving a big impression all over Scandinavia, where we started spending every summer to come. Especially at the music festivals we were busking, like the Nottoden Blues Festival or the Tonder Folk Festival, we generated huge crowds and lots of excitement.

In October`95 I left for a Solo-Tour to Israel and Egypt and in January `96 we embarked for yet another long trip, this time to Asia. Starting out after a few weeks on the beaches in Goa, we worked our way through the Indian subcontinent on public transport, from Rajastan to Varanasi and on to Nepal where we managed to motivate our little one to hike up to 4000 metres above sea level in a 14 day trek without ever having to be carried. After that we went to Thailand, Malaysia, Sumatra, Bali and Lombok before we came back for our annual European tour.

1997-1999

Back in Guatemala in winter time, on the road in Europe in the summer. In between several more solo trips to Israel and in February I went to Cuba for the first time with fellow performer Shy Almagor. Being the first western busker many Cubans ever saw, I gathered enthusiastic crowds around me with only a guitar and harmonica. Very little money, but an overwhelming response of warm, heartfelt happiness.

In `99 release of CD “Roadsongs” staring Soluna on drums and singing on one of the songs.

2000-2001

Looking for a base in Europe but not knowing where, we happened to visit my long time friend Danish/Brazilian singer and composer Maria Hiort Peterson who had settled down on Bornholm in the Baltic Sea. We found a beautiful old farm on this idyllic little island and decided in half an hour that this was it. Time to settle down in Europe.

Soluna had picked up the bass in the winter and we performed a new show of three different sets that we played all through out summer before she started school on the island fall 2000.

Since her progress on bass and vocals is going quite fast, we not only recorded our first entire CD “The Beat goes on“ together, but also won first price out of 57 contenders at the first international Street Music Festival in Ludwigsburg, Germany in Spring 2001. With the release of our new album on Ozella Records this well publicised event was perfect timing.

For further developments ( 2002 - 2005 ) please go to "updates"