Farin Urlaub

Farin Urlaub
Farin Urlaub (2012)
Background information
Birth name	Jan Ulrich Max Vetter
Born	(1963-10-27) 27 October 1963 (age 53)
Origin	West Berlin
Genres	Punk rock Ska punk Pop punk
Years active	1980–present
Associated acts	Die Ärzte Farin Urlaub Racing Team King Køng Soilent Grün
Website	www.farin-urlaub.de

Jan Ulrich Max Vetter, better known as Farin Urlaub (from the German "Fahr in Urlaub!" ("Go on holiday!"), after his love for travelling), is a German musician and songwriter. He is best known as the guitarist/vocalist for the German punk rock band Die Ärzte. Vetter has been a solo artist since 2001, touring with his band, the Farin Urlaub Racing Team. His releases starting in 2006 are credited to the band.

Vetter was born on 27 October 1963 in West Berlin. Until the age of seven, he lived with his mother in a flat in Berlin's Moabit district, and then in Frohnau until he was 18. His parents were low-income civil servants, and he has a younger half-sister named Julia. His mother often played records by The Beatles, and Vetter was introduced to music at a young age.

When he was nine, Vetter decided to take guitar lessons with an elderly woman who taught him classical standards. He played guitar while visiting holiday camps. A later music teacher advised him: "Whatever you do when you grow up, don't do anything with music!". At the age of 16, Vetter went on a school trip to London, and returned home as a punk with dyed blonde hair.

In 1980, he met Dirk Felsenheimer (later known as Bela B.) at the club Ballhaus Spandau, one of the few clubs in West-Berlin that occasionally played punk rock. Vetter joined Felsenheimer's band Soilent Grün, replacing the previous guitar player whose guitar had been stolen. When it was time to come up with stage names, Vetter decided to refer to his favourite hobby of travelling, contracting the German phrase "Fahr in Urlaub" ("Go on holiday") to Farin Urlaub. After completing his Abitur in 1981, Vetter enrolled in archaeology at the Free University of Berlin, but soon quit his studies to focus on his musical career.

After the breakup of Soilent Grün in 1982, Urlaub, Felsenheimer, and Hans Runge (Sahnie) formed Die Ärzte. Vetter told the youth magazine BRAVO that his surname was Vetter-Marciniak to find out which of his fans really knew him well: fan mail addressed to "Jan Vetter-Marciniak" he would throw out unread. Even today his surname is often erroneously cited as "Vetter-Marciniak." In 1988, at the height of their popularity, Urlaub and Felsenheimer decided to split up and, after one final tour with the new bass-player, Hagen Liebing, Die Ärzte disbanded.