Andreas Frege (born 22 June 1962), known professionally as Campino, is a German-British singer, best known as the lead vocalist of
Die Toten Hosen
Die Toten Hosen (literally "The Dead Trousers", figuratively "The Deadbeats") is a German punk rock band from Düsseldorf.
History
The current members of Die Toten Hosen are Campino (Andreas Frege), Kuddel (Andreas von Holst), Vom (Stephe ...
, a German punk rock band.
Biography
![DieTotenHosen12-800](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/6/6c/DieTotenHosen12-800.jpg)
Campino was born in
Düsseldorf
Düsseldorf ( , , ; often in English sources; Low Franconian and Ripuarian language, Ripuarian: ''Düsseldörp'' ; archaic nl, Dusseldorp ) is the capital city of North Rhine-Westphalia, the most populous state of Germany. It is the second- ...
and is a descendant of the Frege family who owned the (Frege House) in
Leipzig
Leipzig ( , ; Upper Saxon: ) is the most populous city in the German state of Saxony. Leipzig's population of 605,407 inhabitants (1.1 million in the larger urban zone) as of 2021 places the city as Germany's eighth most populous, as ...
. His grandfather Ludwig Frege was the president of the
Federal Administrative Court of Germany
The Federal Administrative Court (german: Bundesverwaltungsgericht, ) is one of the five federal supreme courts of Germany. It is the court of the last resort for generally all cases of administrative law, mainly disputes between citizens and t ...
. He grew up as the son of a judge and a teacher. His mother was English, and raised her children to be
bilingual. He has five siblings including his older brother John, who introduced him to punk music.
At the age of two he moved with his parents to
Mettmann
Mettmann () is a town in the northern part of the Bergisches Land, in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. It is the administrative centre of the district of Mettmann, Germany's most densely populated rural district. The town lies east of Düsseldorf ...
, near Düsseldorf, Germany. Campino went to the
Humboldt-Gymnasium secondary school in Düsseldorf. He had to repeat two school years, which put him in a class with
Michael Breitkopf
Die Toten Hosen (literally "The Dead Trousers", figuratively "The Deadbeats") is a German punk rock band from Düsseldorf.
History
The current members of Die Toten Hosen are Campino (Andreas Frege), Kuddel (Andreas von Holst), Vom (Steph ...
, with whom he founded Die Toten Hosen. Both finished secondary school in 1983. Campino did eight months military service in the
Bundeswehr
The ''Bundeswehr'' (, meaning literally: ''Federal Defence'') is the armed forces of the Federal Republic of Germany. The ''Bundeswehr'' is divided into a military part (armed forces or ''Streitkräfte'') and a civil part, the military part con ...
while his application for recognition as a
conscientious objector was being processed, after which he was transferred to
alternative civilian service within a psychiatric ward in Düsseldorf, together with friend Michael Breitkopf. From 1978 to 1982 he was the singer for the band ''ZK'', and later founded Die Toten Hosen with Andreas von Holst, Michael Breitkopf, Andreas Meurer, Trini Trimpop and Walter November. In their early years Die Toten Hosen are said to have played at small gatherings for just a crate of beer.
He and the other band members are fans of soccer club ''
Fortuna Düsseldorf
Düsseldorfer Turn- und Sportverein Fortuna 1895 e.V., commonly known as Fortuna Düsseldorf (), is a German football club in Düsseldorf, North Rhine-Westphalia, which competes in the 2. Bundesliga.
Founded in 1895, Fortuna entered the league ...
''. The band sponsored the team between 2001 and 2003. Campino also follows
Liverpool F.C.
Liverpool Football Club is a professional football club based in Liverpool, England. The club competes in the Premier League, the top tier of English football. Founded in 1892, the club joined the Football League the following year and has p ...
and broke his foot when kicking a garbage can in frustration at a Liverpool loss. The band frequently sponsor social projects, which have included helping kids with homework, campaigning against racism in sport and helping asylum seekers afford legal representation. Campino has a son with German actress
Karina Krawczyk.
Media appearances and acting
Campino has a high media presence, both as spokesman of Die Toten Hosen and as an individual. He has appeared on numerous television talk shows since the mid-1980s, commenting on a wide variety of social and religious issues. NDR television made a documentary of his life and beliefs that they screened within their weekly 'Gott und die Welt' (God and the world) show in 2001.
Campino has acted as a journalist on several occasions. In 1994 German magazine ''
Der Spiegel'' printed his interview with then Youth Minister
Angela Merkel
Angela Dorothea Merkel (; ; born 17 July 1954) is a German former politician and scientist who served as Chancellor of Germany from 2005 to 2021. A member of the Christian Democratic Union (CDU), she previously served as Leader of the Opp ...
in which he asked her about her experiences with drugs, alcohol and pop music. In 1993 he asked
Paul McCartney
Sir James Paul McCartney (born 18 June 1942) is an English singer, songwriter and musician who gained worldwide fame with the Beatles, for whom he played bass guitar and shared primary songwriting and lead vocal duties with John Lennon. One ...
similar questions. He interviewed
Joe Strummer
John Graham Mellor (21 August 1952 – 22 December 2002), known professionally as Joe Strummer, was a British singer, musician and songwriter. He was the co-founder, lyricist, rhythm guitarist and co-lead vocalist of punk rock band the Clash, ...
