Echt (band)
German band
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Echt was a German pop band from Flensburg active from 1997 to 2002. Their second album Freischwimmer charted as no. 1 in the German album charts in 1999.[1]
- 1997–2002
- 2011
- Gunnar Astrup
- Kai Fischer
- Kim Frank
- Andreas Puffpaff
- Florian Sump
Echt | |
|---|---|
| Origin | Germany |
| Years active |
|
| Past members |
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Career
The group, whose five members were born between 1980 and 1982, started out as a school band at the Kurt-Tucholsky-Schule in Flensburg in 1994.[2][3] Since 1996, they were managed by Jonas Schäfer, who organised a first record deal.[4] The self-titled debut album "Echt" became a success in 1998 and reached number 5 in the German album charts.
Their greatest success came in 1999 with the second album "Freischwimmer", which topped the German album charts for two weeks and overall stayed in the album charts for 47 weeks. The singles "Du trägst keine Liebe in dir" and "Weinst du" also reached the Top Ten of the German single charts. In 2000, they covered Rio Reiser's song "Junimond" for the soundtrack of the film Crazy and reached no. 12 in the German single charts.[5]
Echt had the image of a boy band with a large teenage female following and was heavily promoted by teenage media. At the same time, the group was hesitant about this image and pointed out to their organic background as a school band in contrast to manufactured boy bands of that time.[6] While they had written some songs on their first two albums, they decided to write their third album "Recorder" by themselves. Despite some good reviews, "Recorder" met with disappointing sales and alienated large parts of the teenage media and fanbase at the time of its release in 2001.[7]
Disbanding and further developments
With declining success and unsure about their further musical development, Echt decided to disband in 2002 and the former band members went on to different careers.[8] In 2011, Echt reunited on stage for a one-time performance at a memorial concert for the late artist Walter Welke.[9]
In 2023, former Echt singer Kim Frank made a rare singing appearance in the ZDF show ZDF Magazin Royale and sang a medley of Echt's greatest hits.[10] Shortly afterwards, the three-part documentary ECHT – Unsere Jugend was released, directed by and from the perspective of Kim Frank, telling the story of the band. The documentary was based on around 250 hours of raw footage filmed by the band members and close friends during the band's existence. In an interview on the occasion of the documentary's release, Frank explained that the band members were still good friends, but that there were no plans for a reunion of Echt.[11]
Members
- Kim Frank (Vocals)
- Kai Fischer (Guitar)
- Florian "Flo" Sump (Drums)
- Andreas "Puffi" Puffpaff (Bass guitar)
- Gunnar Astrup (Keyboards)
Discography
Studio albums
| Title | Album details | Peak chart positions | Certifications | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| GER [12] |
AUT [13] |
SWI [14] | |||
| Echt |
|
5 | 16 | — | |
| Freischwimmer |
|
1 | 6 | 9 | |
| Recorder |
|
21 | 59 | — | |
Live albums
| Title | Extended play details |
|---|---|
| Live bei Overdrive |
|
Singles
| Title | Year | Peak chart positions | Certifications | Album | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| GER [12] |
AUT [13] |
SWI [14] | ||||
| "Alles wird sich ändern" | 1998 | 55 | 26 | — | Echt | |
| "Wir haben’s getan" | 23 | 17 | — | |||
| "Wo bist du jetzt?" | 20 | 22 | 29 | |||
| "Fort von mir" | 1999 | 30 | — | — | ||
| "Du trägst keine Liebe in dir" | 7 | 10 | 17 |
|
Freischwimmer | |
| "Weinst du" | 7 | 15 | 11 | |||
| "Junimond" | 2000 | 12 | 29 | 37 | Crazy soundtrack | |
| "2010" | 88 | — | — | Freischwimmer | ||
| "Wie geht es dir so?" | 2001 | 55 | — | — | Recorder | |
| "Stehengeblieben" | 2002 | — | — | — | ||
Samplers
- 1999: POP 2000 / Das Gibts Nur Einmal (König von Deutschland)
- 2000: Crazy, Original Soundtrack (Junimond)
DVD
- 2000: Crazy Platinum Edition (with 6 live videos, making of "Junimond", and "Junimond" music video)