Tobias Künzel (born 26 May 1964 in

Leipzig Leipzig ( , ; Upper Saxon: ) is the most populous city in the German state of Saxony. Leipzig's population of 605,407 inhabitants (1.1 million in the larger urban zone) as of 2021 places the city as Germany's eighth most populous, as wel ...

) is a German pop artist and composer, best known as one of the lead singers for the group '

Die Prinzen Die Prinzen ("The Princes") is a German band, that is made up of former members of the Thomanerchor (the choir of the Thomaskirche in Leipzig, Germany, where Johann Sebastian Bach was music director for many years) and a former member of the Dr ...

Career

Künzel attended the

Thomasschule zu Leipzig St. Thomas School, Leipzig (german: Thomasschule zu Leipzig; la, Schola Thomana Lipsiensis) is a co-educational and public boarding school in Leipzig, Saxony, Germany. It was founded by the Augustinians in 1212 and is one of the oldest schools i ...

, that time

GDR East Germany, officially the German Democratic Republic (GDR; german: Deutsche Demokratische Republik, , DDR, ), was a country that existed from its creation on 7 October 1949 until its dissolution on 3 October 1990. In these years the state ...

, where he became a member of the

Thomanerchor The Thomanerchor (English: St. Thomas Choir of Leipzig) is a boys' choir in Leipzig, Germany. The choir was founded in 1212. The choir comprises about 90 boys from 9 to 18 years of age. The members, called ''Thomaner'', reside in a boarding scho ...

in 1973. He graduated in 1982 (

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 ...

), then served in the NVA (

Nationale Volksarmee The National People's Army (german: Nationale Volksarmee, ; NVA ) were the armed forces of the East Germany, German Democratic Republic (GDR) from 1956 to 1990. The NVA was organized into four branches: the (Ground Forces), the (Navy), the ...

). From 1984 until 1988, he studied drums and voice at the Musikhochschule Leipzig in Germany. Back in his school days, Künzel and his friend Dirk Posner started the Band 'Puma' (a sort of abbreviation for PUnk MAchine), where he played drum set. He was also a drummer in his brothers band. During his studies the Musikhochschule Leipzig, he joined the group 'Amor & Die Kids' in 1985. Their biggest hit was Komm doch mit (zu 'nem Ritt auf dem Sofa'')'. He also founded the group ''Final Stap'', where he mainly played drums and only sang "incidentally". He began singing with the group

in 1990, though he maintains that his first love will always be drumming. He continues to sing with them today. In addition, in 1998 Künzel composed music and acted in the musical ''

Elixir ELIXIR (the European life-sciences Infrastructure for biological Information) is an initiative that will allow life science laboratories across Europe to share and store their research data as part of an organised network. Its goal is to bring t ...

'' in Leipzig, which proved successful with more than 40 sold-out performances in Leipzig. He owns his own recording studio where he does production work for up-and-coming bands and music for television, theater and musicals. He has produced music for the German children's quiz show ', and the child's musical ''Urmel fliegt ins All'' (Urmel flies into space). Künzel has been a guest star on several television programs, and he was seen on two episodes of

Lindenstraße ''Lindenstraße'' (literally "Linden Street") was a long-running German television drama series, broadcast by Das Erste. The first episode aired on 8 December 1985 and since then new episodes were broadcast weekly until 2020. Its last timeslot ...

and

Schloss Einstein ''Schloss Einstein'' is a long-running, popular German television series which is designed as a teenage soap opera. It portrays the lives of teenagers in Schloss Einstein (Castle Einstein), a fictional boarding school. The intended audience is 10 ...

. Künzel has been a guest lecturer in pop music at several universities. He occasionally teaches lessons at the

Martin Luther University of Halle-Wittenberg Martin Luther University of Halle-Wittenberg (german: Martin-Luther-Universität Halle-Wittenberg), also referred to as MLU, is a public, research-oriented university in the cities of Halle and Wittenberg and the largest and oldest university i ...

, and also at the

University of Leipzig Leipzig University (german: Universität Leipzig), in Leipzig in Saxony, Germany, is one of the world's oldest universities and the second-oldest university (by consecutive years of existence) in Germany. The university was founded on 2 Decemb ...

. He is also the official ambassador of the "Fans for Kids e. V." group for children with cancer. Since 2007 he has regularly supported the Bolivian civil rights movement "ConTraDo". In 2009 he was an alternate member on the board of GEMA—

Gesellschaft für musikalische Aufführungs- und mechanische Vervielfältigungsrechte The Gesellschaft für musikalische Aufführungs- und mechanische Vervielfältigungsrechte (GEMA; "Society for musical performing and mechanical reproduction rights") is a government-mandated collecting society and performance rights organization ...

(The Society for Musical Performing and Mechanical Reproduction Rights), representing the composers, lyricists and publishers rights to their musical works in Germany.

Life

Künzel currently lives in London.

References

External links

Official Die Prinzen Website (in German)Website for Final Stap
{{DEFAULTSORT:Kunzel, Tobias Living people German male singers 1964 births Musicians from Leipzig