Michael Rother

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Michael Rother
Rother in concert in November 2007
Background information
Born	September 2, 1950 (1950-09-02) (age 57) Hamburg, Germany
Genre(s)	Krautrock, Kosmische Musik, Proto-punk, Art-rock, Electronic Music
Occupation(s)	Musician
Instrument(s)	Guitar, keyboards
Years active	1971 (with Kraftwerk) 1971–1975, 1985–1986 (With Neu!) 1973–1976, 2007- (with Harmonia) 1976- (Solo)
Label(s)	Brain
Associated acts	Neu!, Harmonia, Kraftwerk, Cluster
Website	www.michaelrother.de/en/

Michael Rother (born September 2, 1950 in Hamburg) is a German experimental Krautrock musician and composer.

1 Early life and education
2 Music career
3 Discography
- 3.1 with Neu!
- 3.2 with Harmonia
4 Sources
5 External links

[edit] Early life and education

Born in 1950, Rother went to school in Munich, Wilmslow (England), Karachi, and Düsseldorf. From 1965 he played in the band Spirits of Sound, from which other members would later go on to join Kraftwerk and Wunderbar.

[edit] Music career

Michael Rother live in 2007.

Michael Rother (left) & Dieter Moebius (right) live in 2007.

Rother is a multi-instrumentalist (primarily guitar and keyboards) who, along with a catalog of several solo albums starting in 1977, is most known for having co-founded the German group Neu! with drummer Klaus Dinger (five albums between 1971 and 1996), and his collaborative efforts with Hans-Joachim Roedelius and Dieter Moebius (aka Cluster) under the name Harmonia (two albums, one in 1974 and 1975, with later 1976 sessions recorded with Brian Eno released two decades later.) Rother and Dinger were also in a short-lived version of Kraftwerk in 1971, with Florian Schneider, during a time when founding member Ralf Hutter had temporarily left the band. (This version of the group was filmed during an appearance on the German music show Beat Club, which has been available sporadically on VHS and DVD.)

Beginning in the late 1970s, Rother began issuing LPs under his own name: Flammende Herzen (1977), Sterntaler (1978), and Katzenmusik (1979) all featured drums by Can percussionist Jaki Liebezeit. Further releases into the 80's included Fernwarme (1982), Lust (1983), Süssherz und Tiefenschaerfe (1985) and Traumreisen (1987). Rother regained the rights to these releases in the late 90's, and re-released CD versions of them, all of which contained bonus tracks, usually in the form of then-current remixes of original album tracks. Along with these reissues were a best-of compilation, Radio, and a new release, Esperanza (1996)

On July 1, 2007 Michael Rother joined the Red Hot Chili Peppers for a live jam at the end of their concert in Hamburg. Together they played nearly 25 minutes for 35 000 people.^[1]. In November 2007 he is touring with Dieter Moebius (another members of Harmonia) as Rother & Moebius^[2]. On the 27th November 2007, a Harmonia reunion concert is announced to take place in Berlin, they will perform together live for a first time since 1976.^[3].^[4]