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 December 10, 2002: According to an article
published in yesterday’s edition of German newspaper “Kölner Express”, Dieter
Bohlen narrowly escaped a car accident on Friday night. Dieter Bohlen, his
girl friend Estefania and BMG product manager Philipp Zwez were driving on
the highway from Cologne to Hamburg after Dieter recorded the latest episode
of German TV talent show “Deutschland sucht den Superstar”. A truck driving in
front of Dieter’s car whirled up a bumper laying on the highway which
narrowly missed the windshield of Dieter’s car and crashed onto the car’s
hood instead. According to the “Kölner Express” nobody got injured during this incident.
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 December 06, 2002: While
neither the name of the new Modern Talking single nor the name of the new
Modern Talking album were announced yet, the first 2003 tour dates are
already scheduled. According to Thomas-Anders.com, Modern Talking will perform eight
German concerts between June 7 and June 22 next year. Concerts will be held
in Rostock, Hannover, Oberhausen, Leipzig, Magdeburg, Dresden, Berlin and
Erfurt. Tickets for some of these locations can already be purchased online
at Eventim.de. In
addition, Thomas Anders will perform three Christmas songs at a charity concert
that will be held in Düsseldorf (Germany) on December 25 this year.
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 December 06, 2002: A cover version of the Modern Talking song
"Ready For The Victory" can be found on the album “Wir Singen Hey
Ho! Vol.14” by animated characters "Die Schlümpfe" (The Smurfs).
The album enters the Austrian charts at number 12 this week and the German
charts at number 37. "Die Schlümpfe" albums are targeted at kids
and feature cover versions of well known pop songs. Modern Talking songs
previously covered by "Die Schlümpfe" include “You’re My Heart,
You’re My Soul”, “Cheri, Cheri Lady”, “You Are Not Alone”, “Sexy Sexy Lover”,
“China In Her Eyes” and “Win The Race”.
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 December 04, 2002: According to an article published today
in German newspaper “Münchner Abendzeitung”, a sequel to Dieter Bohlen’s successful
autobiography “Nichts als die Wahrheit” (“Nothing But The Truth”) will be
released in autumn 2003. The working title of the book is “Hinter den
Kulissen” (“Behind The Curtains”). The book will be based on 600 pages that
were originally written for “Nichts als die Wahrheit” but were then taking
out of the book before it was published in order to shorten it. Dieter
Bohlen’s second book will be published by Munich/Germany based publishing
house Blanvalet.
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 November 08, 2002: Tomorrow, the German version of the
talent show “Pop Idol” (UK)/”American Idol” (US) will debut on German TV
station RTL at prime time (8:15 p.m.). The show is called “Deutschland sucht
den Superstar” (“Germany is searching for the superstar”) and as previously
reported will feature Dieter Bohlen as one of the jury members. In an
interview broadcasted by RTL earlier today, Dieter Bohlen revealed that he
will also produce the winner of the show. The winners of the UK version (Will
Young) and the US version (Kelly Clarkson) went to number one in the charts
of their respective country. Given the success of groups casted on German TV
shows (No Angels, BroSis) and given the prime time spot of the show it
appears likely that the song Dieter Bohlen will write for the winner of the
German show is poised to become a big hit in Germany.
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November 08, 2002: For the
third year in a row, Modern Talking willl appear on the German pre-selection show for the European Song
Contest broadcasted by German TV show ARD. According to BMG, Modern Talking will present their new
single during the show, which is scheduled to air on March 7 next year.
Further details about the upcoming singles release are not yet available.
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October 22, 2002: This week, Dieter Bohlen’s
autobiography “Nichts als die Wahrheit” (“Nothing But The Truth”) climbs from
number four to number one in the sales charts for
non-fictional hardcover books compiled for German magazine Spiegel. These
charts are generally recognized as the official German book sales charts.
Competing magazine Focus also lists Dieter Bohlen’s book at number one of the
charts for non-fictional books (up from number seven last week). The German
market research company Innofact predicts based on current sales volumes that
by the end of this year 500,000 units of Dieter Bohlen’s book will be sold in
Germany. Meanwhile the CD set featuring the audiobook version of “Nichts als
die Wahrheit” ranks number seven in the album sales charts of German online
retailer Amazon.de and enters the album sales charts of German bricks &
mortar retailer WOM at number 38. Audiobooks are excluded form the official
German album sales charts.
