Wise Guys (band)

Wise Guys
Wise Guys performing at Tanzbrunnen 2011
Background information
Origin	Cologne, Germany
Genres	A cappella, pop
Years active	1995–present
Labels	EMI, Pavement, Universal Music Group
Website	www.wiseguys.de
Members	Daniel (Dän) Dickopf , Edzard (Eddi) Hüneke, Marc (Sari) Sahr, Björn Sterzenbach (since 2016), Nils Olfert (since 2009)
Past members	Christoph Tettinger (1995), Clemens Tewinkel (1995–2008), Ferenc Husta (1995–2012), Andrea Figallo (2013-2016)

The Wise Guys are a German a capella band that was formed in 1990 in Cologne, Germany.

Apart from Nils Olfert and Björn Sterzenbach, the members all attended the Hildegard-von-Bingen-Gymnasium in Cologne from 1981 to 1990. With their schoolmates Clemens Tewinkel and Christoph Tettinger, who also founded a brass band with them, they formed a rock band. At a school event, the band performed a single a cappella song.

After graduating from high school with their A-levels (Abitur) in 1990, the group have focussed on a cappella songs. They soon named themselves the "Wise Guys". Eddi's (Edzard's) 18-month alternative service for conscientious objectors in Brussels left the group as a quartet. In the meantime, the other four joined the Ersten Kölner Barbershop Choir. In early 1994 the group were placed third in a Barbershop Quartet competition; however, this type of music was not representative of their later work.

When Christoph Tettinger could no longer sing for professional reasons, Ferenc Husta joined the group in April 1995 as the bass voice. Christoph Tettinger became the group manager.

After their first album "Dut-Dut-Duah!" (1994), which was mostly in English along with two-thirds cover songs, the band concentrated on German language, rhythm-based compositions with intelligent and often funny lyrics. In 1997 the Wise Guys turned professional. In the same year, the band released their third album "Alles im grünen Bereich" which signalled the beginning of their work with producer Uwe Baltrusch. Their following album was with EMI. With their Live-Album (2000), the band moved to Pavement Records.

With the song and videoclip from "Jetzt ist Sommer" and the album "Ganz weit vorne", the band achieved wider recognition. Their next album reached the top of the charts on Media-Control-Charts; the 2006 album "Radio" opened in third place, behind only Red Hot Chili Peppers and Silbermond.

Because of their mainly German songs, most of their concerts are in Germany, Austria and Switzerland. The exceptions are rare concerts in USA, Canada, Poland, Luxemburg, and London.