How the modern talking group came into being. Modern Talking, the history of the group, before the formation of the duet, the beginning of modern talking. Before the duo formed

The German duo Modern Talking, consisting of Dieter Bohlen and Thomas Anders, became the undisputed leader of disco music of the 80s with many hits. A number of popularity records set by Modern Talking have not yet been broken.

Modern Talking's first hit, which began their stellar history, was the song “You"re My Heart, You"re My Soul" in 1984. The single's chart position speaks for itself: No. 1 Germany, No. 1 Belgium, No. 1 Denmark, No. 1 Italy, No. 1 Spain, No. 1 Greece, No. 1 Turkey, No. 1 Israel, No. 1 Austria, No. 1 Switzerland, No. 1 Finland, No. 1 Portugal, No. 1 Lebanon, No. 2 South Africa, No. 3 France, No. 3 Sweden, No. 3 Norway, No. 15 Japan, No. 56 Great Britain. It sold 8 million copies.

Modern Talking - You"re My Heart, You"re My Soul

Modern Talking("Modern Conversation") - a German musical duo performing dance music in the Eurodisco style, consisting of Thomas Anders and Dieter Bohlen. At the end of their existence, the duo developed into what is still the most commercially successful German pop formation. Formed in 1984. They performed and released records from 1984 to 1987 until the first breakup. After 11 years, they connected again and continued performing from 1998 to 2003. In the second half of the 1980s, the Modern Talking group was one of the most popular in the world. The duo contributed huge contribution in the development of European and, partly, Asian music.

Composition of the duet: Dieter Bohlen(full name Dieter Günther Bohlen, born February 7, 1954, Oldenburg) and Thomas Anders(real name Bernd (Berndhart) Weidung, born March 1, 1963, Münstermeifeld). Luis Rodriguez, co-producer and arranger of many songs until 2001, also worked on the project.

The musicians met in February 1983 thanks to the Berlin record company “Hansa”: the aspiring composer and producer Dieter Bohlen was looking for a vocalist to perform the composition “Was macht das schon” (a cover version of F.R. David’s song “Pick Up The Phone”, to which he was written in German). Responding to Dieter's proposal, Thomas immediately flew to Hamburg and work began.

In 1983-1984, the musicians jointly released 5 singles in German, the most successful of which was “Wovon träumst du denn” (1983), which immediately entered the German charts and sold 30 thousand copies.

However, gradually Dieter began to understand that international recognition could only be achieved with songs on English language, and in mid-1984 the musicians recorded a cover version of the Real Life group’s hit “Catch Me I’m Falling”. But the names of the musicians were missing from the output - the project was called Headliner, and Steve Benson (one of Dieter Bohlen's creative pseudonyms) appeared as the author of the song.

The duo's fame began with the popular song "You"re My Heart, You"re My Soul" ("You are my heart, you are my soul") - a super hit released in September 1984. When Thomas and Dieter recorded this song, everyone present in the studio applauded - they loved this melody so much. Success soon came. 40 thousand records were sold daily in Germany alone.

Initially, the single did not receive proper appreciation from listeners, and only after performing on the Formel Eins program (January 21, 1985) did the duo become truly popular: the single took first place first in the German charts, and then in the European charts.

Manufacturing company sportswear Adidas signs a contract with Dieter to show their clothes in videos and at concerts.

In March 1985, Modern Talking recorded their next hit, “You Can Win, If You Want.”

Modern Talking - You Can Win, If You Want

A little later, the first album “The First Album” was released, in which the main vocal parts were performed by Thomas Anders and only one song “There’s Too Much Blue In Missing You” - the only one in the entire 20-year history of the duo - was recorded with Dieter leading vocals.

Modern Talking - There's Too Much Blue In Missing You

The album was a huge success. At the famous television "Peter's Pop Show" in September 1985, the duo was awarded 75 gold and platinum discs. The released records were sold in huge quantities.

In October 1985, the duo delighted fans with another hit - “Cheri, Cheri Lady” (“Sweet, Sweet Lady”) from the second album “Let’s Talk About Love”.

Modern Talking - Cheri, Cheri Lady

The new record sells over 186 thousand copies in Germany in the first two weeks.

Modern Talking was rapidly gaining fame around the world, but this was not enough for Dieter - he dreamed of “taking over” America and Great Britain, where strangers were always reluctantly accepted, especially from Germany.

Modern Talking - Brother Louie

However, having released an album called “Ready For Romance” in 1986, which included such hits as “Brother Louie” and “Atlantis Is Calling”, they still ended up in English and Canadian charts.

Modern Talking - Geronimo's Cadillac

The musicians’ next album, entitled “In The Middle Of Nowhere,” was no less popular with the songs “Geronimo’s Cadillac” and “Give Me Peace On Earth.”

The song from this album, “Lonely Tears In Chinatown,” was released as a single in Spain.

Modern Talking - Lonely Tears In Chinatown

First breakup of Modern Talking

However, disagreements began to arise between the members of the duo over time, which later led Modern Talking to their first breakup. The final scene of the breakup took place at a concert in Munich in 1986. While fans were screaming and raging as they waited for their idols to take the stage, a major altercation took place behind the curtain.

Modern Talking - Jet Airliner

Thomas, separately from Dieter, had two girls work on backing vocals - his wife Nora Balling and Jutta (her friend). Dieter also had two Munich girls - Sylvia Zuniga and Biggie Nandke, however, instead of being on stage, they moved between security guards. And besides, Nora found rotten chickens in her closet. Furious, she sent her assistant Guido Carp to instruct the guards to kick them out. This did not happen and Nora and Jutta left the stage in favor of Biggie and Sylvia, Thomas followed his wife.

The concert was over, and now everyone knew what was happening... Backstage, Nora poured out her rage on Dieter so loudly that everyone could hear it.

Modern Talking - In 100 Years

In 1987, the contract expired and Bohlen decided that the activities of Modern Talking should be suspended for a while. The group decided not to tell anyone about this fact, and by mutual agreement of the participants, they broke up.

Modern Talking - Locomotion Tango

Dieter Bohlen responded succinctly: “The girls I chose may not be as beautiful as Nora, but she is Thomas’s wife and knows nothing about music. She never worked on any of the Modern Talking songs.".

Thomas Anders says about the breakup: “Almost everyone believes that the duo broke up because of Nora. But in fact, I was just very tired, tired of Dieter, of our common cause and endless trips. I had absolutely no free time to meet with friends or just be at home. I didn’t belong to myself at all, I belonged to our company, which used me with all its might. Unfortunately, this condition is difficult to explain. Of course, many may say: “Yes, but you earned money, and a lot of it. And if you earn a lot of money, you need to work hard.” I partly agree with this formulation of the question. But if you spend three years in a row traveling for 320 days a year, living in 300 different hotels throughout the year, then one day you feel exhausted and empty, tired of everyone and everything. At the same time, your partner experiences completely different feelings - Dieter was always focused only on his career and success. He didn't take my feelings into account at all. I only asked for a short time out. Just 2-3 months to rest and then return to the stage again. All this is very difficult for people to understand, because it is much easier to say that the duo broke up because of the unbearable Nora. Yes, without a doubt, she was a very complex person. But many women have a rather difficult character. It's Nora's fault that our group broke up - 10-15%. She was by no means main reason our collapse".

By creating a group Blue System even before the release of the last album (“In The Garden Of Venus”), Dieter was actually competing with his main group at that time.

After the breakup, Thomas Anders began a solo career and left for the USA. He was not popular in Germany after Modern Talking, but achieved great success in Latin America, largely thanks to the hits of Modern Talking, as well as the Spanish album “Barcos de Cristal”.

Dieter also took up a solo project - Blue System, which achieved greater success than Thomas in Europe and especially the countries of the former USSR.

But none of them could repeat the success of Modern Talking. Dieter Bohlen, in addition to working on the Blue System project, wrote music and songs for various artists (German and not only), such as C.C. Catch, Chris Norman, Bonnie Tyler, Errol Brown, Engelbert Humperdinck and others.

During the breakup, Thomas Anders always performed Modern Talking hits along with his songs. Dieter Bohlen performed choruses of popular compositions as an encore. At first, Thomas Anders (with his wife Nora Balling as part of the backing vocal group) performed as the “Thomas Anders Show” and even as the Modern Talking group, despite Dieter’s absence on stage.

Return of Modern Talking

Modern Talking triumphantly returned to the pop scene in the spring of 1998, once again joining forces and releasing the album "Back For Good", which consisted of dance remixes of old songs with the addition of four new compositions: "I Will Follow You", "Don't Play" With My Heart", "We Take The Chance", "Anything is Possible". The album ended with No. 1 Hit Medley, compiled from popular songs duet. Based on sales results, the album was certified four times platinum in Germany and surpassed the platinum mark in several other European countries. The total worldwide sales of the album amounted to 26 million copies. These numbers, contrary to expectations, were an order of magnitude higher than the success of the 80s. According to Dieter, they had been planning to unite for several years, but kept it secret from journalists.

Modern Talking - No. 1 Hit Medley

A tour dedicated to this event was organized. On stage, the Modern Talking duo performed accompanied by musicians from the Blue System group.

From 1999 to 2003, the duo released five new albums, three of which also surpassed the platinum mark. The style of light modern dance music remained unchanged, only, unlike the 80s, it was no longer Eurodisco, but Eurodance. Some songs were recorded with the participation of rapper Eric Singleton, thanks to which the duo hoped to win over an American audience. The dreams were not destined to come true, and the presence of a third member in the duet sometimes caused a sharply negative reaction from fans of the “first wave”. Compositions with Eric were published until 2001 on singles and in video clips. Some clips were made in two versions - with and without the rapper. But there was also a positive moment: thanks to Eric, the group, for example, had great success in France.

Second breakup of Modern Talking

On June 7, 2003, Dieter Bohlen, at a concert in Rostock (Germany) in front of 24,000 spectators, completely unexpectedly for the management of the duo and the management of the record company, announced the collapse of Modern Talking: “I have to tell you that Modern Talking is finished. Thomas and I have decided that we will go our separate ways again in the future.".

The official version of the breakup, according to Dieter, was that Thomas, without his knowledge, undertook a solo tour in the United States in the summer of 2003. Back in 1987, before the release of the group’s 5th disc, Thomas was already organizing a tour without Dieter Bohlen in the Eastern Bloc under the sign “The Thomas Anders Show” and Modern Talking was written on every poster.

