Maximilian Hecker

Maximilian Hecker (born July 26, 1977 in Heidenheim an der Brenz) is a German musician from Berlin, known for ethereal pop or dream pop music, similar to Radiohead, Sigur Rós, Tom Baxter and Nick Drake. He himself describes his songs as »melancholy pop hymns«.

Hecker grew up in Baden-Wuerttemberg and North Rhine-Westphalia. He learned to play the piano, the drums and the guitar and did his A levels at Freiherr-vom-Stein-Gymnasium in Bünde in 1997. Having finished his alternative civilian service at Klinikum Schwabing in Munich, he started training in nursing practice at the hospital Charité in Berlin in 1999.

Apart from his activities as a trainee nurse, Hecker continued pursuing his musical hobby busking in the area of Hackescher Markt in Berlin-Mitte. Thus he came in contact with Berlin's music- and cultural scene. In 2000, the demo of his song Cold Wind Blowing was used for the score of German director Esther Gronenborn's movie Alaska.de. Soon after that, the Berlin-based record company Kitty-yo, having released the movie's soundtrack, offered Hecker a record deal.

In October 2001, Hecker released his debut album Infinite Love Songs, produced in cooperation with German producer Tommi Eckart. The album was critically acclaimed worldwide and even reached the top ten list of The New York Times’ album of the year contest in 2001. Hence, Hecker's debut was to be found amongst albums of Bob Dylan, The White Stripes and Alicia Keys. Critic Neil Strauss writes:

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