Richard Müller (born 6 September 1961) is a
Slovak singer, songwriter, and occasional actor. He is one of the most successful singers in both the
Czech Republic
The Czech Republic, or simply Czechia, is a landlocked country in Central Europe. Historically known as Bohemia, it is bordered by Austria to the south, Germany to the west, Poland to the northeast, and Slovakia to the southeast. The ...
and
Slovakia
Slovakia (; sk, Slovensko ), officially the Slovak Republic ( sk, Slovenská republika, links=no ), is a landlocked country in Central Europe. It is bordered by Poland to the north, Ukraine to the east, Hungary to the south, Austria to the s ...
, where he has sold more than one million records.
Biography
He started as a music journalist. In the beginning of the 1980s, while studying the theory of drama and screenplay at the
Academy of Performing Arts in Bratislava
The Academy of Performing Arts in Bratislava ( sk, Vysoká škola múzických umení v Bratislave, abbr. VŠMU) is a university founded on June 9, 1949.
The university consists of three faculties:
*''Theatre Faculty'' (Acting, Directing, Dramat ...
(VŠMU), he started writing for the daily paper and the only specialized periodical at the time, ''Popular'', and, later, for ''Gramorevue''. As a journalist, in his own words, he could get close to the musicians he admired easier. His first song, ''Radio'', was recorded with the Burčiak Pavla Daněka band. The track was very successful in the music chart 5xp, which encouraged Müller to start a band with Martin Karvaš, it was called
Banket. Their debut album, ''Bioelektrovízia'' (1986) was full of hits, including the immortal song written by Vašo Patejdl – ''Po schodoch'' ("Up the Stairs"). Co-operation with
Andrej Šeban
Andrej Šeban (born 23 June 1962), is a Slovak jazz fusion musician, composer, producer, studio guitarist, and instructor. He is also an occasional actor.
Life and career
Šeban was born in Bratislava in 1962. As a child, he took piano lesson ...
produced and was very perceivable in the two succeeding albums ''Druhá doba?!'' and ''Vpred''. He has also made a very popular song with
Daniel Junas in the '90's called ''Na Zlatých pieskoch v lete''.
After 1990 Richard Müller started his solo career. In the very beginning he experienced great success with "federal" Czechoslovak hits, songs sang in
Czech
Czech may refer to:
* Anything from or related to the Czech Republic, a country in Europe
** Czech language
** Czechs, the people of the area
** Czech culture
** Czech cuisine
* One of three mythical brothers, Lech, Czech, and Rus'
Places
* Czech, ...
such as ''Štěstí je krásná věc'' ("Happiness is a Beautiful Thing") and ''Rozeznávám'' ("I Am Distinguishing"), from the album ''V penzionu Svět'' written by
Petr Hapka and
Michal Horáček
Michal Horáček (born 23 July 1952) is a Czech entrepreneur, lyricist, poet, writer, journalist and music producer. From 2007 until 2010, he was the chairman of the Czech Academy of Popular Music. He founded Czech betting company Fortuna. He ...
. Müller's first two solo albums, produced by Henrich Leško, were ''Neuč vtáka lietať'' and ''33'', where he collaborated with
Jaro Filip, who wrote songs for him for couple of years afterwards as well. The result of this were three albums ''L.S.D.'' (1996), ''Nočná optika'' (1998) and ''Koniec sveta'' (1999). The album ''01'' was created with the help of his musical partner and producer Ivan Tásler from a well known Slovak band I.M.T. Smile and it received many awards. In 2003 during his stay in New York City, Müller created his first author album ''Monogamný vzťah'' ("Monogamous Relationship") with a couple of American musicians. When Henrich Leško got back on the post of the producer, ''44'' the newest album was created in co-operation with musicians such as drummer
Omar Hakim
Omar Hakim (born February 12, 1959) is an American jazz, jazz fusion and pop music drummer, producer, arranger and composer. He has worked with Weather Report, David Bowie, Foo Fighters, Sting, Madonna, Dire Straits, Bryan Ferry, Journey, Kate ...