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October 22, 2002: In previous years, Thomas Anders hosted an
annual party for members of the Official Modern Talking/Thomas Anders Fanclub
in his hometown Koblenz. While the fan club was discontinued at the beginning
of this year, Thomas Anders will continue this tradition. According to Thomas-Anders.com, Thomas Anders
will host a "Thomas-Anders-Party" in Koblenz on December 28 this
year.
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October 09, 2002: As part of
the promotional campaign surrounding the release of his autobiography “Nicht
als die Wahrheit” (“Nothing But the Truth”) in Germany, Dieter Bohlen
answered questions during a live online chat hosted by German newspaper Bild
earlier today. Many questions focused on the success of his book. The first
edition (100.000 copies) of “Nicht als die Wahrheit” is already sold out,
with a second edition already being printed. In total, 230,000 copies of
Dieter Bohlen’s autobiography were either sold or pre-ordered during the
first three days of sales. During today’s online chat, Dieter indicated that
he would not have thought that his book would become so successful. Asked if
he does intend to write another book, Dieter answered that he has already
started writing down notes for a second book. Dieter Bohlen further indicated
that he had decided to personally read the audio book version of his
autobiography instead of leaving this job to a well-known speaker because he
wanted to give the audio book more authenticity. Most importantly for Modern
Talking fans, Dieter Bohlen revealed during the online chat that the next
Modern Talking album will be released in March next year.
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September 21, 2002: Last year, German music and book club Bertelsmann
Club offered the “Selected Singles” Maxi-CD box set exclusively to its
members. After a tremendous sales success among Bertelsmann Club members, BMG
decided earlier this year to release the box set to the general public. Now,
Bertelsmann Club again offers a Modern Talking CD exclusively to its members.
The album is entitled “We Still Have Dreams – The Greatest Love Ballads of
Modern Talking” and will be available to members starting with the release of
the October catalogue. The CD contains the following tracks: 1) We Still Have
Dreams 2) Keep Love Alive 3) Give Me Peace On Earth 4) Blinded By Your Love
5) One In A Million 6) Wild Wild Water 7) Don’t Let It Get You Down 8) Like A
Hero 9) Lady Lai 10) Why Did You Do It Just Tonight 11) Stranded In The
Middle Of Nowhere 12) I Will Follow You 13) Don’t Play With My Heart 14) All
I Have 15) How You Mend A Broken Heart 16) Just Close Your Eyes 17) It’s Your
Smile 18) Can’t Let You Go 19) Rain In My Heart. At this time, a general
retail release is not planned. Any future plans for releasing the album to
the general public will more than likely depend on the success of the album
among Bertelsmann Club members. While “Selected Singles” was eventually
released to the general public, another club member exclusive album – Blue
System’s “When You Are Lonely” – was never released for general retail.
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September 21, 2002: Starting in November this year, German
TV station RTL will broadcast the music talent show “Superstars” on a weekly
basis. One of the jury members for the show is Dieter Bohlen. The show is the
German version of media phenomenon Pop Idol (U.K.) and American Idol (U.S.).
The German jury is already in the process of selecting the most talented
artists out of thousands of hopefulls auditioning to become the next
superstar. Once the finalists are selected, the TV audience will determine
each week - after hearing live performances by all remaining finalists - who
gets to stay in the race and who will have to go home. The jury members will
give their opinion after every song but ultimately the audience will decide.
The winner of the show will receive a recording contract. At this point in
time it is still undecided, whether or not Dieter Bohlen will write and
produce the single and album for the contest winner. “Superstars” will give
Modern Talking fans a rare opportunity to see Dieter Bohlen live on German TV
on a weekly basis for about 2 or 3 months. It is still unclear, whether or
not this will delay the release of the next Modern Talking album.
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September 13, 2002: Over the course of the last eighteen
years, countless “Best of Modern Talking” compilations were released. Now,
for the first time, a compilation of some of Dieter Bohlen’s biggest hits
with Modern Talking, Blue System and productions for other artists can be found
on one compilation. The album “Dieter Bohlen – Greatest Hits” will be
released on October 7, 2002 (release date is still tentative) and can already
be pre-ordered on Amazon.de. The CD
contains the following tracks: You're My Heart, You're My Soul (Modern
Talking) - Cheri Cheri Lady (Modern Talking) - Midnight Lady (Chris Norman)
- Strangers By Night (C.C.