In 2003, posters and banners in the USA again read: “Concert of C.C. Catch and the group Modern Talking at the Taj Mahal,” despite the fact that Dieter was not on stage, and it could not be called Modern Talking. Thus, even before the collapse group, Thomas made it clear that he was ready to perform again without his colleague.The unofficial reason for the breakup of the group, fans of the duo consider the drop in sales of the duo's records and Dieter Bohlen's desire to devote more time to the promotion of the most popular TV show in Germany, “Germany is looking for a superstar” and its participants, whose records were sold significantly better than Modern Talking itself.

On June 21, 2003, the duo’s farewell concert took place in the open air of Berlin, which could be seen by 13,000 spectators. After the breakup, both musicians announced their intention to remain on the music scene and engage in solo work.

“Yesterday it was spring, today it’s summer. Someday spring will come again. You never know what will happen next", - Dieter noted philosophically from the stage.

The words “Stay healthy, see you soon” (Dieter) and “Thank you” (Thomas) were the last words Modern Talking spoke on stage.

On June 23, 2003, the group’s last album was released: “The Final Album,” which included the 20 best songs of the duo recorded over the 19 years of its existence, and on November 10, a DVD of the same name, the first in the group’s history, with a similar track list was released.

The group gave a final concert, excerpts of which, along with Dieter's interview, were also included on the DVD. 22 songs were performed: “TV Makes the Superstar”, “Everybody Needs Somebody”, “Atlantis Is Calling (S.O.S. For Love)”, “Angie’s Heart”, “Geronimo’s Cadillac”, “Knocking On My Door”, “Don 't Make Me Blue", "No Face, No Name, No Number", "You Can Win If You Want", "Don't Take Away My Heart", "Last Exit To Brooklyn", "Juliet", "In 100 Years", "China In Her Eyes", "Jet Airliner", "Sexy Sexy Lover", "Ready For The Victory", "Cheri, Cheri Lady", "Brother Louie", "You are not Alone", "Win The Race", "You`re My Heart, You`re My Soul". In fact, this was a concert from the Universe tour.

During the existence of the group, more than 120 million audio media were sold worldwide. Modern Talking is still popular in Eastern Europe, Russia, Argentina, Chile, Poland, Hungary, Finland, Vietnam and other countries.

After the breakup Dieter Bohlen in his autobiography "Behind the scenes"(2003) speaks unflatteringly of his former partner Thomas and accuses him of embezzling the duo's money. Thomas Anders sues Dieter Bohlen and wins the case. Thanks to these events, the duo continues to remain popular, but on the pages of newspapers.

Several former backing vocalists of the group after the collapse of Modern Talking created their own own group Systems in Blue, which is almost a complete analogue of Blue System and Modern Talking in terms of genre. At the moment, the group has released two albums that have become cult favorites among fans of the duo.

Thomas Anders's subsequent albums after the collapse of Modern Talking are similar in style to the duo's last albums. Dieter Bohlen refrains from releasing solo albums until 2006.

In 2006, Dieter Bohlen released a full-length comic cartoon "Dieter - Der Film", describing the life of Dieter. The soundtrack to the cartoon “Dieter - Der Film” included Bohlen’s reworking of the duo’s unreleased song “Shooting Star,” which is essentially a good melody, a new chorus and a cut of Thomas’s voice from the group’s previous songs.

Thomas's eleventh album, Two, was the first album from the new project Anders|Fahrenkrog, which, due to some similarities between Uwe Fahrenkrog and Dieter and a similar playing style, was quickly dubbed "the new Modern Talking". Thomas himself had nothing against this interpretation. The album was recorded in Germany during the winter-spring of 2011.

In September 2011, Thomas Anders published an autobiography (German: "100 Prozent Anders - Die Autobiografie"), which talks about Modern Talking, Nora, Dieter and much more. In November 2011, Thomas's ex-wife, Nora Balling, sued him and won the case.

On May 25, 2014, on the Fernsehgarten program on the German channel ZDF, Thomas Anders announced that he had made peace with his former bandmate Dieter Bohlen.

On October 3, 2014, a collection of songs was released dedicated to the 30th anniversary of the group. In addition to famous hits, it contains remixes of Give Me Peace On Earth, Just Like An Angel, You"re The Lady Of My Heart, Just We Too (Mona Lisa), Tv Makes The Superstar and a large megamix. The album also includes a new version Brother Louie, which was produced by the famous Swedish DJ Bassflow, the song was released as a promotional single and includes radio and extended versions.

Modern Talking discography:

1985 - The First Album
1985 - Let's Talk About Love
1986 - Ready for Romance
1986 - In the Middle of Nowhere
1987 - Romantic Warriors
1987 - In the Garden of Venus
1998 - Back For Good
1999 - Alone
2000 - Year of the Dragon
2001 - America
2002 - Victory
2003 - Universe

Modern Talking singles:

1984 - “You"re My Heart, You"re My Soul"
1985 - “You Can Win If You Want”
1985 - “Cheri, Cheri Lady”
1985 - “You"re The Lady Of My Heart”
1986 - “Atlantis Is Calling (S.O.S. for Love)”
1986 - “Geronimo's Cadillac”
1986 - “Give Me Peace On Earth”
1986 - “Lonely Tears In Chinatown”
1986 - “Keep Love Alive”
1987 - “Jet Airliner”
1987 - “In 100 Years”
1987 - “Don't Worry”
1987 - “You And Me”
1988 - “Locomotion Tango”
1998 - “You’re My Heart, You’re My Soul “98”
1998 - “Brother Louie "98"
1998 - “Cheri Cheri Lady "98"
1998 - “Space Mix "98 - We Take The Chance"
1999 - “Brother Louie "99"
1999 - “You are not Alone”
1999 - “Tearin' Up My Heart / You Are Not Alone”
1999 - “Sexy Sexy Lover”
2000 - “China In Her Eyes”
2000 - “Don't Take Away My Heart”
2001 - "Win the Race"
2001 - “Last Exit To Brooklyn”
2002 - “Ready For The Victory”
2002 - "Juliet"
2003 - “TV Makes The Superstar”
2014 - “Brother Louie 2014 (Bassflow 3.0 Mix)”
2014 - “Give Me Peace On Earth (New Hit Version)”

Interesting Facts about Modern Talking:

♦ The hit “You"re My Heart, You"re My Soul" in 1985 reached first place in the charts of several countries (among them Belgium, Germany, Austria, Switzerland). It has been covered by many performers.

♦ The hit “Cheri, Cheri Lady” reached number one in several countries, including Germany, Austria, Norway, Switzerland, Belgium.

♦ The hit “Brother Louie” also reached number one in several countries. It charted in the UK for 8 weeks and peaked at number four.

♦ The hit “Atlantis Is Calling”, released in 1986, became the group’s fifth consecutive and last No. 1 hit in Germany.

♦ Modern Talking's record of five No. 1 singles (in Germany) in a row and 4 multi-platinum albums in a row has not yet been broken.

♦ In the first period - from 1985 to 1987 - they released 2 albums per year, and from 1998 to 2003 - 1 album.

♦ In 1988, Modern Talking sold 85 million copies.

♦ In 1998, the album “Back For Good” sold 700 thousand copies in Germany in the first week.

♦ In 1998, there were about 200 thousand people at the first concert in Budapest.

♦ In 1998, the album “Back For Good” became the leader in global sales.

♦ In 1999, the album “Back For Good” was released in Canada. and according to the results of annual sales on Amazon.ca, the album took an honorable 16th place.

♦ In 1999 in Monte Carlo Modern Talking received an award The World Music Award for "Best Selling German Group in the World"

♦ They sold 100,000 copies of “Back For Good” in South Africa.

♦ The single “Sexy Sexy Lover” was in the top twenty of the MTV Europe chart.

♦ In 2001 in Manchester (England) Modern Talking won the Top of the Pops Award as the best German group.

♦ The singles Win the Race and Ready for the Victory were recorded to order for the German channel RTL for playback during broadcasts of Formula 1 races.

♦ In the United States, Modern Talking sold few copies of their recordings, while the duo's recording media (BMG) sold more than 120 million copies worldwide as of 2003.

♦ The 2010 compilation Modern Talking - 25 Years Of Disco-Pop - reached high places on the charts in Germany, Austria and Poland, thereby proving that the group was still popular after the breakup.

♦ In the Soviet cartoon “The Return of the Prodigal Parrot,” the parrot Kesha listens to the song of the group Modern Talking You"re My Heart, You"re My Soul in the player. He also mentions the song of the “Weiner brothers” called “the song of the Modern Tokin brothers.”

♦ In January 1986, Dieter Bohlen performed in France on the program “C’est Encore Mieux l’apres-midi” with the fake Thomas Anders as the group Modern Talking. The lead singer's name is Uwe Borgwardt - he is a member of The Koola News.

♦ In the USSR, a video with the participation of the group was first shown on February 7, 1986 in the program “Rhythms of the Planet”. The next program that showed “Modern Talking” in the USSR was “Morning Mail” on May 18, 1986.

MODERN TALKING – A GERMAN PHENOMENON

- a cult group. Its members deserve such fame, because their songs are recognizable by the first chords and are drawn to the dance floor. Over 100 million records sold says a lot. No one has achieved greater success in the Eurodisco style than the guys from .

Could he have thought during the studio recording of the song “You’re My Heart, You’re My Soul” that this composition would radically change his whole life. It was their first song and an instant hit.

Sweet beginning

In the early 1980s, the Eurodisco style just appeared, and with it the composer. At that time he worked in a music publishing house and almost everything that was heard in Germany was written by him. Dieter's vocal abilities were not outstanding, but his compositional abilities quickly helped him get on his feet. Bolen realized that for complete success he lacked English-language compositions and a singer whose voice could make his songs real hits.

At this time he came to Hamburg to record his album young Thomas Anders. After completing his work, he still had two hours left before the plane, and Dieter took advantage of this. He invited Thomas to record his new song “You’re My Heart, You’re My Soul.” After listening to the music on a cassette recorder and reading the words, Thomas became interested in this composition.

The single was released in September 1984, but no one really bought it. In the first 2-3 weeks, only about 1,000 records were sold. But after the Christmas holidays, this figure increased 60 times. Only then did the guys realize that they might have hit the bull's eye.

Modern conversation

– that’s what two young and talented musicians from Germany called their group. The name was inspired by the success of the band Talk, Talk. Dieter wrote songs one after another, so that the entire debut album with the simple name “The First Album” could easily be compiled entirely from his compositions. Dieter's songs flowed like a river, and the group released 2 records a year. Today no one does this anymore. A mix of the normal soft voice of Thomas Anders and falsetto tones, which Dieter Bohlen superimposed on each other 50 times, as in the song “Cheri, Cheri Lady”, and created the contrast that turned out to be in demand and was a huge success.

