Felix Weber (born December 1, 1960 in Hassfurt,

Bavaria Bavaria ( ; ), officially the Free State of Bavaria (german: Freistaat Bayern, link=no ), is a state in the south-east of Germany. With an area of , Bavaria is the largest German state by land area, comprising roughly a fifth of the total lan ...

) is a German composer, songwriter and record producer.

Early life

At the age of six Weber began a professional training as a classical pianist. At 14 he played in his first garage band and when 17 he toured with American cover bands through the US Army clubs in Bavaria performing for soldiers stationed in Germany. During this time he met his longtime songwriting partner Irmgard Klarmann, who he produced his first record with in 1978 at the Galgenberg Studio in

Stuttgart Stuttgart (; Swabian: ; ) is the capital and largest city of the German state of Baden-Württemberg. It is located on the Neckar river in a fertile valley known as the ''Stuttgarter Kessel'' (Stuttgart Cauldron) and lies an hour from the ...

Germany Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated betwe ...

Early songwriting in Germany

Over the next years Weber worked in different German recording studios but mostly at the Rainbow and Paradise Studios in

Munich Munich ( ; german: München ; bar, Minga ) is the capital and most populous city of the States of Germany, German state of Bavaria. With a population of 1,558,395 inhabitants as of 31 July 2020, it is the List of cities in Germany by popu ...

. During his work in Munich he met drummer/producer Todd Canedy whose production skills inspired and motivated Weber to build and eventually work in his own recording studio where he and his partner Klarmann penned many songs under the name

Klarmann/Weber Klarmann/Weber is a German songwriting and record production duo, consisting of Irmgard Klarmann and Felix Weber. The duo have composed and produced music since the late 1970s. In the 1980s, Klarmann/Weber established their name in Germany and in ...

. In 1981, Weber became keyboard player of the popular German band "Relax". During this time he made contacts in the record industry, which resulted in song releases for popular German artists such as Mandy Winter, Bernie Paul,

Gry Johansen Gry Johansen-Meilstrup (known as Gry) (born 28 August 1964 in Copenhagen) is a Danish singer who represented her country in Eurovision Song Contest 1983 The Eurovision Song Contest 1983 was the 28th edition of the annual Eurovision Song Contest ...

(aka Bo Anderson), Veronika Fischer, Guillermo Marchena, Kristina Bach and others. In 1987 after six years of working with Relax, he left the band to focus on his career as an international composer and producer. Shortly after he was signed to

Sony Music Sony Music Entertainment (SME), also known as simply Sony Music, is an American multinational music company. Being owned by the parent conglomerate Sony Group Corporation, it is part of the Sony Music Group, which is owned by Sony Entertainment ...

and after his two-year contract expired he signed a publishing deal with Warner/Chappell Music Germany where he stayed for 15 years.

International songwriting

Weber who was attracted to American music since his teenage years began to compose exclusively for the American music market, which brought him his first ''

Billboard A billboard (also called a hoarding in the UK and many other parts of the world) is a large outdoor advertising structure (a billing board), typically found in high-traffic areas such as alongside busy roads. Billboards present large advertise ...

'' Top 40 hit in 1988 with singer Tracie Spencer (" Symptoms of True Love"). In 1989 Paul Anka recorded Weber's song "Turning My Mind Back to You" on his ''Somebody Loves You'' album, produced by

Humberto Gatica Humberto Gatica is a Chilean-born American recording engineer, mixing engineer and record producer, best known for his work with Celine Dion, Chicago, Michael Jackson, Barbra Streisand, Andrea Bocelli, Josh Groban and Michael Bublé. Gatica's inter ...

. In 1990 Toni Braxton together with her sisters (" The Braxtons") released Weber's song " Good Life". In 1992 Weber had his first #1 hit in the US with singer

Chaka Khan Yvette Marie Stevens (born March 23, 1953), better known by her stage name Chaka Khan (), is an American singer. Her career has spanned more than five decades, beginning in the 1970s as the lead vocalist of the funk band Rufus. Known as the " Qu ...

("Love you all my lifetime"). Khan's album "

The Woman I Am ''The Woman I Am'' is the eighth studio album by American R&B/ funk singer Chaka Khan, released on Warner Bros. Records in 1992. It was Khan's first studio album since 1988's '' CK'' and due to artistic differences between Khan and Warner Bro ...

