WHERE ARE THEY NOW? Alphaville

Alphaville were big in Japan and in other countries too! But did they stay forever young or end up fools?

Alphaville were formed in Germany in 1982 as a trio consisting of singer Hartwig Schierbaum known as ‘Marian Gold’ (b.1954) and keyboard players Bernhard Lloyd (b.1960) and Frank Mertens (b.1961). They signed to WEA Records in 1983 and having played bars and clubs in Germany, they began work on their first album soon after. January 1984 saw the release of their debut single, which would ultimately become their best known worldwide. “Big In Japan” went to number one in their home country and made the top five across the rest of Europe. The track peaked at No.8 in the UK and reached No.66 in America. The group followed this up with “Sounds Like A Melody”, which hit No.1 in Sweden and No.3 back home. It too was a top ten hit across much of mainland Europe.

Alphaville’s debut album would be titled “Forever Young” and prior to its release in the Autumn of 1984, the title track hit records shops as the third single, giving the group a third top five hit and their last appearance in the UK top 100 singles chart. The track would also hit a high of No.65 Stateside, where it was also their last hit single there. The album followed a few weeks later and would gain Platinum and Gold status in Sweden, Norway, Switzerland and Germany, and would produce one further top twenty hit with “Jet Set” in early 1985, the year that Frank Mertens left the group and was replaced by Ricky Echolette (b.1958). Echolette would be present for the writing and recording of their next album, “Afternoons In Utopia”, which was released in 1986 and featured the singles “Dance With Me”, “Universal Daddy” and “Jerusalem”, although by now their success was becoming more limited to their home country and a handful of other territories.

Gold, Lloyd and Echolette would form the backbone of Alphaville for their 1989 album “The Breathtaking Blue” and their 1994 album “Prostitute”, as well as a best of in 1992, “First Harvest 1984–92”, which featured a new mix of “Big In Japan” that would be a top three hit in Finland. Ricky Echolette left Alphaville in 1997 after the release of the “Salvation” album while a newcomer, Martin Lister, joined the ranks in 1995 and would remain with the group until his death in 2014. Founding member Bernhard Lloyd remained with Alphaville until 2003, a period which would be dominated by remixes of “Dance With Me” and “Forever Young” (both 2001) and the remix album, “Forever Pop”. Marian Gold and Lister were joined by Jakob Kiersch and David Goodes from 2003, both of who remain with Alphaville while Carsten Brocker and Alexandra Merl have made up the number from 2014 and 2016 respectively.

After thirteen years away from the studio, Alphaville released “Catching Rays On Giant” in 2010, which featured the chart hit “I Die For You Today”, and gave them a top ten success, their first since their debut some 26 years earlier. “Strange Attractor” came in 2017 and “Eternally Yours” in 2022, a No.2 smash at home, which featured a new ‘symphonic’ version of their biggest and best known hit! Gold, Goodes and Kiersch still tour as Alphaville along with Carsten Brocker and Alexandra Merl and often appear at 80’s revival festivals across Germany and parts of Europe. Ricky Echolette has retired from music and lives with his family in France. Bernhard Lloyd continued as a producer of electronic music. Frank Mertens left Alphaville and formed the Lonely Boys. He ‘retired’ from music in the 1990’s and took up economics!