Klaus Dinger
| Klaus Dinger | |
|---|---|
Klaus Dinger in 2000. Photo by Anton Corbijn.
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| Background information | |
| Born |
24 March 1946 Scherfede, Westphalia, Germany |
| Died | 21 March 2008 (aged 61) |
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| Occupation(s) | |
| Instruments | |
| Years active | 1968–2008 |
| Associated acts | |
| Website |
klausdinger dingerland |
Klaus Dinger (24 March 1946 – 21 March 2008) was a German musician and songwriter most famous for his contributions to the seminal krautrock outfit, Neu!. He was also the guitarist and chief songwriter of new wave group La Düsseldorf and briefly the percussionist of Kraftwerk.
Klaus Dinger was born in Scherfede, Westphalia, Germany, to Heinz and Renate on 24 March 1946. He was their first child.
Before he was a year old, his parents moved from the town, which had been badly damaged by an Allied siege at the end of World War II, to the economic centre of the region, Düsseldorf.
In 1956 he attended Görres Gymnasium School for the first time. During his time there he was part of an a cappella choir, which he had to leave when his voice broke. He was part of the school swing band (as a drummer) despite having no prior musical experience. He left the school with a Mittlere Reife (German equivalent of leaving school at 16), later accusing the school of misinterpreting his "free mindedness" as misbehaviour.
After leaving school in 1963 Dinger began to learn carpentry from his father. He also became more interested in music, and practiced drums with spare bits of wood until he could afford a drum kit. In 1966 he formed a band with friends Norbert Körfer, Lutz Bellman and Jo Maassen: The No. The band was influenced largely by English rock acts such as The Kinks and The Rolling Stones. The band sent a demo tape to EMI but the record label never replied. He also worked in a free jazz ensemble, making what he later called "noise". During a concert in Düsseldorf with this ensemble, he spotted Florian Schneider, with whom he would later work in Kraftwerk, sitting in the audience (Dinger said that Schneider "Had a face I will never forget"). Schneider was at that time part of a free jazz ensemble called Pissoff fronted by another future collaborator Eberhard Kranemann.
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Wikipedia