Their further success stretched from Japan to Thailand, from China to Russia, from South America to France. It was real popularity, part of the history of pop music. One after another they released hits, received music awards, it was hard to even imagine. became the most popular German group of all time.

The moment came when Dieter Bohlen and Thomas Anders could no longer go out into the street, wherever they were, they were surrounded by a crowd of fans everywhere. And in front of Thomas’s house, heartbreaking scenes unfolded. A guy with the same dark hair and similar clothes drove up, got out of the car, and fans rushed towards him with squeals and screams. Imagine their disappointment when the truth was revealed.

The group was greeted with the same love outside their homeland. In the world's largest capitals, entire streets were closed as tens of thousands of people gathered to see their favorite musicians. Now it’s even difficult to understand what they liked more – their music or the images they created.

Music records Modern Talking

The songs “You’re My Heart, You’re My Soul”, “You Can Win If You Want”, “Cheri, Cheri Lady”, “Brother Louie” are combined into a kind of record. They were performed within two years and became number 1 hits in Germany. In addition, 4 albums in a row went multi-platinum. No one can beat this record to this day.

However, the group was not very popular among American audiences. There, in the mid-1980s, completely different musical styles. If in Europe it was enough to perform in 8-10 large cities to mark your position on the musical map, then for America this mark should have been 50-60 cities. While they were winning over a European audience (including the fastidious British), the United States simply did not have the necessary forces. Perhaps this is why their songs never entered the American charts.

Third wheel

Thomas and Nora

Despite all creative victories, after three years, problems arose in the group, not last role in which Thomas Anders' wife Nora played. This trio became a powder keg, inside of which there was already critical situation. From album to album, the managers and producer thought only about how to save the group from collapse.

For the band members themselves, this was not a surprise. Dieter Bohlen later admitted that it was very difficult to find a common language with Nora, perhaps due to the ten-year age difference.

Thomas was happy about the breakup of the team, he finally had free time, and his life out of suitcases ended. But Dieter was not going to rest and created a new project, Blue System.

Together is impossible and apart is impossible

For 10 years they each went their own way, until in 1998 their paths crossed again. It is impossible to enter the same river twice, Anders and Bohlen understood this very well, so they were terribly worried that their reunion and return to the banner would be a failure. For the first seven years after the breakup, the musicians did not even see each other, then they began to gradually establish communication, rarely seeing each other. And then the manager of the record company they worked with suggested they revive the band and try to regain their former popularity. At first, both were not particularly accommodating on this issue, but something still made them go on stage together again, as before.

Having modernized several old hits and appeared in several television programs, Thomas Anders and Dieter Bohlen announced the resumption of the band's work. New songs were created that became hits one after another.

Hit comeback of Modern Talking

The first album after the reunion, “Back For Good,” became the leader in global sales and topped the charts in many countries. In the first day alone, 180 thousand copies were sold out in music stores. In Germany, it became a four-time platinum collection. 26 million discs were sold worldwide. This figure exceeded all Dieter Bohlen's expectations, and the success was stunning. It was the best-selling album of the year. This was largely facilitated by the younger generation, who liked the work of the resurrected group.

At this time, musicians often invited vocalists from Dieter Bohlen's Blue System project, as well as rapper Eric Singleton, to collaborate. But not all fans liked such an original trio; many wanted to see their favorites in the usual lineup.

The new hit that blew up the world in 2001 was the song “Last Exit To Brooklyn.” At the same time, they recorded an equally popular anthem song for Formula 1 racing - “Win ​​The Race”. This was thanks to Dieter Bohlen and his commercial acumen. He not only talentedly composed songs, his thoughts were also occupied with how to promote the composition, what needed to be done for it to become another hit, and moreover, the anthem of Formula 1.

The theme of the group's songs from that period music critics denoted by two words – “love” and “success”, referring to the group’s two super hits – “Sexy Sexy Lover” and “Ready For The Victory”. None of the group's managers could have dreamed that the comeback would be triumphant and create such a sensation.

Back in USSR

The creative “relationship” of the group with the former Soviet Union deserves special mention and subsequently the CIS countries. Since the 1980s, the participants were absolute stars in the USSR; they were not afraid to come to the communist country, unlike many of their colleagues. The Russian public did not lose interest in Dieter and Thomas even after their reunion.

The group's TV promoter, Peter Angemeyer, said in an interview that one of the close friends of the current Russian President Vladimir Putin asked him for a performance by Thomas Anders as a birthday present. This is how the group ended up after the reunion with a concert in the Kremlin.

End of the legend

There has never been a group of such level and scale as before. So many No. 1 hits, 12 albums over two periods of the band’s existence, a lot of “golden discs” and, of course, wonderful video clips at the turn of the 2000s. The big point of the group’s “second phase” was set by the song “TV Makes The Superstar”, and their last concert took place in 2003 in Berlin.

Summarizing the results, we can state that during the first 3-year and second 5-year periods of existence, the group managed to set a lot of records and, most importantly, win as many fans and awards around the world as other groups cannot collect in 40 years. Maybe the timing coincided, or maybe the stars aligned in such a way that these two musicians were destined to leave a not very long, but such a memorable page in the history of music. The Germans can feel proud of, because they don’t have many bands and musicians who managed to achieve such success all over the world.

DATA

Musicians have always had a unique style of clothing. Thomas appeared on stage in elegant jackets or cardigans and light trousers, while Dieter preferred original tracksuits in pastel colors. At the same time, during the first period of the group’s existence, Thomas always wore a chain in the form of the word NORA on his chest. Then many laughed at him and considered him henpecked, giving him the nickname “Chain Nora.”

It turns out that Dieter Bohlen dedicated the famous song “Brother Louie” to sound engineer Luis Rodriguez, who for many years helped him make arrangements for his compositions.

Updated: April 9, 2019 by: Elena

Post for fans of disco 80s-90s

"Heroes of Soviet Youth"
The legendary German musical duo Modern Talking, performing Eurodisco music, was created by singer Thomas Anders and composer Dieter Bohlen in 1984 thanks to a happy coincidence.

Thomas Anders (real name Bernd Weidung) has been involved in music professionally since childhood: he took piano lessons, sang in a church choir and studied musicology. Already at the age of 16, the talented singer won the prestigious Radio Luxembourg competition, and at 17 he released his debut single “Judy”. However, the young artist’s name and surname were too difficult to pronounce and difficult to remember for the big stage, and the record company producer advised Bernd to take the sonorous pseudonym Thomas Anders. It was under this stage name that he became famous.
Anders' fateful acquaintance with the aspiring composer and producer Dieter Bohlen occurred in February 1983 at the Berlin record company Hansa. Bohlen was looking for a vocalist to perform his new composition in German, and Anders, who responded, immediately flew to Bohlen at his studio in Hamburg, where he began recording the song. After recording several collaborations in German and becoming popular in Germany, Dieter and Thomas realized that international success and recognition could only be achieved with songs in English.

In 1984, Thomas Anders and Dieter Bohlen created the group Modern Talking, which immediately loudly declared itself with the composition “You"re My Heart, You"re My Soul" (“You are my heart, you are my soul”). Bolen initially wanted only Anders to perform the song, but the bosses of the music studio managed to persuade the composer to sing in a duet with Thomas. And they were right. The single became a mega hit and German singers became famous throughout the world.
“Yes, we did a great job back then,” Dieter Bohlen recalled many years later. “I’m still proud of some of my work.” By the way, the popularity of the group in the USSR was so great that Bohlen was called the “hero of Soviet youth” and recognized as the most popular foreign composer. However, the star duo did not bask in the glory for long.

“It’s better to die than to work in such conditions”
In 1985, Anders and Bohlen pleased fans with another hit - their new composition “Cheri, Cheri, Lady” sold more than 250 thousand copies around the world. The rise of Modern Talking was so rapid that already in the first year of its existence the group collected a huge collection of all kinds of prestigious awards.

For three years, the legendary German handsome men filled stadiums, and millions of fans around the world shed tears for them. The musicians have six albums that went gold and platinum. However, in 1987, a black cat ran between Thomas Anders and Dieter Bohlen - the stars at their peak broke up with a scandal, and the mega-successful duo Modern Talking ceased to exist.

The official reason for the breakup was stated to be disagreements between the artists regarding copyrights for performing songs, as well as Dieter Bohlen's selfish behavior towards Anders. But later it turned out that the main reason for the quarrel between the musicians, which led to the collapse of the Modern Talking group, was the wife of Thomas Anders, Nora Balling.

An ambitious and tenacious woman claimed to be not only the third in the duet, but also a producer, manager, and at the same time a director. She wanted to completely subordinate the creative life of the group to herself. Bohlen hated her at first sight. Nora could simply forbid Anders to go on stage, took him on trips in the midst of recordings, disrupted the filming and tour of Modern Talking.
“Because of Nora’s whims, we disrupted a very important performance on the Top Of The Pops program, after which in Britain they simply turned us down,” Bolen said. “Then I thought that I would rather die than continue to work in such conditions, and I decided that it would be better if we went our separate ways.” Soon driven to the point of nervous breakdown by the antics of Anders' wife, Dieter Bohlen slammed the door behind him with a scandal. And then a period of real hostility began between the former friends...

“Anders’ solo career is doomed because he can only work under pressure”
After the collapse of Modern Talking in 1987, Dieter Bohlen created the group Blue System, and Thomas Anders began a solo career. It was then that their “exchange of pleasantries” began in the press. Bohlen tirelessly insisted that Anders' solo career was doomed because he could only work under pressure. Dieter collectively called Thomas’s solo work “hack work.”
In turn, Anders spoke no less poisonously about Dieter’s numerous “post-talking” projects, especially about his favorite brainchild - the Blue System group. Thomas called Bohlen an “omnivorous”, “scandalous”, “crazy” and “unbalanced” person. For many years, exchanging barbs through the media, legendary musicians built new careers. During the existence of Blue System, Bolen released 13 albums, 30 singles and shot 23 video clips, and Anders recorded 6 discs, actively participated in dance shows and even starred in films. It seemed to everyone that a reunion of idols was impossible.
However, in 1998, 11 years after the collapse of Modern Talking, Dieter Bohlen and Thomas Anders unexpectedly announced the revival of the cult duet, which truly shocked their fans.

“Dieter and I talked a lot about our career in the 80s, and it seemed to us that there was something unfinished in it,” Thomas Anders said then. - There was a feeling that the breakup of our group in 1987 occurred for purely emotional reasons. Then we became older, perhaps wiser - and often thought together why this happened.”
It turned out that the first conversation about reuniting the group occurred between Bohlen and Anders back in 1993. The musicians talked every two or three months by phone, and sometimes met. And all the time we thought that maybe it would be nice to reunite. But they had no real confidence in this.