Catch) - Heartbreak Hotel (C.C. Catch) - My Bed Is Too Big (Blue System) - Under My Skin (Blue
System) - Samuraj (Nino De Angelo) - Magic Symphony (Blue System) –
Bitterblue (Bonnie Tyler) - It's All Over (Blue System & Dionne Warwick)
- Against The Wind (Bonnie Tyler) - This Time It's Forever (Errol Brown) –
Laila (Blue System) - This Goodbye Is Not Forever (Touche’) - Win The Race
(Modern Talking) - Boom Boom (Millane Fernandez) - Will My Heart Survive
(Isabel).
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September 13, 2002: During the last few weeks,
several German TV stations, newspapers and magazines reported that Dieter
Bohlen has temporarily stopped working with his latest musical discovery
Isabel (“Will My Heart Survive”, “Like Snow In June”), while working on his
book “Nicht als die Wahrheit” (Nothing But The Truth). Now, newspaper Bild
claims that Dieter Bohlen has ended his working relationship with Isabel for
good. In an article published in today’s issue of Bild, Dieter Bohlen is
quoted with saying, “I just have no time right now, I am currently working on
a book. Isabel is a great singer. I am sure she will also be successful
without me.”. Bild is known to frequently publish inaccurate or exaggerated
stories. Time will tell whether or not Bild’s story is indeed accurate.
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August 29, 2002:
Tomorrow’s issue of German newspaper “Bild” features an interview with Modern
Talking star Dieter Bohlen in response to media reports about Dieter shooting
at policemen in his house Tuesday night. In the interview Dieter explains
what really happened that night. At 1 a.m. at Wednesday morning, Dieter
Bohlen and his girlfriend Estefania woke up after already being asleep for
two hours. They woke up because they heard a loud noise and voices from
inside the house. Naturally, Dieter and Estefania assumed that burglars had
forced their way into the house. Therefore, Dieter opened the window to sound
of the burglar alarm and turned on lights everywhere. Then Dieter heard
somebody say “We are going upstairs now”. Dieter and Estefania panicked,
thinking that they were in mortal danger. Estefania jumped out of the window
and Dieter took out a gun to fire a warning shot into the air before fleeing
from the house as well. Only after calling the police, Dieter found out that
policemen, not burglars hat entered his house. They had received an anonymous
call claiming Dieter’s son had a lung injury and was dying in Dieter’s house.
This turned out to be a hoax. All of Dieter’s three children were safely at
home with Dieter’s first wife Erica. Dieter Bohlen indicates in the Bild
interview that he does not blame the police for what happened Tuesday night
because they only tried to safe his son’s life. Apparently, the police had
rang the door bell, but Dieter and Estefania only woke up when the police had
to force their way into the house. Asked by Bild why Dieter had a gun in the
house, he indicates that the gun was given to him as a present after burglars
had tried to force their way into Dieter’s house twice a few years ago.
Although Dieter never actually shot at anybody and acted out of what he
believed to be self-defense, he does face charges for unauthorized possession
of a gun.
Addendum September 07, 2002: The caller who
initially alerted the police was identified to be an eighteen year old girl
(Sandra S.) from Northern Germany. She had received a message from a person
who identified himself as Marc Bohlen, Dieter Bohlen’s son, while being on
the Internet. “Marc” claimed that he did not feel good at all and that he was
in his “father’s” house at the time. This happened around 5 p.m. on the day
before the police broke into Dieter Bohlen’s house. Sandra initially did not
react to the message but was worried about it for hours, until she decided to
call the police around midnight. The police is currently trying to find the
person who claimed to be Marc Bohlen.
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August 16, 2002: The 3-CD
box set “The Golden Years”, containing Modern Talking’s hits from the
eighties, was released a few months ago for exclusive distribution by German
retailer Lidl. Repackaged with a different cover (a slighly altered “Back For
Good” cover), the box set is now scheduled for general retail release in
Germany on September 9. The CD can already be pre-ordered on Amazon.de. It contains the following tracks:
CD 1: You’re My Heart, You’re My Soul - You Can Win If You Want - Atlantis Is
Calling - The Night Is Yours, The Night Is Mine - You And Me - Hey You -
Bells Of Paris - Doctor For My Heart - Princess Of The Night - Wild Wild
Water - There’s Too Much Blue In Missing You - You Can Win If You Want (Maxi
Version); CD 2: Geronimo’s Cadillac - Jet Airliner- Diamonds Never Made A
Lady - Riding On A White Swan - Lonely Tears In China Town - Love Don’t Live
Here Anymore - In Shaire - Lady Lai - Don’t Give Up - Just Like An Angel -
Heaven Will Know - Sweet Little Sheila ; CD 3: Cheri Cheri Lady - Brother
Louie - Give Me Peace On Earth - Romantic Warrior - Lets’ Talk About Love -
Lucky Guy - Angie’s Heart - Keep Love Alive - Just We Two - One In A Million
- Cheri Cheri Lady (Maxi Version).