, bass guitarists
Anthony Jackson,
Will Lee
William Lee (born William Lubovsky; August 6, 1908 – December 7, 1982) was an American actor who appeared in numerous television and film roles, but was best known for playing Mr. Hooper, the original store proprietor of the eponymous Hoope ...
and guitarist
Hiram Bullock
Hiram Law Bullock (September 11, 1955 – July 25, 2008) was an American guitarist known mainly for playing in jazz funk and jazz fusion, but he also worked as a session musician in a variety of genres.
Biography
Bullock was born in Osaka, Jap ...
. With this line-up, with the addition of guitarist Mike Caffrey and
Clifford Carter
Clifford Carter (born August 10, 1952) is an American keyboardist, musical director, composer and arranger. He has sometimes been credited as "Cliff Carter".
Carter is known for his performances with such artists as James Taylor,Bruce Springstee ...
on the piano, Richard Müller toured Slovakia and the Czech Republic in December 2005.
Banket years
Between 1984 and 1991, Müller was the lead singer of the pop band
Banket, considered legendary today due to their pioneering role as one of the main proponents of electronic pop music in
Czechoslovakia
, rue, Чеськословеньско, , yi, טשעכאסלאוואקיי,
, common_name = Czechoslovakia
, life_span = 1918–19391945–1992
, p1 = Austria-Hungary
, image_p1 ...
in the 1980s.
Awards and achievements
In 1989 Banket won
Bratislavská lýra song contest with ''Aj ty!''. During his career Müller received 7
Aurel Awards, 1
Artmedia Award and 2 Gold
Slávik Awards
Slávik ( en, Nightingale) was a music poll established by the FORZA company, which had been the main promoter of such poll in Slovakia. The annual awards were permitted live through one of the CME networks, Markíza (1998– 2010), and TV JOJ ...
(2 Silver, 4 Bronze). In
The 100 Greatest Slovak Albums of All Time
The 100 Greatest Slovak Albums of All Time is a list of the best album releases issued by Slovak recording artists. As the first such list presented in Slovakia, it was published by '' Nový čas'' daily on 22 September 2007.
The list is entirely ...
list Müller had 4 solo albums and 2 albums with Banket, while ''Bioelektrovízia'' was at 3rd overall position, ''Nočná optika'' 6th in Males category and ''33'' 10th in the same category. In ''Top 25 česko-slovenských alb dekády (2000–2010)'' list (Top 25 Czech and Slovak albums of decade 2000–2010) '
´01'' was at the 9th position.
Top 25 česko-slovenských alb dekády (15–6)
/ref>
Discography
* ''Bioelektrovízia'' (1986)
* ''Up the Stairs'' (1986, English version of ''Bioelektrovízia'')
* ''Druhá doba?!'' (1988)
* ''Vpred?'' (1990)
* ''Banket ’84-’91'' (1991), best of Banket
* ''Neuč vtáka lietať'' (1992)
* ''33'' (1994)
* ''Baal'' (1995), soundtrack to a musical of the same name, in cooperation with Andrej Šeban
Andrej Šeban (born 23 June 1962), is a Slovak jazz fusion musician, composer, producer, studio guitarist, and instructor. He is also an occasional actor.
Life and career
Šeban was born in Bratislava in 1962. As a child, he took piano lesson ...
* ''LSD'' (1996)
* ''Nočná optika'' (1998)
* ''Müllenium live'' (1999)
* ''Koniec sveta'' (1999)
* ''... a hosté'' (2000)
* '' ´01'' (2001)
* ''Retro'' (2002)
*''Monogamný vzťah'' (2004)
* ''44'' (2005)
* ''Čo bolo, bolo'' (2006), best of selection of hits spanning his career
* ''Už'' (2010)
* ''Ešte'' (2011)
* ''Hlasy'' (2013)
* ''Hlasy 2'' (2014)
* ''Socialní síť'' (2015)
* ''55'' (2016)
See also
* Slovak music
* The 100 Greatest Slovak Albums of All Time
The 100 Greatest Slovak Albums of All Time is a list of the best album releases issued by Slovak recording artists. As the first such list presented in Slovakia, it was published by '' Nový čas'' daily on 22 September 2007.
The list is entirely ...
* Jaroslav Filip
References
External links
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Muller, Richard
1961 births
Living people
21st-century Slovak male singers
People with bipolar disorder
People from Hlohovec
20th-century Slovak male singers
Czechoslovak male singers