, singer of
The Clash
The Clash were an English rock band formed in London in 1976 who were key players in the original wave of British punk rock. Billed as "The Only Band That Matters", they also contributed to the and new wave movements that emerged in the w ...
for SZ magazine in August 2001, one year before Strummer died.
Campino has performed as an actor on several occasions. In 1986 he played a significant role in the movie ' by and in 1990, he played a punk in the early evening television serial ''
Der Fahnder
''Der Fahnder'' is a German television crime drama series which was aired between 1984 and 2005.
In the Netherlands the series was broadcast by the VARA from 3 October 1985.
Cast
; Klaus Wennemann: Hannes Faber (episodes 1–91)
; Jörg Schüt ...
''. In 1992, he played the lead role in the comedy ''Langer Samstag'' by Hanns Christian Müller, alongside Gisela Schneeberger,
Dieter Pfaff
Dieter Pfaff (2 October 1947 – 5 March 2013) was a German actor and director.
The son of a police officer, Pfaff was best known as police officer Hans Sperling in the series ''Sperling''. Sperling also appeared in two films about Swed ...
,
Ottfried Fischer
Ottfried Fischer (; born 7 November 1953) is a retired German actor and Kabarett artist best known for his role as Benno Berghammer in the popular German TV series '' Der Bulle von Tölz''. He is a supporter of the Social Democratic Party of Germ ...
,
Jochen Busse
Jochen Busse (born 28 January 1941 in Iserlohn) is a German television actor.
He began work as a stage actor at the Kammerspiele in Munich in 1960 and made his TV debut the same year. He has made 80 appearances in television since 1960. Jochen ...
and others.
Apart from a small role in the play ''
A Clockwork Orange'' in
Bad Godesberg
Bad Godesberg ( ksh, Bad Jodesbersch) is a borough ('' Stadtbezirk'') of Bonn, southern North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. From 1949 to 1999, while Bonn was the capital of West Germany, most foreign embassies were in Bad Godesberg. Some buildings ar ...
in May 1998 for which Die Toten Hosen also wrote the soundtrack, he had his theatre debut playing the role of
Mack the Knife
"Mack the Knife" or "The Ballad of Mack the Knife" (german: "Die Moritat von Mackie Messer", italic=no, link=no) is a song composed by Kurt Weill with lyrics by Bertolt Brecht for their 1928 music drama ''The Threepenny Opera'' (german: Die Dreig ...
in
Bertolt Brecht's "Dreigroschenoper" (engl. '
The Beggar's Opera
''The Beggar's Opera'' is a ballad opera in three acts written in 1728 by John Gay with music arranged by Johann Christoph Pepusch. It is one of the watershed plays in Augustan drama and is the only example of the once thriving genre of satiri ...
') from August to October 2006, with
Gottfried John
Gottfried John (; 29 August 1942 – 1 September 2014) was a German stage, screen, and voice actor. A long-time collaborator of Rainer Werner Fassbinder, John appeared in nine of the filmmaker's projects between 1975 and 1981, the year befor ...
,
Katrin Sass
Katrin Sass (, for a time Katrin Saß) is a German actress. She became known internationally for playing the idealistic socialist mother Christiane Kerner in the 2003 tragicomedy ''Good Bye, Lenin!''
Biography
She was born in Schwerin, in th ...
,
Birgit Minichmayr
Birgit Minichmayr (born 3 April 1977) is an Austrian actress born in Linz, Austria. She studied drama at the Max Reinhardt Seminar in Vienna. For her work in Maren Ade's film Everyone Else she won Silver Bear for Best Actress at 59th Berlin I ...
and Maria Happel. The play was directed by
Klaus Maria Brandauer
Klaus Maria Brandauer (; born Klaus Georg Steng; 22 June 1943) is an Austrian actor and director. He is also a professor at the Max Reinhardt Seminar.
Brandauer is known internationally for his roles in ''The Russia House'' (1990), ''Mephisto'' ...
and staged at the Admiralspalast (engl. 'admiral's palace') theatre in Berlin.
Campino was voted one of the 100 most significant Germans in an audience poll (''
Unsere Besten
' ("Our Best") is a television series shown in German public television ( ZDF) in November 2003, similar to the BBC series ''100 Greatest Britons'' and that program's spin-offs.
In subsequent years, a dozen similar rankings were compiled, mostly ...