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July 12, 2002: Radio station Mix
102,7 in Latvia has strongly supported Modern Talking for years, not only
by playlisting Modern Talking singles but also by giving power airplay to
Modern Talking songs that were not released as commercial singles. Most
recently, Mix 102,7 added “Down On My Knees”, the “B-side” from the “Juliet”
single to their playlist. This week the song is no longer in the Top 20
airplay chart of the station. However, “Down On My Knees” spent four weeks in
this chart and peaked at number nine two weeks ago.
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July 05, 2002: On June 27, Modern Talking
singer Thomas Anders became father for the first time. His wife Claudia gave
birth to their son Alexander Mick.
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June 26, 2002: Modern
Talking’s 11th album “Victory” has yet to enter the official sales
charts in Argentina, which are based on album sales from retailers to the
general public. However, this week “Victory” enters the “CAPIF Weekly” charts
at number 20 – the charts are based on shipments from record companies to
music retailers. This accomplishment is particularly noteworthy because both
“Year Of The Dragon” and “America” failed to enter these charts, despite the
number one success of the previous albums “Back For Good” and “Alone”.
Meanwhile, Modern Talking’s latest single “Juliet” may yet have a chance to
enter the official sales charts in Belgium’s province Flanders. During the
last four weeks the single has climbed steadily in the Flemish UltraTip
charts (20-10-7-4), which represent the best selling singles that have not
yet entered the official Flemish Top 50 sales charts. The last time Modern
Talking were in the UltraTip charts was in 1999 when “You Are Not Alone”
ultimately failed to make it into the Flemish Top 50.
Addendum
July 05, 2002: This week, “Juliet” is no longer listed in the UltraTip charts
in Flanders. Although the single ultimately failed to enter the Top 50, it
became Modern Tlking’s best selling singe in Flanders since 1999.
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June 08, 2002: Tonight, the 5th concert
of Modern Talking’s “Victory” concert tour took place in Berlin, in the open
air arena “Parkbühne-Wuhlheide”. Different from the previous four concerts,
the show was opened by Dieter Bohlen discovery Isabel, who sang the dance
version of her hit “Will My Heart Survive” as well as “Like Snow In June”.
Following Isabel’s performance, Modern Talking performed 24 songs during a
two hour concert. Modern Talking performed the following songs (in order): 1)
Ready For The Victory 2) Higher Than Heaven 3) In 100 Years 4) I´m Gonna Be
Strong 5) Maria 6)No Face No Name No Number 7) Mrs. Robota 8) We Take The
Chance 9) When The Sky Rained Fire 10) Geronimos Cadillac 11) Love To Love
You 12) Don`t Make Me Blue 13) Atlantis Is Calling 14) Jet Airliner 15) You
Can Win If You Want 16) Don`t Take Away My Heart 17) Last Exit To Brooklyn
18) Juliet 19) China In Her Eyes 20) Sexy Sexy Lover 21) Cheri Cheri Lady 22)
Brother Louie 23) You`re My Heart You`re My Soul 23) You Are Not Alone 24)
Win The Race.
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June 05, 2002: Last
year, German membership-based music and book club "Bertelsmann
Club" started offering a 10 Maxi-CD box by Modern Talking entitled
“Selected Singles” exclusively to its members. After a sales success that
caught the "Bertelsmann Club" by surprise, BMG decided to release
the box set with Modern Talking’s original singles from the eighties to music
retailers in various countries. This week, “Selected Singles” is the highest
new entry in the Hungarian singles charts at number 2. “Selected Singles” marks
Modern Talking’s 12th Top 10 success in the Hungarian singles
charts since the comeback in 1998.