In 1997, Anders received a call from the management of a very famous European show and asked whether it was possible to organize a joint performance with Dieter Bohlen as part of this project. The stars phoned and unexpectedly decided to reunite and try to return the incredible popularity of the mid-80s.

“We became friends again when Thomas divorced that damn doll.”
The ceremonial reunion of Thomas Anders and Dieter Bohlen was broadcast live on the very popular German show “We Bet That...?” Then a symbolic wall was built on stage between the ex-musicians of Modern Talking, which they first destroyed together, and then declared that they had forgiven each other for all insults and were ready to start all over again.

When asked how, after everything that happened, they managed to become friends again, Dieter Bohlen replied: “Easy. As soon as Thomas divorced that damn doll Nora and finally threw away his idiotic locket. This collar just drove me crazy. (Bohlen was referring to the nameplate “Nora” that Thomas Anders wore on a chain around his neck for many years - Ed.). We are not going to fundamentally change anything in our style. We will still be “Modern Talking”, and the basis of our music, as before, will be a melody, as beautiful as possible, no hard, rock, metal.”

In 1998, Anders and Bohlen released the album "Back For Good", which consisted of dance remixes of old songs with the addition of four new compositions. Time seemed to turn back: in just three months the record became double platinum, and Europe, as in the 80s, was again singing the songs of Dieter Bohlen and Thomas Anders. In June of the same year, the revived duet appeared before the Moscow public, giving a concert at the State Kremlin Palace.

After triumphant return the Modern Talking group existed for another 5 years. In 2003, during a tour, Dieter announced that the duo was finally ceasing to exist. And soon it became known that the cult performers continued communicating in court...

“A revival of Modern Talking is out of the question”
The second breakup of the group was marked by a huge scandal - Dieter Bohlen, hot on the heels, wrote the books “Nothing But the Truth”, “Behind the Scenes” and “My Catchphrases”, which became bestsellers and sold exorbitant copies. In his autobiographies, Bolen accused Thomas Anders of all mortal sins, including financial fraud during the former glory of Modern Talking.

The offended Anders immediately went to court, suing Bohlen for “theft from the group’s common treasury” and “slander,” and won the case. In addition to paying Thomas for moral damages, the court ordered the publishing house that printed the books to either reprint the entire edition or manually, in each copy of the book, paint over the “slanderous” words that offended Anders’ “honor and dignity” with a black marker. The publisher chose the second option, and soon the few copies of books sold, which were not edited with a black marker, became the subject of a real hunt by the group's fans.
In 2011, Thomas Anders released his autobiography. However, soon the musician’s ex-wife Nora Balling filed a lawsuit, who saw impartial statements addressed to her in the ex-husband’s book. The court sided with her, and famous singer Nora had to pay 100,000 euros and remove offensive quotes from the circulation.

The iconic singers have not communicated for more than 13 years. There are periodic rumors in the media that Thomas Anders and Dieter Bohlen have reconciled again and are planning to revive Modern Talking. However, the musicians themselves consider this project completely completed for themselves. Not long ago, Anders once again disappointed fans by denying all rumors about a reunion with Bohlen. “There can be no question of reviving Modern Talking. I’ll tell you honestly, I’m very happy that I don’t need to see Dieter anymore. I hope he’s happy about it too,” said Thomas Anders.

Compound Dieter Bohlen
Thomas Anders Other
projects Blue System
Systems in Blue moderntalking.com Modern Talking at Wikimedia Commons

Modern Talking(With English- “modern conversation”) is a German musical duo that existed from 2003 to 2003, performing dance music in the style of Eurodisco, Europop and Eurodance. The band consisted of Thomas Anders (lead vocals) and Dieter Bohlen (guitar, backing vocals, songwriting, production). It is one of the most successful groups in the history of popular music and the most successful of those created in Germany: the group's records have sold more than 120 million copies worldwide (as of 2003).

The duo's singles topped the charts from the mid-1980s ("You're my heart, you're my soul") until the early 2000s ("Win the Race"), and their collections topped the world charts ( Back for Good). The band's music is still on radio playlists and their albums continue to sell to this day. The duo made a great contribution to the development of European and (partly) Asian music.

Modern Talking's record of five No. 1 singles (in Germany) in a row and 4 multi-platinum albums in a row has not yet been broken.

History of the group [ | ]

Before the duo formed[ | ]

The musicians met in February 1983 within the walls of the Berlin record company “Hansa”: the aspiring composer and producer Dieter Bohlen was looking for a vocalist to perform the composition “Was macht das schon” - a cover version of the song by F.R. David "Pick Up The Phone", for which he wrote the German lyrics. The aspiring singer Thomas Anders responded to Dieter Bohlen's proposal and soon flew to Hamburg to begin working together.

Start of Modern Talking [ | ]

The beginning of one of the most famous musical groups begins on October 29, 1984, when Thomas Anders and Dieter Bohlen released the first single "Modern Talking" "("You are my heart, you are my soul"). When Thomas and Dieter recorded this song, everyone present in the studio applauded - they loved this melody so much. Initially, the single did not receive proper appreciation from listeners, and only after performing on the Formel Eins program (January 21, 1985) did the duo become truly popular: the single became a super hit, taking first place first in the German charts and then in the European charts. 60 thousand records were sold daily in Germany alone.

In the wake of the group's popularity, the sportswear company Adidas signed a contract with Dieter Bohlen to display their clothes in videos and at concerts.

The next album of musicians called “” with songs “” was no less popular. Geronimo's Cadillac"("Cadillac Geronimo") and " "("Give me peace on Earth"). Song from this album " "("Lonely Tears in Chinatown") was released as a single in Spain, taking 9th place there. While recording singles in the studio, Dieter Bohlen never sang high parts in the group. Instead, they were performed by Michael Scholz, Detlef Wiedecke and Rolf Köhler (-,-).

The group's first breakup in 1987[ | ]

Possessing an ambitious and energetic character, Nora Balling aspired to a more significant role, seeking to subordinate the creative life of the group to herself. According to the memoirs of Dieter Bohlen, “Nora could simply forbid Anders to go on stage, took him on trips in the midst of recordings, disrupted filming and tours.”

Against the backdrop of these contradictions, a final break occurred at a concert in Munich in 1986. The musicians decided not to upset the fans ahead of time and only a year later, having recorded two more albums and waiting for the end of the contract, they announced the breakup of the group by mutual consent.

Thomas Anders himself says this about the collapse:

Almost everyone believes that the duo broke up because of Nora. But in fact, I was just very tired, tired of Dieter, of our common cause and endless trips. I had absolutely no free time to meet with friends or just be at home. I didn’t belong to myself at all, I belonged to our company, which used me with all its might. Unfortunately, this condition is difficult to explain. Of course, many may say: “Yes, but you earned money, and a lot of it. And if you earn a lot of money, you need to work hard.” I partly agree with this formulation of the question. But if you spend three years in a row traveling for 320 days a year, living in 300 different hotels throughout the year, then one day you feel exhausted and empty, tired of everyone and everything. At the same time, your partner experiences completely different feelings - Dieter was always focused only on his career and success. He didn't take my feelings into account at all. I only asked for a short time out. Just 2-3 months to rest and then return to the stage again. All this is very difficult for people to understand, because it is much easier to say that the duo broke up because of the unbearable Nora. Yes, without a doubt, she was a very complex person. But many women have a rather difficult character. It’s Nora’s fault that our group broke up - 10−15%. She was by no means the main reason for our breakup.

It is curious that, having created the Blue System group even before the release of the last album (“In The Garden Of Venus”), Dieter actually competed with his main group at that time.

After the breakup [ | ]

The reunion of the legend of the 80s began with a non-binding phone call from Bohlen, in which he friendly invited Anders to Hamburg. The conversation continued in one of the Hamburg fast food restaurants over a portion of selected fried potatoes with goulash. Thomas at first strongly doubted the relevance of the revival of the duet, but Dieter still managed to convince him.

Thus, completely unexpectedly for their fans, Modern Talking, having once again joined forces, triumphantly returned to the pop stage in March 1998, performing on the popular German TV show “Wetten, dass..? "with a medley composed of their immortal No. 1 hits and releasing the album "Back For Good", which consisted of dance remixes of old songs with the addition of four new compositions: "I Will Follow You", "Don't Play With My Heart", " We Take The Chance", "Anything is Possible". The album ended with No. 1 Hit Medley, collected from the duo’s popular songs.

End of career[ | ]

The spontaneous decision, however, took a long time to think about. There were 25,000 people there in Rostock and I told them about the completion of the Modern Talking project... If I had had long discussions with the management of the record company, they would probably have told me “No, don’t do it! After all, next year the band will celebrate its 20 years!" I would refuse, but they would try to convince me, as they did 75 times before. But I really wanted to stop this year. So I thought, "Okay, if I say this now, 25,000 people will hear me and that'll be the end of it."

Thomas Anders on the demise of Modern Talking:

We've always said that we don't want to do anything out of desperation. For better or worse, we don't want to be together anymore. We did not marry and we are not Siamese twins who are inseparable from each other. So, if one of us loses interest in making music together, we have to leave.

Official reason This difficult decision, according to Dieter, was that Thomas, without his knowledge, undertook a solo tour in the United States in the summer of 2003. Back in 1987, Anders already did a similar thing, organizing a tour without Dieter Bohlen in Eastern Europe under the guise of “The Thomas Anders Show” (even though the advertising posters said “Modern Talking”). In 2003, posters and banners in the United States again read: “Concert of C.C. Catch and the Modern Talking group at the Taj Mahal,” although Dieter Bohlen did not participate in that concert.

Fans of the duo consider the unofficial reason for the end of Modern Talking's career to be the drop in sales of the group's records and Dieter Bohlen's desire to devote more time to promoting the most popular TV show in Germany, "Germany is Looking for a Superstar" and its participants, whose records sold much better than Modern Talking itself.

During the existence of the group, more than 120 million audio media were sold worldwide. Modern Talking is still popular in Eastern Europe, Russia, Argentina, Chile, Poland, Hungary, Finland, Vietnam and other countries.

The fate of the group members[ | ]

The style of most songs since the duo's reunion is Europop. Modern Talking released four compositions in Latin style - No Face No Name No Number (2000), Maria (2001), I Need You Now (2001), Mystery (2003). Blackbird (2003) is jazz, Angie's Heart (New Version) (1998) is club pop, We Are Children Of The World (2002) is pop rock, Juliet (2002) is advanced disco, Blinded By Your Love (1987) ), You And Me (1987) and Who Will Save The World (1987) - pop rock, Witchqueen of Eldorado (2001) and If I... (2002) - ethnic pop, When The Sky Rained Fire (2002) and Who Will Love You Like I Do (2002) - eurodance. The track The Night Is Yours - The Night Is Mine (1985) can be attributed to.

