Matthias Reim (born 26 November 1957) is a German
pop and
Schlager singer. His 1990 single "
Verdammt, ich lieb' dich" ("Damn, I love you") was a hit in several European countries and spent 16 consecutive weeks at the number 1 spot in the
German charts
The GfK Entertainment charts are the official music charts in Germany and are gathered and published by GfK Entertainment (formerly Media Control and Media Control GfK International), a subsidiary of GfK, on behalf of Bundesverband Musikindust ...
. He unexpectedly returned 23 years later to the top on the charts with "
Unendlich" in 2013.
Early life
Reim was born on 26 November 1957 in
Korbach
Korbach (pronunciation: ˈkoːɐˌbax), officially the Hanseatic City of Korbach (German: Hansestadt Korbach), is the district seat of Waldeck-Frankenberg in northern Hesse, Germany. It is over a thousand years old and is located on the German Tim ...
and grew up in
Homberg. His father was the director of the
gymnasium in Homberg. After receiving his ''
Abitur
''Abitur'' (), often shortened colloquially to ''Abi'', is a qualification granted at the end of secondary education in Germany. It is conferred on students who pass their final exams at the end of ISCED 3, usually after twelve or thirteen year ...
'', he began his undergraduate studies in the German and English languages as well as Germanistic and Anglistic literatures in Göttingen. This took 18 terms – this is above average, as he spent its time predominantly in the music studio and not in the lecture-room.
Career
1980–89: Fallen Dice and Fair Fax
Reim's career began as a songwriter, writing for
Bernhard Brink
Bernhard Brink (born 17 May 1952 in Nordhorn) is a German Schlager singer, TV and radio presenter.
Life
After school Brink studied German law in Berlin but never graduated. Brink is a German singer of Schlager songs. Since the 1970s he has ...
,
Roberto Blanco
Roberto Blanco (legal name: Roberto Zerquera Blanco), was born 7 June 1937 in Tunis, Tunisia. Of Afro-Cuban origin, Blanco is a German Schlager singer, actor, and entertainer.
Early life
Blanco is the son of Cuban folklorist and artist Alfonso ...
and
Tina York. He played in a rock band called Fallen Dice with Pete Goldenberg and Norbert Preis. Their debut album, ''Pasch 1'', was released in 1981. He spent a brief time as lead singer of the band Aqua before their dissolusion in 1984. In 1986, Reim formed the synthpop duo Fair Fax with Jörg Wiesner. They released one single, "Satellite Dream", through
Hansa Records
Hansa Records (also known as Hansa, Hansa Musik Produktion or Hansa International) was a record label founded in the 1960s based in Berlin, Germany.
Profile
The label's most successful act commercially was the German-based band Boney M. with mil ...
.
1990–99: Solo career
Reim's debut single "
Verdammt, ich lieb' dich" ("Damn, I love you") topped the German Singles Chart for sixteen consecutive weeks in 1990. It also reached no. 1 in Austria, Belgium, the Netherlands and Switzerland. His debut album, ''Reim'', was released through
Polydor
Polydor Records Ltd. is a German-British record label that operates as part of Universal Music Group. It has a close relationship with Universal's Interscope Geffen A&M Records label, which distributes Polydor's releases in the United States. ...
on 15 June 1990. He released a further nine albums through Polydor, including 1994's ''Zauberland'' which was re-recorded in English the following year.
2000–2015: The Electrola Years
Reim began to see increased commercial success again in the 2000s after signing with
Electrola
Electrola is a German record label and subsidiary of Universal Music Group. Based in Munich, its roster has included Chumbawamba, Matthias Reim, Helene Fischer, Brings, Höhner and Santiano.
History
On 8 May 1925 the British Gramophone Compan ...
.
In September 2004, Reim released the single "
Vergiß Es (Forget It)" with
Bonnie Tyler
Gaynor Sullivan (née Hopkins; born 8 June 1951), known professionally as Bonnie Tyler, is a Welsh singer who is known for her distinctive husky voice. Tyler came to prominence with the release of her 1977 album '' The World Starts Tonight'' a ...
. It featured on Reim's compilation album, ''Déjà Vu'', and reached no. 64 on the German Singles Chart. They recorded a second duet on Reim's thirteenth album, ''Sieben Leben'' (2010).
In 2011, Reim released a Christmas album titled ''Die große Weihnachtsparty'', which includes a German cover of "
Last Christmas
"Last Christmas" is a song by British pop duo Wham!, originally released in December 1984 on CBS Records internationally and as a double A-side on Epic Records with "Everything She Wants" in the UK. Described as a "high watermark of mid-80s Br ...
" by
Wham!
Wham! (briefly known in the US as Wham! U.K.) were an English pop duo formed in Bushey in 1981. The duo consisted of George Michael and Andrew Ridgeley. They became one of the most commercially successful pop acts of the 1980s, selling more ...
.
In 2013, Reim topped the German Albums Chart for a second time with ''
Unendlich''.
2016–present: Recent work
Reim moved to
RCA Records
RCA Records is an American record label currently owned by Sony Music Entertainment, a subsidiary of Sony Corporation of America. It is one of Sony Music's four flagship labels, alongside RCA's former long-time rival Columbia Records; also A ...
in 2016 for the release of his sixteenth album, ''Phoenix'', which peaked at no. 2 in Germany. His subsequent albums ''Meteor'' (2018), ''MR20'' (2019) and ''Matthias'' (2022) all peaked within the Top 3.
Discography
Albums
References
External links
*
Biography of Reimon
AllMusic
AllMusic (previously known as All Music Guide and AMG) is an American online music database. It catalogs more than three million album entries and 30 million tracks, as well as information on musicians and bands. Initiated in 1991, the databas ...
Biography of Reimon
IMDb
IMDb (an abbreviation of Internet Movie Database) is an online database of information related to films, television series, home videos, video games, and streaming content online – including cast, production crew and personal biographies, ...
{{DEFAULTSORT:Reim, Matthias
1957 births
Living people
People from Korbach
German male singers
German singer-songwriters
Schlager musicians
University of Göttingen alumni