Thomas Anders

Thomas Anders (born Bernd Weidung, 1 March 1963, in Koblenz, West Germany) is a German singer, composer and record producer. Anders was the lead singer of Germany's popular pop-duo Modern Talking in 1984–1987 and in 1998–2003.

Early years

Thomas Anders began showing interest in music as a child, he did his first stage-performance at age of 7. Anders first studied music at Koblenz Eichendorff-Gymnasium. After having performed at several clubs and discotheques, in 1979, he participated in a music contest organized by the radio station Radio Luxembourg which he walked away from without earning enough points. Two days after the contest, Anders was offered a record contract by the same jury members of the radio contest. It was then that his career officially began when in 1980, at age of 17, he released his debut single Judy. Anders released several other singles produced by Daniel David including Du weinst um ihn, which he performed on Michael Schanze's TV show Hätten sie heut' zeit für uns. In 1983, he met Dieter Bohlen who produced Was macht das schon, the German cover version of F.R. David's Pick Up The Phone and also Heißkalter Engel, the German cover version of Real Life's Send Me An Angel. From late 1983 to the mid of 1984 Bohlen produced other tracks for Anders including Wovon träumst du denn, Endstation Sehnsucht and Es geht mir gut heut' Nacht. The success; however, came when in late 1984, Anders and Bohlen formed the successful duo Modern Talking, which they started things off by a worldwide hit single You're My Heart, You're My Soul.

Solo career

In late 1987, Anders and Bohlen decided to terminate Modern Talking and go their separate ways due to constant quarrel between the two. This drove Anders to leave Germany for the United States, where in 1989, Anders released his first solo album Different with more pop style rather than dance, which he produced together with Elton John's producer Gus Dudgeon and a-ha's producer Alan Tarney. The first single "Love of My Own" released in the same year is considered the biggest success of his solo career at that time.[1]The second album Whispers was released in 1991, three singles were released off Anders' second solo album "The Sweet Hello, The Sad Goodbye" written by Roxette member Per Gessle, "I Can't Give You Anything (But My Love)" and "True Love". In 1992, Anders released his third album Down on Sunset, the singles "How Deep Is Your Love" and "Standing Alone" (duet with Glenn Medeiros) found some success both in Germany and Austria. Anders released his fourth solo album When Will I See You Again in 1993. The first single "When Will I See You Again" featured the original singers of the song, The Three Degrees. Also, in 1993, Anders experienced something new as he got a part in a Swedish movie Stockholm Marathon. He also wrote the title-song for that film "Marathon of Life", which is one of the tracks in his 1993 When Will I See You Again album. In 1994, he came back with an album Barcos De Cristal, which he released in Spanish only, this album contained songs from 1992 and 1993 albums, all redone in Spanish. Anders released one more album in 1995 called Souled, which he produced together with Peter Wolf, this album contained a duet featuring The Pointer Sisters "Feel For the Physical" shortly after which Anders went on a long tour performing before as many as 85,000 fans, the tour involved cities like Cape Town, Johannesburg, Hong Kong, Singapore, Taipei, Santiago de Chile and Moscow. Things for him then were quiet until the end of 1997 when Thomas Anders and Dieter Bohlen announced the reunion of Modern Talking. The duo split again in 2003 eventually selling over 65 million albums worldwide between 1998 and 2003.

Subsequent years

In late 2003 Anders signed a contract with BMG international as a solo artist after their final album of Modern Talking. The first single Independent Girl released in November 2003 reached #17 in the German single chart, and his album This Time released in 2004 entered the Top 20 as well. The second single King of Love reached the Top 20 in Spain and the Top 40 in Germany. At this point, Anders was working with his new producer Peter Ries, who previously had worked with such artists as Sandra and No Angels. In 2004, Anders received an offer from NDR to host the annual Eurovision Song Contest, 11 million viewers who already knew Anders as a singer watched him as a TV personality. Also, in 2004, Anders was asked to record the ballad Just Dream which was to be the official anthem for the ballet Holiday on Ice (which later was entered in Guinness Record Book). The song can be heard during the international three-year Holiday on Ice tour. A year after, Anders won his legal battle against Dieter Bohlen, which was due to wrongful allegations by Bohlen, written in his autobiographical book. In March 2006, Anders got involved in Eurovision Song Contest again; however, he was one of the contestants to represent Germany in the Eurovision Song Contest 2006 alongside with the Greek-born Vicky Leandros (Eurovision Song Contest 1972 winner) and country band Texas Lightning featuring comedian Olli Dittrich. However, the spectators chose the latter. Also in the same year, Anders left BMG and joined Edel Records and released his swing-album Songs Forever. In April 2006, his The DVD-Collection arrived in stores, which contained 20 videos of his solo career as well as some hits taken from Modern Talking period. In July 2008, two download singles were released "Ibiza Baba Baya" and "For You". Currently, Anders is working on his new solo album, which is planned to be released in 2009.

Latest News

The new album Good Karma will be released in May, 2009 and includes a duet with the 1980s German pop singer Sandra, The Night Is Still Young. It will be presided by the single Good Karma.

Personal life

His parents are Helga and Peter Weidung. He has one brother, Achim, and one sister, Tania. He was married to Nora Balling from 1985 to 1998. Since July 2000 he has been married to Claudia Hess, with whom he has a son, Alexander Mick, born June 27, 2002.