Style features 1984-1987[ | ]

Modern Talking had several distinctive features that set them apart from other artists of the same style:

Theme of the songs [ | ]

Many songs of the Modern Talking group speak about unrequited love and a broken heart. In several tracks, Dieter Bohlen paid attention to the theme of victory (“You Can Win If You Want”, “We Take The Chance”, “Win ​​the Race”, “Ready For The Victory”, “10 Seconds To Countdown”, “TV Makes The Superstar”) ", "Life is too short" and partly in "Don't give up"). Also in the lyrics of Modern Talking there is a place for the theme of the future (“In 100 Years”, “Who Will Save The World” and partly in “Who Will Be There”). The song "It's Christmas" is filled with the spirit of Christmas. On the album “America” there is a track that talks about the queen of witches (“Witchqueen Of Eldorado”). The song "We Are The Children of the World" is about friendship and solidarity.

Authorship of the texts[ | ]

Almost all the lyrics of the group's songs were written by Dieter Bohlen, and the authorship belongs to him alone, with the exceptions of the following tracks: “Love Is Like A Rainbow”, “For Always And Ever” (1999), “Love Is Forever” (2000), “I Need You Now" (2001), "Love To Love You" (2002) - written by Thomas Anders; “It Hurts So Good” (1999) and “I’ll Never Give You Up” (1999) - co-written by Dieter Bohlen and Thomas Anders; "Do You Wanna" (1985) - written by Dieter Bohlen, lyrics by Mary Applegate.

People who worked on the project[ | ]

Relationships with other famous performers[ | ]

Interesting Facts[ | ]

• Hit " You"re My Heart, You"re My Soul"in 1985 reached number one on the charts in several countries (among them Belgium, Germany, Austria, Switzerland). It has been covered by many performers.
• Hit " Cheri, Cheri Lady"reached number one in several countries, including Germany, Austria, Norway, Switzerland, Belgium.
• Hit " Brother Louie" also reached number one in several countries. It charted in the UK for 8 weeks and peaked at number four.
• Hit " Atlantis Is Calling", released in 1986, became the group's fifth consecutive and final No. 1 hit in Germany. Some subsequent singles reached number one in other countries.
• Modern Talking's record of five No. 1 singles (in Germany) in a row and 4 multi-platinum albums in a row has not yet been broken.
• In the first period - from 1985 to 1987 - they released 2 albums per year, and from 1998 to 2003 - 1 album.
• In 1988, sales of Modern Talking reached 85 million copies.
• In 1998, in Germany, 700 thousand copies of the album were sold in the first week. Back For Good».
• In 1998, there were about 200 thousand people at the first concert in Budapest.
• In December 1998, the Modern Talking concert at the Petersburg Sports and Concert Complex was attended by 25 thousand spectators.
• In 1998, the album “ Back For Good"became the leader in global sales.
• In 1999, the album “ Back For Good" and according to the results of annual sales on Amazon.ca, the album took an honorable 16th place.
• In 1999, in Monte Carlo, Modern Talking received The World Music Award as "Best Selling German Band in the World".
• They sold 100 thousand copies" Back For Good" in South Africa.
• Single " Sexy Sexy Lover"was in the top twenty of the MTV Europe chart.
• In 2001 in Manchester (England) Modern Talking won the Top of the Pops Award for best German group.
• Singles Win the Race And Ready for the Victory were recorded to order for the German channel RTL for scrolling during broadcasts of Formula 1 races.
• In the United States, Modern Talking sold few copies of their recordings, while the duo's recording media (BMG) sold more than 120 million copies worldwide as of 2003.
• The 2010 compilation Modern Talking - 25 Years Of Disco-Pop - reached high places on the charts in Germany, Austria and Poland, thereby proving that the group was still popular after the breakup.
• Despite the fact that Modern Talking has never been on the American charts, they have been featured [ ] wrote in the American authoritative magazine Billboard, their songs were covered by such American performers as George McCrae (cover of Don’t Take Away My Heart), known for his work in the group KC and the Sunshine Band and (covers of YMH YMS AND YCWIYW).
• Neil Tennant from the Pet Shop Boys likes the song " You"re My Heart, You"re My Soul» [ ] .
• In the Soviet cartoon “The Return of the Prodigal Parrot,” the parrot Kesha listens to the song of the group Modern Talking You"re My Heart, You"re My Soul in the player. He also mentions the name of the group, uttering the phrase: “According to your numerous requests, the Weiner brothers will perform the song “Moderna Talkinga”.”
• In January 1986, Dieter Bohlen performed in France on the program “C’est Encore Mieux l’apres-midi” with the fake Thomas Anders as the group Modern Talking. The lead singer's name is Uwe Borgwardt - he is a member of The Koola News.
• In the USSR, a video with the participation of the group was first shown on February 7, 1986 in the program “Rhythms of the Planet”. The next program to show Modern Talking in the USSR was Morning Mail on May 18, 1986, repeated a week later.
• In 2009 at the Comedy Club in the program “Legendary Legends”, in common name: Norden Vicking, Podzem Parking, Media Holding, Schlyushents Poking, Tea for Two, Much Tiolkink and Modern Talking. The group consists of: Thomas Anders, Dieter Bohlen and Claus Fon Gen Talle.

Discography [ | ]

Studio albums[ | ]

Collections [ | ]

Singles [ | ]

• 1984 “You"re My Heart, You"re My Soul" (No. 1 Germany, No. 1 Belgium, No. 1 Denmark, No. 1 Italy, No. 1 Spain, No. 1 Greece, No. 1 Turkey, No. 1 Israel, No. 1 Austria , No. 1 Switzerland, No. 1 Finland, No. 1 Portugal, No. 1 Lebanon, No. 2 South Africa, No. 3 France, No. 3 Sweden, No. 3 Norway, No. 15 Japan, No. 56 UK) (8 million sales).
• 1985 "You Can Win If You Want" (No. 1 Germany, No. 1 Austria, No. 1 Belgium, No. 1 Turkey, No. 1 Israel, No. 2 Switzerland, No. 2 Portugal, No. 3 Denmark, No. 5 Finland, No. 6 Sweden, No. 6 Netherlands, No. 8 France, No. 10 South Africa, No. 70 UK)
• 1985 "Cheri, Cheri Lady" (No. 1 Germany, No. 1 Hong Kong, No. 1 Greece, No. 1 Turkey, No. 1 Israel, No. 1 Austria, No. 4 Portugal, No. 7 Italy, No. 10 Netherlands, No. 15 South Africa, No. 44 Japan)
• 1985 "" (released as a single only in South Africa)
• 1986 "Brother Louie" (No. 1 Germany, No. 1 Sweden, No. 1 Spain, No. 1 Chile, No. 1 Greece, No. 1 Turkey, No. 1 Israel, No. 1 South Africa, No. 2 Ireland, No. 4 UK, No. 10 Portugal , No. 5 Italy, No. 15 Mexico, No. 16 Netherlands, No. 34 Canada)
• 1986 “Atlantis Is Calling (S.O.S. for Love)” (No. 1 Germany, No. 2 Austria, No. 3 Sweden, No. 3 Switzerland, No. 4 Belgium, No. 6 Holland, No. 8 Norway, No. 21 France, No. 13 Italy, No. 55 Great Britain)