" received a

Grammy The Grammy Awards (stylized as GRAMMY), or simply known as the Grammys, are awards presented by the Recording Academy of the United States to recognize "outstanding" achievements in the music industry. They are regarded by many as the most pre ...

award for best vocal performance and Weber's song was awarded the

ASCAP The American Society of Composers, Authors, and Publishers (ASCAP) () is an American not-for-profit performance-rights organization (PRO) that collectively licenses the public performance rights of its members' musical works to venues, broadca ...

award. ''Billboard'' called Weber and his partner the "most successful German songwriters." Also in 1992 Randy Crawford released Weber's song " A Lot That You Can Do" which reached #74 in the Billboard R&B charts. Over the next years more songs were recorded by artists such as La Toya Jackson ( "Bad Girl"), Leo Sayer, La Bouche (Weber's song ''"I'll be there"'' was released on the double platinum album ''"Sweet Dreams"'' in 1996, which sold over 8 million copies worldwide),

Beverley Knight Beverley Knight (born Beverley Anne Smith, 22 March 1973) is an English recording artist and musical theatre actress. She released her first album, ''The B-Funk'', in 1995. Heavily influenced by American soul music icons such as Sam Cooke and ...

(

The B-Funk ''The'' () is a grammatical article in English, denoting persons or things already mentioned, under discussion, implied or otherwise presumed familiar to listeners, readers, or speakers. It is the definite article in English. ''The'' is the m ...

Jennifer Rush Jennifer Rush (born Heidi Stern; September 28, 1960) is an American pop and rock singer. She achieved success during the mid-1980s with several singles and studio albums including the million-selling single " The Power of Love", which she co-w ...

(''album:

Wings of Desire ''Wings of Desire'' (, ; ) is a 1987 romantic fantasy film written by Wim Wenders, Peter Handke and Richard Reitinger, and directed by Wenders. The film is about invisible, immortal angels who populate Berlin and listen to the thoughts of its hu ...

, song: "For all that"'' produced by

Phil Ramone Philip Ramone (né Rabinowitz, January 5, 1934March 30, 2013) was a South African-born American recording engineer, record producer, violinist and composer, who in 1958 co-founded A & R Recording, Inc., a recording studio with business par ...

), Christian artist

Kathy Troccoli Kathy is a feminine given name. It is a pet form of Katherine, Kathleen and their related forms. Kathy may refer to: In sports *Kathy Bald, Canadian freestyle swimmer *Kathy May, American tennis player *Kathy Radzuweit, German volleyball player ...

(''album:

), song: "I'll be there for you"'', Canadian singer/songwriter

Sheree Jeacocke Sheree Jeacocke (born 1958 in Toronto, Ontario) is a Canadian singer-songwriter. During the early 1980s Jeacocke starred in the CBC-TV musical ''The King Of Friday Night'' and worked as a backup singer for Gordon Lightfoot, Rita MacNeil, Glass ...

(''album: Sheree, song: "Forever you, forever me"''), Lory Bianco (''album: "Lonely is the night", song: "Heartbreaker"'' produced by Jeff Lorber), Japanese music idol Seiko Matsuda ''(album: Seiko, song: "He's so good to me")'',

Exposé Expose, exposé, or exposed may refer to: News sources * Exposé (journalism), a form of investigative journalism * '' The Exposé'', a British conspiracist website Film and TV Film * ''Exposé'' (film), a 1976 thriller film * ''Exposed'' (1932 ...

, Nancy Wilson; a collaboration with his late mentor Skip Scarborough ('' Earth, Wind & Fire'', '' Anita Baker''),Felix Weber in Billboard Magazine December 20, 1997 / page 36 / article:
''"A short list of German Global hits"''
- by Ellie Weinert Penny Ford (a co-production with ''

American Idol ''American Idol'' is an American singing competition television series created by Simon Fuller, produced by Fremantle North America and 19 Entertainment, and distributed by Fremantle North America. It aired on Fox from June 11, 2002, to Ap ...

'' judge

Randy Jackson Randall Darius Jackson (born June 23, 1956) is an American record executive and television presenter, perhaps best known as a judge on ''American Idol'' from 2002 to 2013. Jackson began his career in the 1980s as a session musician playing bas ...

), saxophonist Boney James and Australian singer Vanessa Amorosi. Weber moved to the USA in 2000 where he started a music production company.

References

External links

*
Felix Weber at AllmusicOfficial websiteOfficial Facebook Page
{{DEFAULTSORT:Weber, Felix 1960 births Living people People from Haßfurt German male songwriters German male composers 20th-century German male musicians 21st-century German male musicians 20th-century German songwriters 21st-century German songwriters 20th-century German composers 21st-century German composers