Nicu Covaci

Nicolae Covaci was born in Timișoara, on 19 April 1947. His mother Tamara came originally from Bessarabia while his father Grigore came from Banat, close to the Serbian border. He took up playing guitar at the age of 15 and in 1962 he, together with Florin "Moni" Bordeianu, founded a band called Sfinții (The Saints). Covaci died in Timișoara on 2 August 2024, at the age of 77.^[2]

• 1962: Nicolae Covaci founds the student band "Sfinții" (The Saints) in Timișoara. The band wins the second prize at the Bucharest Student Festival. From the very beginning the band is criticized for having a western European influence.
• 1963: The band's recordings of their own compositions first receive radio air play.
• 1965: The Saints are banned. The authorities accuse the band of spreading religious propaganda, and the band is forced to change its name. PHOENIX is born. Under their new name, the band plays three times a week at the School of Engineering cantina, and later at "Lola", the club of the Construction Industry Union in Timișoara.
• 1968: PHOENIX wins the Grand-Prix of the Romanian Festival in Iași. The band receives its first recording contract and makes regular appearances on radio and TV. PHOENIX releases its first record "Vremuri" (Times), an EP with four songs.
• 1969: The band wins prizes for creativity and interpretation at the Romanian student festival at the School of Architecture in Bucharest. Their second four-song EP called "Floarea stîncilor" (The flower of the rocks) is released.

• 1970: PHOENIX again wins a prize (for originality) at the Romanian student festival at the School of Architecture in Bucharest.
• 1971: The band changes its style and finds its own direction, inspired by pre-Christian rites and customs of the Balkans. Their third EP "Mesterul Manole" is released with three songs. PHOENIX is invited to play at the "Bratislava Lyra" and "Sopot" festivals in Czechoslovakia and Poland-the band is a big hit.
• 1972: Cei ce ne-au dat nume (The Ones Who Gave us the Name), the band's first LP is released. After the release of the second LP with the metaphoric title Mugur de fluier (Flute bud) the authorities ban PHOENIX from appearing in Romania.
• 1973: Cantafabule is released. It is their first double LP and a milestone in Romanian music history.
• 1974: PHOENIX plays concerts with the ensemble "The Drummers from Brănești", a group of 25 men from a small village in the Carpathians, who play traditional rhythms on different drums.
• Leaving 1976: Nicu Covaci renounces his Romanian citizenship and leaves Romania for Amsterdam. He founds a new band with musicians of different nationalities.
• 1977: Covaci returns to Romania and helps the members of his band escape. They hide in the band's Marshall speakers and are smuggled across four borders to Germany.

• 1978: The band breaks up. The band members leave Covaci and try to make it on their own under the name "Madhouse".
• 1981: PHOENIX releases its first production in English, the LP Transsylvania Phoenix. The band disintegrates again.
• 1983: Nicu Covaci plays with Dzidek Marcinkiewicz as a duo.
• 1986: Nicu Covaci and Erlend Krauser contribute to the production of Evita in Osnabrück.
• 1987: "The Lark" + "Ballade for You". Nicu Covaci contributes to the production of Jesus Christ Superstar in Osnabrück.
• 1988: Release of the single "Tuareg" + "Mr. G's promises".

• 1990: PHOENIX launches a gigantic come-back in Romania. The band raffles off 5,000 singles of "Ciocârlia".

• 1992: Nicolae Covaci produces the CD Symphoenix with the Romanian choir "Song" and the Radio Bucharest Symphonic Orchestra.
• 1993: The CD version of Cantafabule is released.
• 1994–1997: Various tours in Romania.
• 1997: The CD Aniversare 35 (35th Anniversary) is released. Vremuri – Anii 60 is released on CD.
• 1998: PHOENIX is going on big Romania-Tour with the mammoth-show Cantafabule.
• 1999: Cei ce ne-au dat nume and Mugur de fluier are released on CD.

PHOENIX releases a new 3 song maxi-CD with Numai Una, Iovano, and Ora-Hora and performs November concerts in Germany at "Works" and "Erdbeerblau" in Osnabrück, and in the "Osterfeldhalle" in Esslingen.