17 chord selections

Biography

In February 1983, Frenchman FR David presented his second single, "Pick up the phone." When Dieter Bohlen heard the first sounds of "Pick up the phone", he already knew that he would make a German version of this hit. But he couldn't find a performer. He decided to call the song “Was macht das shon?” . One day, Dee received a letter from the recording company Hansa, which said that the company had in mind one young performer whose songs were not very successful - Thomas Anders. Upon arrival in Hamburg, Thomas was delighted with Dieter's version of "Pick up the phone".
Thomas (who doesn't know - real name Bernd Weidung) was born on March 1, 1963 in Münstermayfield, near Koblenz. At the age of 15, Thomas already had success, having appeared on Michael Schanze's television show - "Hatteh Sie heut" Zeit fur uns?", he got the opportunity to record his first single "Judi". In September he became friends with Thomas Ohner and two other soloists of the group, which together with him (Thomas Anders) toured all over Germany with concerts. But the success ended as quickly as it began. And Thomas’s father decided that it was better for his son to finish school. Thomas passed all the exams in 1982. , in the spring.Tommy then spent five semesters at the University, studying Germanic studies and music.
In 1981, Thomas recorded 3 more singles: "Du weinst um ihn" ("You cry because of him"), "Ich will nicht dein leben", ("I will not live this life without you") "Es war die nacht der ersten Llebe" ("It was the night of first love"), Dieter and Thomas immediately liked each other. They made a great team in the studio. They often visited Dieter's house in Hamburg. Dieter recorded with Thomas the song “Wovon traumst du denn” (“Who do you dream of?”) and it was with this song that Thomas “broke” into the charts (December 1, 1983). About 30,000 copies of this song were sold. In March 1984 “Endstation Sehnsucht” and “HeiBkalter Angel” were recorded (cover version of Real life - “Send me an ange1” (“Send me an angel”)).
After this great job, Dieter decided to take a “break” and relax (for the first time in 5 years) on the island of Mallorca. But even on vacation, new ideas arose in Dieter’s thoughts. One of these ideas became the European "shock" of 1985 - this is "You"re my heart, You"re my soul". This song remained under the spell of Germany for a whole half a year.
And another idea came into Thomas’s pretty head - to create a duet!
When Dieter was vacationing in Mallorca, Thomas, along with his girlfriend Nora, was vacationing in the Canaries, where they got engaged (August 6, 1984)
When they (Dieter and Thomas) both returned to Germany, they immediately began work on "You"re..." and on the future duet - "Modern Talking". In October "84. the single was already ready, but... in November "84, Thomas (in his Golf GTI car) was in a terrible accident. The car was literally flattened, but neither Thomas (thank God!) nor Nora were hurt. And it was from this misfortune began "happiness" "Modern Talking". On January 17, "85, a video for "You"re my heart..." was shot and a few days later Dieter and Thomas already took part in music programs. It was a real "breakthrough" for "M.T". Finally, Dieter was at the desired top!...
In March "85 the second single "You can win..." was released. All Dieter's songs never lost their quality, neither then nor now. This applies to "Cheri...", "Brother Louie", "Atlantis is calling ". In the first album there is a song "There"s too much blue in missin" you" ("How much sadness in my soul when I miss you") - it is the only song performed by Dieter (in "Modem Talking"), Thomas on the backing vocals. "Modern Talking" became a worldwide success. But soon the public began to notice that something was happening, Dieter began to complain that Thomas was practically not working (Dee worked for 5 months on the 2nd album, and Thomas came only twice to record songs...). One of Dieter's most important assistants was and is Luis Rodriguez, who led all technical work and was also a sound engineer. But, for Dieter, Louis was not just a technical worker, but also a person who could always give advice on this or that song, this or that sound. Dieter always consulted Louis. "Brother Louie" is dedicated specifically to Rodriguez.
While Dieter was working with Modern Talking, he was also working with other groups. In 1985 He and Mary Rus recorded "Keine Trane tut mir leid" ("I'm sorry for my tears"). Together with S.S. Catch, Dieter achieved the same success as with "Modern Talking". Caroline Müller lived in the Bund but was born in the Netherlands. Dieter discovered her as a singer at the “Looking for Talents” competition in Hamburg. That same evening, Dieter offered her a contract and became her producer. He also came up with a pseudonym for her - “S.S. Catch”. In 1985 (summer), the single “I Can Lose My Heart” was released - her first hit. Together with dancers Dag, Dirk., and Pierre, CC Catch became the “queen” of disco. Dieter and Caroline worked together until 1989... 12 singles and 4 albums were released. Dieter also wrote "Midnight Lady" for Chris Norman. This song became the theme song for the television series "Tatort". "Midnight Lady" brought Norman back to the stage. With all these projects, Dieter wanted to prove that “Modern Talking” was not famous for the voice and personality of the handsome Thomas Anders, because in “Modern Talking” everyone saw only Thomas, and did not notice that Dieter did everything. No one believed in the deep lyricism of Dieter's songs, no one could even imagine that Dieter really put deep meaning and life problems into his works, and this was exactly the case.
Thus, “With a Little Love” is dedicated to Dieter’s son Mark (born July 9 “85, he was named after the singer Marc Bolan), the same goes for “Give me peace on Earth.” But, because Much attention was paid to Thomas and Hope, these songs were not noticed.From the Blue System repertoire, the song "Crossing the river" is also dedicated to his son Mark.
While Dieter and Louis were becoming a good "team", the relationship with Thomas gradually deteriorated. Their quarrels even occurred at concerts held throughout Europe. It soon became clear that Thomas could not stand stress. In the middle of '85, Thomas had a nervous breakdown. When Thomas felt better, he married Hope on July 27, '85, in Koblenz. Their wedding was a real show, with 3,000 fans screaming and crying in a packed church. Dieter was also invited, but he refused because he went to the hospital to see his father, who had a heart attack. But those who knew Dieter well understood that he was against all this hype around the wedding (Rolls-Royce near the church, a trip to Cannes, a tea party with Princess Stephanie). Thomas was able to extend the contract for another 2 years (until the end of 1987). What Thomas did in his personal life did not interest Dieter, he was only interested in their common work. One day, Thomas did not come to the television show “Formula One” (they were presenting a prize for the song “Brother Louie”). And Thomas was also not present at the “P.I.T” show, but the day before the show he warned Dieter that he was ill with jaundice.
On May 27, "85 their tour of Germany was supposed to begin, but this time Dieter was not there, who was injured while playing tennis, the doctor advised him to rest for 2 weeks.
Thomas decided to start the tour on his own and the organizers were not against it. Dieter had no choice but to admit that he had been forgotten and only Thomas and Nora existed. But, Dieter was still famous and still tried to save Modern Talking. He had to admit that all his efforts were not justified. Newspaper critics became even more critical and cynical. Moreover, they wrote stories about Thomas - each worse than the other . Thomas was on edge and took decisive action against the journalists. But, it was all in vain. All of Thomas's excuses in response to the journalists made him even more interesting and the newspapers were full of headlines about his actions against the media. Instead of maintaining a proud silence, Thomas, on the contrary , staged a real war with the press. By this, Thomas wanted to prove that he would not allow himself to be made a “fool”, and defended not only himself, but also Dieter. But the effect was the opposite, all his words were “distorted” in numerous articles. Dieter and Thomas spent less and less time together, and even when they received awards, only one of them was always present. Last time they appeared together at the end of 1986. at Formula 1. This was the beginning of a huge tour, but between them all the time there were “little warriors”. One of these scenes took place at a concert in Munich, while the fans were screaming and waiting for them, a terrible quarrel began, but Dieter and Thomas still went on stage. Nora and her friend Jutta Temes were also on stage. Then no one knew that Dieter took two girls as “back-up singers”: Sylvia Zaniga and Biji Nandke, but the girls were kept by guards (on Nora’s orders). In fact, when Nora saw Dieter's girls in the wardrobe, she was furious... and ordered the girls not to be allowed on stage.
Dieter was fed up with “this” Nora!!! When Dieter understood everything, he saw that Nora and Jutta had defiantly left, followed by Thomas... So the concert ended and everyone already understood what was happening... Backstage, Nora “poured” all the dirt on Dieter, she screamed loudly that even the fans in the hall heard her. To this, Dieter only succinctly replied: “Of course, the girls I chose are not as beautiful as Nora, but they are part of “Modern Talking”, and she is “nobody” ... ". Nora irritated not only Dieter, but also all the media, even fans of “Modern Talking”, who, in turn, threw eggs and tomatoes at her at one of the concerts... Dieter realized that “Modern Talking” had already ceased to exist. Thomas didn’t want to work together anymore, and Nora didn’t want to change her behavior, Dieter had to make an important decision... He knew for sure that Nora wanted to make a trio out of “Modern Talking”, and he really didn’t want that. Music and the future were very important to Dieter. Everything he achieved was at stake. Everyone understood that M.T had already broken up, but there was also a contract... The group was supposed to exist for another year... Dieter began to plan his future without Thomas. His studio already had songs ready that he wanted to present after "Modern Talking", Dee was looking for new musicians to work on a new project. At that time, "M.T" had 5 singles. 6th single - "Geronimo"s Cadillac", the song was not so bad, but the press did its job. They appeared negative statements about the duo, especially because of Nora. She was not a member of M.T., but was desperately trying to seize leadership of the group. Nobody loved her, but she was everywhere and always with Thomas, deciding when to photograph Thomas and Dieter. When she was with Thomas, she decided who he would give an interview to.
With each new article, hatred towards Hope grew, and therefore towards Thomas and Dieter too. For Dieter, “M.T” no longer existed. Dieter was famous in America and England, and many wanted him to become their producer. "Modern Talking" disappeared in 1987... Two years later, on one show, Dieter said that it was Nora's fault. Nora tried to take part in the same show, but they only laughed at her. Because of this incident, M.T lost $200,000. 1987 - the end of "Modern Talking". The last two albums were released: "Romantic Warriors" (June), "In The Garden Of Venus" (November).

Beginning in 1994, BMG bosses persistently suggested that DIETER BOHLEN make peace with THOMAS ANDERS and think carefully about the revival of the gold-bearing duo. But each time SICK refused. And then 1998 came. Things were going very badly for DIETER - the albums of his solo project BLUE SYSTEM were selling worse and worse every year. If just recently he managed to sell 400-500 thousand copies of his solo albums without much difficulty, then the latest BLUE SYSTEM albums “Body To Body” and “Here I Am” lasted on the charts for a total of two months, selling 150 thousand pieces each. Things were not much better for his sponsored teams. In particular, TOUCHE, whose debut album "Part One" lasted only eight weeks in the German charts, never rising above number 35. And this is during the golden era of boy bands! And therefore, in the current situation, BOLENA simply had no other choice but to try to enter the same river a second time.

The reunion of the legend of the 80s began with a non-binding phone call from DIETER: “Hello, Thomas! How are you? I want to invite you to Hamburg.” The conversation continued in one of the Hamburg fast food restaurants over a portion of selected fried potatoes with goulash. THOMAS at first broke down a little for the sake of decency: “Dieter, you’re crazy, who needs us today?” But, in the end, Bohlen’s arguments still prevailed, and in March 1998, the newly revived duo performed on the most popular German television show “Wetten Dass...?” with a medley composed of their immortal #1 hits.

Soon a single will go on sale with a modern remake of the most famous hit group "You"re My Heart, You"re My Soul "98", which took 2nd place in the German single charts and stayed there for a total of 21 weeks (of which 13 weeks in the TOP 20). In the consolidated European charts, the composition reached ninth places, taking an honorable 28th place in 1998. The song becomes No. 1 in Turkey, Latvia, Slovakia, Hungary, Argentina, Spain, Croatia and Albania, No. 2 in Israel, Austria and Lithuania, No. 3 in France and the Czech Republic; No. 4 in Switzerland and Greece, No. 6 in Sweden, No. 8 in Finland and Ireland, No. 10 in Belgium, No. 11 in Macedonia, No. 17 in Hong Kong.

The album "Back For Good" was expected to be an even greater triumph! On the first day, 180 thousand copies were sold in Germany alone. The album takes a well-deserved first place in the German album charts, where it will remain for 5 weeks. In total, "Back For Good" was in the DEUTSCHLAND ALBUM TOP 100 for 52 weeks! Other countries did not lag behind Germany - the album took 1st place in Finland, Sweden, Norway, Switzerland, Austria, Greece, Turkey, Argentina, South Africa, Hungary, Czech Republic, Slovakia, Croatia, Poland, Malaysia, Latvia and Estonia, 2 -th in France, Belgium and Denmark, 3rd in Holland, 4th in Taiwan, 6th in Spain, 7th in Portugal, 9th in Italy, 15th in Israel. In the EUROPEAN ALBUM CHARTS, "Back For Good", as well as in Germany, stayed on the first line for 5 weeks, taking 8th place at the end of the year. As for global sales, here too MODERN TALKING's seventh album turned out to be at its best - second place in the world charts and 4th place in 1998.

The second single "Brother Louie "98" also achieved excellent results, as did "You"re My Heart, You"re My Soul "98" recorded with the participation of American rapper ERIC SINGLETON - No. 16 in Germany (4 weeks in the TOP 20 and 11 weeks in TOP 100), No. 1 in Turkey, Argentina and Hungary, No. 2 in France and Spain, No. 5 in Lithuania, No. 7 in the Czech Republic, No. 9 in Sweden, No. 10 in Greece and Slovakia, No. 12 in Hong Kong, No. 17 in Austria, No. 21 in Switzerland, No. 51 in Holland and No. 12 in the European charts. This was not the first time DIETER and ERIC worked together - in 1997 they released two joint singles in the EURO-HIP-HOP style, as part of the COOL CUT and G-TRAXX projects.

