The Rainbirds are a German

pop rock Pop rock (also typeset as pop/rock) is a fusion genre with an emphasis on professional songwriting and recording craft, and less emphasis on attitude than rock music. Originating in the late 1950s as an alternative to normal rock and roll, earl ...

band established in 1986 around singer

Katharina Franck Katharina Franck (born July 28, 1963) is a German singer, songwriter, and musician. She first achieved fame as singer, songwriter, and guitarist of pop rock band the Rainbirds in the late 1980s. Besides her work with Rainbirds, she was also a mem ...

. Their greatest hit is the song "Blueprint".

History

The band formed in 1986 and named themselves after an instrumental track by

Tom Waits Thomas Alan Waits (born December 7, 1949) is an American musician, composer, songwriter, and actor. His lyrics often focus on the underbelly of society and are delivered in his trademark deep, gravelly voice. He worked primarily in jazz during ...

. When they won the Rock competition of the Senate of Berlin, they were contracted by

Mercury Records Mercury Records is an American record label owned by Universal Music Group. It had significant success as an independent operation in the 1940s and 1950s. Smash Records and Fontana Records were sub labels of Mercury. In the United States, it is ...

. Their first album ''Rainbirds'' was produced in the Audio Studios of Berlin and became a success, the single "Blueprint" enjoyed attention across Europe in 1988. The band's first line-up included

(guitar, vocals), Michael Beckmann (bass), and Wolfgang Glum (drums). Due to a concert tour, guitarist Rodrigo González became a member of the Rainbirds. Later he joined

Die Ärzte Die Ärzte (; ) is a German rock band from Berlin. The band has released 14 studio albums. The group consists of guitarist Farin Urlaub, drummer Bela B and bass player Rodrigo González. All three write and perform their songs. History Ea ...

and

Abwärts Abwärts ("Downwards") is a German post-punk band from Hamburg. Members FM Einheit and Mark Chung would leave the group in the early 1980s to join West Berlin band Einstürzende Neubauten (, 'Collapsing New Buildings') is a German experimen ...

. In the spring of 1989, the second album ''Call Me Easy, Say I'm Strong, Love Me My Way, It Ain't Wrong'' was released, with a video clip by director and photographer

Anton Corbijn Anton Johannes Gerrit Corbijn van Willenswaard (; born 20 May 1955) is a Dutch photographer, film director and music video director. He is the creative director behind the visual output of Depeche Mode and U2,Pitman, Joanna"The silent partner"' ...

. Corbijn who was known for his photographs of bands like

Depeche Mode Depeche Mode are an English electronic music band formed in Basildon, Essex, in 1980. The band currently consists of Dave Gahan (lead vocals and co-songwriting) and Martin Gore (keyboards, guitar, co-lead vocals and main songwriting). Depeche ...

and U2 became the Rainbird's favourite photographer in the following years. After this album, the band separated and Katharina Franck reformed the Rainbirds as a duo with piano player

Ulrike Haage Ulrike Haage (born in Kassel, lives and works in Berlin) is a German pianist and composer, producer for radio plays and a sound artist. Biography The jazz years Ulrike Haage spent her childhood in Ruhr. She grew up listening to the big jazz r ...

. They released two albums in this line-up: ''Two Faces'' (1991) and ''In a Different Light'' (1993). Drummer Tim Lorenz joined them in 1994 as a third member. In the following years the band published two studio albums, ''Making Memory'' (1996) and ''Forever'' (1997), as well as a live album ''rainbirds3000.live'' (1999), their last release.

Solo careers

Katharina Franck continued a solo career that had already begun in 1997 with a

spoken word Spoken word refers to an oral poetic performance art that is based mainly on the poem as well as the performer's aesthetic qualities. It is a late 20th century continuation of an ancient oral artistic tradition that focuses on the aesthetics of ...

album ''Hunger'' and published a second solo album ''Zeitlupenkino'' ( slow motion cinema) on

Mute Records Mute Records is a British independent record label owned and founded in 1978 by Daniel Miller. It has featured several prominent musical acts on its roster such as Depeche Mode, Erasure, Einstürzende Neubauten, Fad Gadget, Goldfrapp, Grinderm ...

in 2002. Also Ulrike Haage, after recording numerous audio plays and composing theatre music, presented a solo album ''Sélavy'' in 2004. Drummer Tim Lorenz operates a recording studio in Berlin.

Reformation

In 2013, the Rainbirds reformed with a new line-up. Prior to the re-release of their remastered debut album ''Rainbirds'', it was announced in September 2013 that a new album had been recorded with Katharina Franck as singer, drummer Bela Brauckmann, and electronic musician Gunter Papperitz. This new album, ''Yonder'', was released in May 2014.

Discography

Albums

Singles

References

External links

Official website
* * {{Authority control German musical groups Musical groups established in 1986 1986 establishments in Germany