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Rosenstolz

About:

- Andrea Natalie Rosenbaum: 25 December 1969
- Peter Plate: 1 July 1967

German duo consisting of east-german singer AnNa R. and songwriter and singer Peter Plate. The group makes a mixture between electropop, rock and German schlager were the lyrics have a melodramatic, erotic or provoking theme. Singer AnNa R. was born in East Berlin, singer Peter Platein New-Delhi were his grandfather worked as a diplomat.. For his education he moved to Berlin in 1990. It is here were he met his partner Ulf Leo Sommer, with whom he started to write and produce songs with under the name Rosenstolz after the song ‘ Stolz der Rosen’ . On 1 June 2002 Ulf and Peter married.

Rosenstolz began top perform for small audiences in Berlin. It his at one of these shows the met Anna. The first official show as a duo was in Oktober 1991 at the Galerie Bellevue for a crowd of 30 people. The next year they were asked to perform for the a concert at the Berling gaycentre SchwuZ. In 1992 they released their debut album 'Soubrette werd' ich nie'. Year by year their popularity grew although radio and tv ignored them. Live they turned out to be a real crowdpleaser. Albums followed: 'Nur einmal noch' (1994), 'Mittwoch is' er fällig' (1995) and 'Objekt der Begierde' (1996).

In may 1997 Rosenstolz played in front of 10.000 people Nowosibirsk (by invitation of the Goethe-Institute). In the same year they released the album 'Die Schlampen sind müde' which turned out to be their break towards a more mainstream public. In 1998 they joined the German pre selection for the Eurovision Song Contest with the song 'Herzensschöner' but they ended second. In 2000 the album 'Kassengift' entered at number one in the charts and the single 'Amo Vitam' became one of their biggest hits. By this time Rosenstolz was one of the most popular pop acts singing in the German language. In 2004 they confirmed this position with the single 'Liebe ist alles' and the album 'Herz'. They also tried to break the French market with a cover version of 'Je deviens moi' formerly sung by singer Grégory Lemarchal.

Rosenstolz also isn’t afraid to take up political commentary in their songs. In 1999 they gave their opinion about gay marriage in the song 'Ja, ich will'. The video clip at the time featured partners Ulf and Cornelia Scheel. They keep asking attention on the gay rights throughout their career. For the gay movie Sommersturm (2004) the wrote the theme song called 'Willkommen'. In 2003 Rosenstolz was also outspoken against the war in Iraq with the song 'Laut'.

In 2005 they were awarded ECHO awards for Best Band, Best production team and best Video (for the song 'Ich komm'). The next year they released their new album 'Das große Leben' which a step forward in the sense that it features more ballad like songs and is more grown up than the previous albums. On March 23 2007 they released the benefit single 'Aus Liebe wollt ich alles wissen' for German aids awareness. A new album 'Die suche geht weiter' was released in 2008. In the following tour Peter Plate collapses on stage with severe burnout syndrome. His recovery would take 2,5 years, a forced sabbatical period which leads to the album 'Wir sind am leben' which can be read as a celebration of life and a return to the German popscene. At the start of 2013 the duo announces their split with Peter releasing his solodebut 'Schüchtern ist mein Glück' in April. AnNa R forms a band called Gleis 8 which debutes a few months later.

On the web:

- The Rosenstolz website: http://www.rosenstolz.de

If you like this, you probably like.. / european counterparts:

Les Rita Mitsouko (France)

What do we think:

DB: It is amazing that a band who flants with homosexuality so openly can be so popular. This gives hope for the future in other European countries. The gay factor aside this is also a very good band writing some brilliant German pop. They deserve to be this popular and i'm suprised they haven't been able to expent their popularity to surrounding countries. Again this supports our theory that every European country has it's own typical popscene. The upside is that you get a very diverse cultural envirement, the downside is that the acts are confided to their own ground.

PR: XXXXX

Recommended:

Die Schlampen sind müde - 1997

♪♪♪ - Kassengift - 2000

♪♪♪♪ - Macht Liebe- 2002

♪♪♪ - Herz - 2004

♪♪♪ - Das große Leben - 2006

♪♪♪- Die Suche geht weiter -2008

♪♪♪1/2 - Wir sind am leben - 2011

Peter Plate solo:

♪♪♪ - Schüchtern ist mein glück - 2013

AnNa R (Gleis 8):

♪♪♪ - Bleibt das immer so - 2013

Further listening: 1992 Soubrette werd' ich nie; 1994 Nur einmal noch; 1995 Mittwoch is' er fällig; 1996 Objekt der Begierde; 1999 Zucker 

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♪♪♪♪♪ = outstanding album, an absolute must-have
♪♪♪♪ = great album, highly recomended
♪♪♪ = nice album
♪♪ = be careful, requires listening before buying
♪ = best to be avoided