As for the “Back For Good” album itself, from a nostalgic point of view it was of much greater value than from a musical one. Most of the remakes of old hits were made according to the standard BOLEN-RODRIGUEZ recipe and were intended for to a greater extent for fans of the new call, who knew MODERN TALKING only from the stories of their parents or worn-out vinyl records and tapes. Old fans were much more interested in new songs. And only four of them were written for “Back For Good”: “I Will Follow You” is a completely traditional Bolen ballad, “Don’t Play With My Heart” is a typical mid-tempo boy band hit a la BACKSTREET BOYS or “N SYNC and two tracks in the style of EUROPROGRESSIVE - "We Take The Chance" and "Anything Is Possible", which could easily find a place on the latest BLUE SYSTEM album "Here I Am", next to "I Miss You" and "Don"t Do That ". So, as it will not be difficult to notice, even in his new songs BOLEN was focused primarily on a youth audience.

The new composition "We Take The Chance", written specifically for the World Cup in France, came under fierce fire from critics. Let me remind you that all the fuss then flared up because of the first TWO bars, borrowed by BOLENA from the intro of the legendary 1986 hit “The Final Countdown” by the once popular Swedish group EUROPE. But the thing is that according to international copyright law, plagiarism is considered to be borrowing the first FOUR bars. So from the point of view of the law, SICK turned out to be completely clean. DITER himself in his interviews blamed everything on the customers of this football anthem, who “themselves asked for it to be like EUROPE.” Perhaps the composer really took them too literally, but, nevertheless, this scandal had the most positive impact on the sales of new MODERN TALKING releases.

The third single from the album "Back For Good" was "Space Mix", previously released as a promotional single called "We Take Chance". In addition to the scandalous composition, it included a new version of “You Can Win If You Want” and the “Space Mix” itself, which was a medley composed of the group’s most popular hits and recorded together with ERIC SINGLETON. The single went to No. 4 in Hungary, No. 14 in France, No. 15 in Greece, No. 19 in Argentina, No. 34 in Belgium. It is surprising that in the countries that are the main consumers of MODERN TALKING's music products - in Germany, Austria and Switzerland, "Space Mix" was not released at all.

"Alone" (1999)

Most MODERN TALKING fans were waiting for this album with great anticipation and excitement. Still, it’s one thing to ride on nostalgia for the 80s, and quite another to write a full-fledged album entirely consisting of completely new songs that can interest both old fans brought up on the music of the 80s and a new generation of fans. And, despite the fact that the musicians faced an extremely difficult task at that time, on the whole they successfully completed it.

MODERN TALKING's brand new single "You Are Not Alone", made in the style of updated remakes from the album "Back For Good", immediately soars to 7th place on the German singles charts, where it will remain for 15 weeks. The composition becomes No. 1 in Moldova, No. 4 in Slovenia, Hungary and Norway, No. 5 in Spain, Argentina and Austria, No. 6 in Latvia, No. 8 in Finland, No. 11 in Greece, No. 12 in Switzerland, No. 13 in France, No. 15 in Sweden, No. 24 in the Czech Republic, No. 36 in Brazil. In the pan-European charts, "You Are Not Alone" reaches number 19 and stays in the top 100 for 18 weeks.

The success of the eighth album "Alone" was quite comparable to a triumph a year ago"Back For Good" - four weeks No. 1 and 27 weeks in the DEUTSCHLAND ALBUM TOP 100. It is curious that throughout the first four weeks of sales of "Alone", the duo's seventh album "Back For Good" was still in the first album hundred in Germany, balancing between the sixth and ninth ten! In Europe, "Alone" reaches 6th place, and in the global charts the album takes an honorable 8th place. As in the case of the single "You Are Not Alone", the eighth album of the German superduo easily conquers the TOP 5 and TOP 10 of the vast majority of European countries, plus the charts of Argentina, Taiwan and Malaysia, which are traditionally loyal to the work of MODERN TALKING (No. 1 in Estonia, Latvia , Turkey, Argentina, Hungary, No. 2 in Austria and the Czech Republic, No. 3 in Switzerland, No. 4 in Finland and Poland, No. 5 in Sweden, No. 6 Greece, No. 8 in Malaysia, No. 9 in South Korea, Taiwan and Norway, No. 11 in France, No. 13 in Spain, No. 15 in Slovakia, No. 17 in South Africa, No. 6 in Europe and No. 8 in the global charts).

The second single “Sexy Sexy Lover” also sold well, as did “You Are Not Alone”, made in the style of a modernized EURODISCO or, as it is also called, DISCO-NRG - No. 15 and 9 weeks in the TOP 100 in Germany, No. 9 in Finland and Hungary, No. 10 in Latvia, No. 19 in Spain, No. 20 in Argentina, No. 25 in Sweden, No. 27 in Austria, No. 35 in Switzerland and No. 63 in Europe.

No more singles were released from "Alone", although such compositions as "Rouge Et Noir" and especially "Can"t Get Enough" were quite capable of blowing up the TOP 10 of any European or Latin American country. What can I say - almost the entire eighth the album turned out to be extremely smooth and hit - in the best traditions of the duo's classic long-plays. Most of the dance compositions from "Alone" were performed in the spirit of the modernized EURODISCO. BOLEN's passion for the EUROPROGRESSIVE style, which began on the BLUE SYSTEM album "Here I Am" and then continued in MODERN TALKING's new compositions with "Back For Good", was further developed in the newest track "I Can"t Give You More". In addition, for the first time, MODERN TALKING's numbered album could boast such a rich tracklist - in the eighties, such a number of songs would have been more than enough for two full-fledged numbered albums.

Another feature of "Alone" was enough Active participation THOMAS ANDERS in creation musical material for the album. Thus, with his direct participation, as many as four compositions were written - “Love Is Like A Rainbow” and “For Always And Ever” (music and lyrics), “It Hurts So Good” and “I”ll Never Give You Up” (text only ).

MODERN TALKING's eighth album ends with an extended 17-minute version of "Space Mix", released in 1998 as a separate maxi-single.

"Year Of The Dragon" (2000)

1998 and 1999 became some of the most successful years in the career of MODERN TALKING and DIETER BOHLEN in particular. Just like in the good old days, the group occupied the top lines of the charts in the vast majority of countries and received a lot of gold and platinum awards all over the world. MODERN TALKING is awarded the well-deserved THE WORLD MUSIC AWARD and ECHO (German equivalent of GRAMMY). To top it all off, the Pope himself, JOHN PAUL THE SECOND, invites THOMAS and DIETER to write music for his own CD (he composed the poems on religious and political themes himself). Moreover, among other candidates for participation in this project were the following: star names like WHITNEY HOUSTON, MICHAEL BOLTON, ARETHA FRANKLIN and RICKY MARTIN. Among the negative moments, one can only note the car accident that DIETER BOHLEN got into together with NADJA ABDEL FARRAG and the attack on DIETER by his beloved Rottweiler DICKY.

In February 2000, a new single, “China In Her Eyes,” was released, almost identical in style to last year’s “You Are Not Alone” and “Sexy Sexy Lover.” And judging by the volume of its European sales, it was easy to notice that in general Europe had already had enough of the revived MODERN TALKING. In Germany, the composition takes 8th place in the first single hundred, where it will remain for only nine weeks. As for other countries, the situation there was as follows - No. 1 in Moldova, No. 3 in Estonia, No. 6 in Spain, No. 7 in Hungary, No. 9 in Latvia, No. 20 in Switzerland, No. 22 in Austria, No. 24 in Greece, No. 26 in Sweden and No. 49 in Europe. Compared to previous works, not a lot.

Well, in March, the ninth album of the duo “Year Of The Dragon”, dedicated to the coming MILLENNIUM, finally goes on sale. In Germany, the album failed to rise above number 3 and remained on the charts for 18 weeks. Despite the relative decline in public interest in the group’s work, the album still manages to take worthy places in the charts of many European countries - No. 1 in Turkey and Estonia, No. 3 in Hungary and Poland, No. 4 in Switzerland, No. 5 in Austria, No. 7 in Czech Republic, No. 14 in Bulgaria, No. 22 in Finland and Greece, No. 26 in Norway, No. 28 in Sweden, No. 10 in Europe and No. 16 in the global charts.

In May 2000, the revived group faced its first serious commercial failure - the second single from the new album, “Don’t Take Away My Heart”, for the first time in the history of the project, did not make it into the German TOP 40, hopelessly frozen at 41st place. I think what to say about European It’s not even worth it in sales - No. 8 in Hungary, No. 18 in Latvia and Moldova, No. 20 in Estonia, although the video for this composition was simply gorgeous.

The album itself in many ways became a logical continuation of "Alone", except that stylistically it turned out to be much more diverse - in addition to the typical tracks for the new MODERN TALKING in the spirit of a modernized EURODISCO with elements of EUROENERGY, here you can also find compositions in the style of POP-LATINO ("No Face No Name No Number" and ITALO-DANCE ("Part Time Lover", enjoy samples a la ATB ("I"m Not Guilty", MOLOKO ("Walking In The Rain Of Paris" and even E-ROTIC ("Fly) To The Moon". As in the case of "Alone", "Year Of The Dragon" could easily be divided into two full-length albums without a noticeable loss in quality.

But, one way or another, even with all its rough edges and outright stylistic blunders, "Year Of The Dragon" can absolutely safely be considered best album MODERN TALKING after the reunion. Perhaps, since the days of "Romantic Warriors" musicians have not been able to create an album that touches the soul to such an extent and penetrates our consciousness literally from the very first chords.

"America" ​​(2001)

The year 2001 became one of the most significant and turning points not only in the history of MODERN TALKING, but also in the career of DIETER BOHLEN himself. First of all, BOLEN parts with his faithful “squire” LUIS RODRIGUEZ, who for sixteen long years determined the sound of all his projects, polished and brought to mind each of Bolenov’s works. The official reason for the termination of their collaboration, voiced in the press, was “problems with LOUIS’s recording device.” Soon, DIETER will face another equally serious loss - almost simultaneously with RODRIGUEZ, three other key figures leave him - ROLF KOHLER, MICHAEL SCHOLZ and DETLEF WIEDEKE, who also worked for him in the studio all these years, acting as his “studio voices”. It was their backing vocals that sounded in the choruses of almost all the compositions of BLUE SYSTEM, MODERN TALKING and C.C. CATCH. Subsequently, they will create their own musical project called SYSTEMS IN BLUE.

