Jimmy Bowien

Jimmy Bowien
Jimmy Bowien in 1980
Background information
Also known as	Kim Philipp (artist name)
Born	(1933-02-05)5 February 1933 Koenigsberg, Prussia
Genres	Musicals, Pop music, Orchestral Works
Occupation(s)	Record producer, songwriter and composer.
Instruments	Piano, Guitar, Vocals (Baritone)
Years active	1958–2000
Labels	Polydor, Deutsche Grammophon

Jimmy Bowien (born February 5, 1933, in Koenigsberg/Prussia) is a German record producer, songwriter and composer. He started playing the piano at the age of 5 discovering his love for music early on in life. Bowien moved to Hamburg-Germany to study opera singing (Baritone) under the guidance of the distinguished vocal coaches Wilm Schmieding and Harry Voges. After finishing his studies and becoming a Baritone-singer, he applied for a job position at the record label Polydor in Hamburg and over many years and a large body of work became one of the most recognized music producers in Germany.

Bowien is likely to be the first record producer to take interest in The Beatles and is best known for discovering and/or producing such artists as Franz Josef Degenhardt, Daliah Lavi, The Monks, Tony Sheridan, Olivia Newton-John and Helmut Zacharias. Later on in his career he progressed into the world of Musicals and the music-production of Cats, Phantom of the Opera, Les Miserable, A Chorus Line and Mozart (European versions).

Career: Initially starting in the mailing-room at Polydor Records, Bowien started off writing advertising copies for records and advertising promotions for the music industry. In 1959 the CEO of Polydor recognized his talents in writing music and a great vision for discovering talents and offered him to work in their recording studios. During his time in the studios and working on multiple projects he was offered to produce his own records. He became one of the first record producers in Europe, even though the title “Record Producer” was not official credited at that time. Bowien explored multiple genres in the music industry and discovered such artists as The Monks, the group that is referred to as the loudest band in the world and the ground-breaker for Heavy Metal music. In the early 60’s he produced Tony Sheridan who is best known for playing music with The Beatles (aka The Beat Brothers) early on. Later in his career he produced music for Olivia Newton-John and over the years Bowien built up a diverse repertoire of artists, actors and musicians.