Rolf Köhler (24 May 1951 – 16 September 2007) was a German singer, musician, and record producer.

Career

Köhler initially achieved commercial success performing under the pseudonym Marc de Ville in the late 1970s. As Marc de Ville, he recorded a few singles, including "Annie (I Don't Wanna Talk About the Weather)", "Walking Alone in the Rain" and "California". Köhler performed with a diverse range of musicians, including

Marius Müller-Westernhagen Marius Müller-Westernhagen (born 6 December 1948) is a German musician and actor. He has been a feature in German rock music since the mid-1970s. Müller-Westernhagen is known for his energetic public concerts, and his fans know his anthem-like ...

and heavy metal band

Saxon The Saxons ( la, Saxones, german: Sachsen, ang, Seaxan, osx, Sahson, nds, Sassen, nl, Saksen) were a group of Germanic * * * * peoples whose name was given in the early Middle Ages to a large country (Old Saxony, la, Saxonia) near the Nor ...

. He also wrote a number of German songs, including "Wenns um Geld geht", "Tortella" and "BIFI". Köhler was part of the

Modern Talking Modern Talking was a German pop music duo consisting of arranger, songwriter and producer Dieter Bohlen and singer Thomas Anders. They have been referred to as Germany's most successful pop duo, and have had a number of hit singles, reaching th ...

choir that used a

falsetto ''Falsetto'' (, ; Italian diminutive of , "false") is the vocal register occupying the frequency range just above the modal voice register and overlapping with it by approximately one octave. It is produced by the vibration of the ligamentous ed ...

style. Köhler co-owned Karo Music Studios and produced music together with other producers including Kalle Trapp,

Blind Guardian Blind Guardian is a German power metal band formed in 1984 in Krefeld, West Germany. They are often credited as one of the seminal and most influential bands in the power metal and speed metal subgenres.Molly Hatchet Molly Hatchet is an American rock band formed in 1971 by guitarist Dave Hlubek in Jacksonville, Florida. They were a popular band during the late 1970s and early-to-mid 1980s among the southern rock and hard rock communities. The band released ...

, New Commix, Kentucky, Toll House, Ser, Ian Cussick band, BLUE BLIZZ, Wave (with Wiedeke), and Gnadenlos Platt. In the mid-1980s, he co-produced a few singles in

synth-pop Synth-pop (short for synthesizer pop; also called techno-pop; ) is a subgenre of new wave music that first became prominent in the late 1970s and features the synthesizer as the dominant musical instrument. It was prefigured in the 1960s ...

-style productions with artists like Stag, L'Affair, C. Dorian, and Tom Jackson. Several of Köhler's synth-pop productions, including Solid Strangers, Boo Who, Straight Flush and Broken Dreams, were influenced by Hannes Schöner, who later formed Fair Control, and producer Peter Columbus. Köhler died on 16 September 2007 from an apoplectic attack, aged 56.

Collaboration with Dieter Bohlen

In late 1984, Kohler was contracted as a studio session musician for the

project to be part of the

chorus. He collaborated with

Dieter Bohlen Dieter Bohlen (; born Dieter Günter Bohlen, 7 February 1954) is a German songwriter, producer, singer and television personality. He first achieved fame as a member of pop duo Modern Talking in the 1980s, and has since produced numerous German a ...

for nearly 16 years. During this time, he also composed some heavy metal and hard rock albums without any success. After the dissolution of Modern Talking, Kohler joined the

Blue System Blue System was a German pop group that was founded by Dieter Bohlen in 1986 after the break-up of Modern Talking. Career The group consisted of Dieter Bohlen (mastermind creator, composer, writer, producer, mixer, arranger and verse main vo ...

project created by Dieter Bohlen and Luis Rodriguez. Blue System had an international success releasing several albums during 1987 to 1997, where Kohler can be heard singing for most tracks in both the refrains and choruses. In 2003, Kohler joined Systems in Blue.

Systems in Blue

In 2003, Köhler, together with

Michael Scholz Michael Scholz (26 January 1949) is a German singer, composer, and producer. He was part of the choir of Rolf Köhler. Between 1984 and 2000, he collaborated with Dieter Bohlen for which he sang in the Modern Talking and Blue System Blue ...

, Detlef Wiedeke and producer Thomas Wildrat, formed the

europop Europop (also spelled Euro pop) is a style of pop music that originated in Europe during the mid-to-late 1960s and developed to today's form throughout the late 1970s. Europop topped the charts throughout the 1980s and 1990s, with revivals and ...

group Systems in Blue, which evolved from Blue System and

. Systems in Blue has released four albums as of January 2013.Systems in Blue – About U

accessed 22 January 2013. In 2008, Systems in Blue released the album '' Out of the Blue (Systems in Blue album), Out of the Blue''. Many critics noted that the musical construction and lyrics of the album were more mature and independent than the group's previous album, ''

Point of No Return The point of no return (PNR or PONR) is the point beyond which one must continue on one's current course of action because turning back is dangerous, physically impossible or difficult, or prohibitively expensive. The point of no return can be a ...

''. Systems in Blue had a small gig in Russia, Germany and Israel.

References

External links

* *
Rolf Köhler tribute site
{{DEFAULTSORT:Koehler, Rolf 1951 births 2007 deaths German pop singers German male songwriters German record producers Musicians from Hamburg German session musicians 20th-century German male singers