It would seem that after so many impressive blows of fate on any other music project one could safely give up, but not on MODERN TALKING! Soon the musicians receive a very timely offer from the Formula 1 organizers to write an anthem for one of the next stages of these most popular races. And the musicians get to work with enthusiasm. Moreover, BOHLEN manages to very quickly find a more than worthy replacement for RODRIGUEZ in the person of the legendary producer AXEL BREATUNG, who made a name for himself thanks to his successful work with such superstars as DJ BOBO, SILENT CIRCLE, REDNEX, INDRA and X-PERIENCE. The result was not long in coming - the pompous disco march "Win The Race" instantly entered the German TOP 10 and within two weeks rose to 5th place, becoming the most successful single in the recent history of MODERN TALKING since "You"re My Heart, You"re My Soul "98" and "You Are Not Alone". This composition lasted 13 weeks in the TOP 100. Also, "Win The Race" becomes No. 1 in Romania, No. 4 in Hungary, No. 9 in Estonia, No. 13 in Poland, No. 14 in Austria, No. 15 in Moldova, No. 16 in Argentina, No. 20 in Latvia, No. 28 in the Czech Republic, No. 31 in Switzerland, No. 36 in Sweden, No. 34 in Europe and No. 35 in the global charts. The popularity of the new single was greatly facilitated by a chic remix made by another living German musical legend - the SCOOTER trio, whose unexpected creative alliance with EURODISCO veterans looked largely symbolic, demonstrating the continuity of generations in dance music.

Most of the tracks included in MODERN TALKING's tenth numbered album "America" ​​were created by a completely new studio team, which included AXEL BREITUNG, THORSTEN BROTZMANN, BULENT ARIS, ELEPHANT, JEO, LALO TITENKOV, AMADEO CROTTI. Some of these musicians, in particular BROTZMANN and TITENKOV, had previously been hired by BOLENA as session musicians and sound engineers for the recording of the MODERN TALKING and BLUE SYSTEM albums. But it was from this moment that they were given much more creative freedom, and their official studio status was elevated to co-producers and arrangers. As for LUIS RODRIGUEZ, he was directly involved in the creation of only one single track, and even then it was far from the most successful - “Rain In My Heart”. The renewal of the “castrati choir” was also surprisingly painless - from now on the main “studio voices” of DIETER BOHLEN are CHRISTOPH LEIS-BENDORFF and WILLIAM KING, who fit almost perfectly into the overall sound palette of the group. And it was so perfect that most fans didn’t even notice anything. It is curious that one of the auxiliary backing vocalists of “America” was the well-known NINO DE ANGELO.

The second single "Last Exit To Brooklyn", as expected, was not as successful as "Win The Race" - No. 2 in Estonia, No. 8 in Hungary, No. 11 in Moldova, No. 37 in Germany, No. 44 in Austria, No. 94 in Switzerland. After a short break, much to the displeasure of the band's old fans, ERIK SINGLETON again took part in the recording of the composition. By the way, not so long ago, the well-known program “Maximum” tried to stir up a small scandal due to the alleged similarity of the choruses of “Last Exit To Brooklyn” by MODERN TALKING and “Work Your Magic” by DIMA KOLDUNA. Moreover, not just anyone was invited there as an expert, but THOMAS ANDERS himself. As a result, the parties agreed that it “vaguely resembles it,” but nothing more. In fact, if the creators of this program knew at least a little about the history of the EURODISCO style, they would probably know that the “original source” for both compositions is the same - “Little Russian” by the Italian project MR. ZIVAGO.

Despite the fact that in chart and commercial terms "America" ​​turned out to be somewhat more successful than "Year Of The Dragon" (No. 1 in Bulgaria, Turkey and Latvia, No. 2 in Germany and Estonia, No. 5 in Hungary, No. 7 in Austria, No. 8 in the Czech Republic and Slovenia, No. 10 in Switzerland, No. 19 in Poland, No. 25 in Greece, No. 37 in Sweden, No. 9 in European and global charts), from a musical point of view, it was noticeably inferior to him - quite predictable melodies, for the most part borrowed from the repertoire of BLUE SYSTEM and earlier MODERN TALKING albums, simple arrangements that are very far from EURODISCO standards.

One of the best and most memorable tracks on the album was, not surprisingly, the composition “I Need You Now”, entirely written by THOMAS ANDERS. Maybe when he wants! And so, except " New York City Girl", woven from pieces of SILENT CIRCLE, DJ BOBO and EIFFEL 65, there is, perhaps, nothing more to cling to. Apparently, it’s not BOLEN’s destiny to conquer America after all

"Victory" (2002)

2002 marked the beginning of events that were later destined to play a fatal role in the fate of MODERN TALKING, leading to the second and this time final breakup of the duo. It all started with the fact that during the 2002 tour, THOMAS ANDERS began to openly “rat”. Let’s say that limousine drivers are entitled to 75-100 euros per day (the rental of the cars themselves was carried out at the expense of sponsors), but the cost estimate states a completely different figure, let’s say 750-1000 euros. It is not difficult to calculate how much the difference will be and whose pocket it will smoothly move into. Or another example - a free hotel room, again at the expense of sponsors (plus non-existent bodyguards), on paper already costs the group several thousand euros. And so in every city where the tour takes place. Of course, THOMAS would not have been able to pull off such a scam alone, without the support of the “Barzini and Tatalia families” - the lead singer of MODERN TALKING found himself in cahoots with the manager responsible for all expenses and general planning of concerts during the tour. And if it weren’t for the organizer of the tour itself, BURGARD ZALLMAN, who opened DIETER’s eyes to Thomas’s tricks in time, it is quite possible that this sweet couple (Thomas & Manager) would still for a long time I would fill my bins at Bolen’s expense.

However, in the life of MODERN TALKING in 2002 there were much more pleasant moments, namely their new songs. The duo's next single was another sports disco march, "Ready For The Victory", which took 7th place in the German single charts and almost repeated the success of last year's "Win The Race" - the composition stayed in the TOP 100 for 11 weeks. In the rest of the world, the results were also very good - No. 2 in Estonia, No. 3 in Hungary, No. 11 in Spain, No. 13 in South Korea, No. 20 in Austria and Moldova, No. 21 in Romania, No. 31 in Latvia, No. 62 in Switzerland and No. 33 in Europe.

The new eleventh album "Victory" was worked on mainly by the same studio team as on "America". Among the new names in the booklet, only KAY M. NICKOLD and WERNER BECKER appear. As in the case of the album "America", DIETER BOHLEN completely withdrew from the arrangements, giving carte blanche to AXEL BREATUNG, THORSTEN BROTSMANN and LALO TITENKOV. And this time Bohlenov’s experiment was a complete success. In terms of its hit potential, the album is practically not inferior to “Alone” and “Year Of The Dragon”, and from the point of view of arrangement moves and stylistic finds, perhaps even surpasses them in some ways. It is especially worth highlighting here the rather bold track in the VOCAL-EUROTRANCE style “I”m Gonna Be Strong”, created not without the influence of the super hit “Heaven” by DJ SAMMY, the killer EURODANCE action movie “When The Sky Rained Fire”, in the crazy energy of which the BREATUNG's eurodance past and the simply gorgeous EURODISCO composition "Mrs. Robota", with its refined melody reminiscent of the group's early works. There is also another sports anthem, "10 Seconds To Countdown", which was originally even planned as the first single. And the intense studio work bore fruit - for the first time since 1999, MODERN TALKING's new numbered album ranks #1 in the German national charts. In addition, "Victory" becomes No. 1 in Estonia and Latvia, No. 7 in Austria, No. 10 in Hungary, No. 14 in Switzerland and Poland, No. 18 in the Czech Republic, No. 20 in Argentina, No. 37 in Greece, No. 74 in Denmark and No. 9 in Europe.

In April 2002, the second single from the album “Victory” was released, and on the track that fans least expected to see as such - it was the DISCO-HOUSE style composition “Juliet”. The main feature of this single was that for the first time in the history of MODERN TALKING we witnessed the appearance of a non-album b-side - “Down On My Knees”, performed at the junction of EURODISCO/EUROENERGY styles, in the spirit of MODERN TALKING of the Breitung period. And I must say that this single sold much better than the second singles from the last two albums - No. 3 in Hungary, No. 4 in Paraguay, No. 21 in Latvia, No. 25 in Germany, No. 30 in Estonia, No. 42 in Austria, No. 83 in Switzerland and Europe.

"Universe" (2003)

All good things come to an end sooner or later. So the second coming of MODERN TALKING has come to its logical conclusion. For five long years, THOMAS ANDERS and DIETER BOHLEN delighted us with their new songs, releasing six amazing albums and many singles. Of course, not all of their latest creations can compare with such classic masterpieces of the group as “Brother Louie” or “Cheri Cheri Lady”, but, nevertheless, the fact remains that the group managed to acquire a whole army of new, very young fans, and , and thanks precisely to their latest albums. And from now on, many people will associate both the band’s work itself and the years of their life spent listening to this wonderful music with these songs.

The album "Universe" became the twelfth numbered album in the entire history of the project and the sixth since its reunion. From a melodic point of view, the disc looks simply impeccable, and almost any composition from it, with proper promotion, could become a 100% hit. But as for the arrangements, here the feeling of “déjà vu” does not leave us for almost the entire forty-four minutes, which is exactly how long this disc lasts. And if a GRAMMY Award were awarded in the “Plagiarism of the Year” category, then this record would hardly have any serious competitors.

One way or another, the album "Universe" set a kind of record for "borrowing" from the latest work of such "heroes of our days" as BRITNEY SPEARS ("TV Makes The Superstar", IN-GRID ("I"m No Rockefeller", JENNIFER LOPEZ ("Mystery", WESTLIFE ("Knocking On My Door", KYLIE MINOGUE ("Nothing But The Truth" and AQUAGEN ("Superstar"). Well, the public, in turn, instantly realized that they were trying to sell them a real "second-hand" hand", which, naturally, could not but affect the level of sales of "Universe" - he with great difficulty reached platinum. In Germany, the album became number two (12 weeks in the TOP 100), number 1 in Latvia, number 4 in Estonia, number 10 in Austria, number 19 in the Czech Republic, number 20 in Poland, number 24 in Hungary, number 25 in Switzerland and number 11 in Europe.

But even despite the fact that the album itself became the most disastrous in the entire recent history of the group, the first and only single from it, “TV Makes The Superstar”, was released on the wave of popularity television show"Deutschland Sucht Den Superstar" sold 250 thousand copies, which automatically resulted in it being awarded gold status. The song about how “cool you got on RTL” reached the second line of the German national charts, by the way, for the first time since 1998, and became a kind of “swan song” of the most successful pop duo in world history. Along the way, the single takes 4th place in Hungary, 9th in Moldova, 15th in Austria, 20th in Latvia, 25th in Lithuania, 32nd in Estonia, 55