'') by
ZDF
ZDF (, short for Zweites Deutsches Fernsehen; ; "Second German Television") is a German public-service television broadcaster based in Mainz, Rhineland-Palatinate. It is run as an independent nonprofit institution, which was founded by all fe ...
German TV in 2003. He was ranked 65th of the 300 people nominated. In 2006 he presented an
Echo
In audio signal processing and acoustics, an echo is a reflection of sound that arrives at the listener with a delay after the direct sound. The delay is directly proportional to the distance of the reflecting surface from the source and the lis ...
music award for extraordinary achievements to
Bob Geldof on behalf of the German recorded music industry.
Campino has supported the Regine Hildebrandt School in
Birkenwerder
Birkenwerder is a municipality in the Oberhavel district, in Brandenburg, Germany.
Geography
Birkenwerder is situated in the south of Oberhavel. The northern border of Berlin is 3 kilometres away. Birkenwerder shares his border with Oranienburg ...
since December 2006 with special emphasis on campaigns against racism.
He played the lead role in
Wim Wenders' movie ''
Palermo Shooting
''Palermo Shooting'' is a 2008 film written and directed by German director Wim Wenders, and starring Campino, Dennis Hopper, Giovanna Mezzogiorno, Lou Reed as himself, and an uncredited Milla Jovovich, also playing herself. It was screened at the ...
'' (2008), which premiered in Germany on 20 November 2008.
Guest appearances
Campino sang without Die Toten Hosen on:
* ''Wild Times Again'' album by
The Lurkers
The Lurkers are a British punk rock band from Uxbridge, West London. They are notable for being the first group ever on Beggars Banquet Records for whom they released two albums, the first of which charted in the UK Albums Chart, while five si ...
(1988)
* "Caramba, Carajo ein Whisky" on the ''Bajo otra bandera'' album by Pilsen (1993)
* "Thinking of You", "Song for Me" and "Marlene" on the album ''Honest John Plain & Friends'' by Honest John Plain & Friends (1996)
* ''Power Cut'' album by
The Boys (1997)
* "Raise Your Voice!" single by
Bad Religion (1998)
* "Viva la Revolution" on the ''En vivo y ruidoso II'' album by
Los Violadores
Los Violadores are a rock band from Argentina, pioneers of the punk rock genre in Latin America.
History
Los Violadores ("The Violators", referring to 'breaking the law', as mentioned in one of their songs, "Violadores de la Ley") was founded in ...
(2003)
* "Paul ist tot" on the ''26 1/2'' album by
Fehlfarben
Fehlfarben is a Neue Deutsche Welle music band from Düsseldorf, Germany, that was formed in 1979. Its founding members were Peter Hein (vocals), former member of the Band ''Mittagspause'' ("lunch break"), Thomas Schwebel (guitar, former Mit ...
(2006)
* "Smiling Through the Tears" on the ''A Foot Full of Bullets'' album by
Peter and the Test Tube Babies
Peter and the Test Tube Babies are an English punk rock band, formed in the small town of Peacehaven, England in 1978, by Derek "Strangefish" Greening and Peter Bywaters. Due to their humorous tongue-in-cheek lyrics, they have been considered ...
(2006)
* "Bandera de Manos" on the ''
La Vida... Es Un Ratico'' album by
Juanes (2007)
* "
Do Anything You Wanna Do
"Do Anything You Wanna Do" is a song written by Eddie and the Hot Rods' manager Ed Hollis (the brother of Talk Talk's Mark Hollis) and guitarist Graeme Douglas and recorded by the band, although the actual record label credited Rods as the artist ...
" on the ''Crisis'' album by
Motorama
The General Motors Motorama was an auto show staged by GM from 1949 to 1961. These automobile extravaganzas were designed to whet public appetite and boost automobile sales with displays of fancy concept cars and other special or halo models. Mo ...
(2009)
* "City of the Dead" on the ''Los Contrarios'' album by
Desorden Público
Desorden Público is a Grammy nominated ska band founded in 1985 in Caracas, Venezuela.
The band's music mixes ska, latin rock, reggae and traditional Latin music styles. The group's lyrics are known for commenting on Venezuela's and Latin Amer ...
(2011)
* "Alles nochmal von vorn" single by Wölli & Die Band des Jahres (2011)
* "Die Nacht ist mit mir" on the ''Zum Glück in die Zukunft II'' album by
Marteria
Marten Laciny (born 4 December 1982), better known by his stage name Marteria, is a German rapper. He has met with success in Germany (his 2012 collaboration with Yasha and Miss Platnum, "Lila Wolken", reached Number 1 in the German music chart ...
(2014)
* "Victory or Death (We Gave 'em Hell)" on the album ''Lies They Tell Our Children'' by
Anti-Flag (2023)
References
External links
*
Official website of Die Toten Hosen
{{DEFAULTSORT:Campino
1962 births
Living people
Musicians from Düsseldorf
German male singers
German people of English descent
British male singers
British people of German descent