Alphaville

Genres:	Pop / Rock
Descriptive "tags":	80s • new wave • synthpop • pop • synth pop • german • electronic
Decades Active:	1980s • 1990s • 2000s

Biography

This polished Euro rock band had its origins in the Westphalian provinces of North Germany. They came together in Münster and started their career as a trio in Enger, near Bielefeld on New Year’s Eve 1982 under the moniker Forever Young with Marian Gold (Hartwig Schierbaum, 26 May 1954, Herford, Germany; vocals), Bernhard Lloyd (b. Bernhard Gössling, 2 June 1960, Enger, Germany; synthesizer) and Frank Mertens (b. Frank Sorgatz, 16 October 1961, Enger, Germany; synthesizer). In mid-1983 they changed their name to Alphaville, inspired by Jean-Luc Godard’s eponymous science fiction film from 1965. After producing their first single in the German capital (Studio 54) they adopted Berlin as their new base. Singing in English and constructing simple, synthesizer-led pop, Alphaville had a huge success in 1984 with the single ‘Big In Japan’, a cleverly constructed but hollow lament that predated A-Ha’s Europop follies and lifted heavily...

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