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May 31, 2002: Since their comeback, Modern Talking had a hard time
getting airplay on radio stations across Europe (with the notable exception
of several Eastern European countries). However, “Juliet” is starting to be
unusually successful with European radio programmers. Trade magazine “Music
& Media”, which monitors the playlists of roughly 100 European radio
stations, reports in its May 25 issue that “Juliet” was added to the
playlists of HR3 (Germany), RTBF
Radio Bruxelles Capitale (Belgium) and Radio Sky+ (Estonia). In addition,
many radio stations that do not belong to the Music & Media panel already
added “Juliet’ to their regular programming, including Mix FM 102.7 Riga
(Latvia), BRF - Belgischer Rundfunk (Belgium), TOP FM Belgrade 96,4 MHz
(Yugoslavia) and Radia Zlín (Czech Republic).
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May 22, 2002: The second single of Dieter Bohlen
discovery Isabel, entitled “Like Snow in June (Da di Da du)”, is still
scheduled for release on Monday (May 27) in Germany. Now BMG announced the
track list: 1) Radio Edit 2) Extended Version 3) Alternative Radiomix 4)
Dance Mix 5) Hot Snow Mix 6) Videoclip.
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May 16, 2002: This week, Modern Talking continue
their flawless chart history in Hungary by entering the singles charts at
number three with “Juliet”. “Juliet” is the 11th Modern Talking
single in Hungary since the comeback in 1998 and also the 11th Top
10 hit in the Hungarian singles charts. Modern Talking’s Top 10 singles in Hungary include
“You’re My Heart, You’re My Soul ‘98” (#1), “Brother Louie ‘98” (#1),
“Spacemix”/”We Take The Chance” (#4), “You Are Not Alone” (#4), “Sexy Sexy
Lover “ (#9), “China In Her Eyes” (#7), “Don’t Take Away My Heart” (#8), “Win
The Race” (#4), “Last Exit To Brooklyn” (#8), “Ready For The Victory” (#3)
and now “Juliet” (#3).
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May 10, 2002: In the past, Modern
Talking had only limited success with the second single release from “Year Of
The Dragon” and “America” respectively. This year, “Juliet” - the second
single from “Victory” proves to be a much bigger hit than “Last Exit To
Brooklyn” (Switzerland 94, Austria 44, Germany 37) and “Don’t Take Away My
Heart” (Switzerland -, Austria -, Germany 41). This week, Juliet enters the
singles sales charts at number 25 in Germany, number 42 in Austria and number
83 in Switzerland. Meanwhile, “Ready For The Victory” spends an eleventh week
in the charts in Germany (#64) and Austria (#51).
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May
10, 2002: During
the past few years, Modern Talking songs such as “No Face No Name No Number”,
“Cinderella Girl” and “Withchqueen of Eldorado”, songs that were not
officially released as singles, were added to the playlists of many radio
stations in different countries. This year, “Summer In December” is the album
track of choice for some radio programmers. Currently the song is playlisted
by Music Radio/Perm in Russia and XITFM in the Ukraine (this week number 19
in the listener’s charts).
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May 08, 2002: A few weeks ago, newcomer Isabel peaked at number 36 in
the German charts with her first single “Will My Heart Survive”, which was
produced by Dieter Bohlen. Her second single, entitled “Like Snow in June (Da
di Da du)”, is scheduled for release on May 27 in Germany. The single is
again a Dieter Bohlen production and can already be pre-orded on Amazon.de.
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May
02, 2002: Last year, German membership-based music and book club
"Bertelsmann Club" started offering a 10 Maxi-CD box by Modern
Talking entitled “Selected Singles” exclusively to its members. Now, BMG
Germany announced that the box set is scheduled for a general retail release
beyond the “Bertelsmann Club”. The German release date is May 21. BMG Germany
did not yet announce if the box set will be released internationally. The 10
Maxi-CD box contains all Modern Talking singles released in Germany during
the eighties: You're My Heart, You're My Soul, You Can Win If You Want, Cheri
Cheri Lady, Brother Louie, Atlantis Is Calling, Geronimo's Cadillac, Give Me
Peace On Earth, Jet Airliner, In 100 Years and as a bonus the Space Mix from
1998.
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May 01, 2002: Yesterday, Modern
Talking entered the German trend charts at number ten with their new single
“Juliet”. The trend charts are compiled by Media Control on a daily basis and
are based on nationwide retail sales in Germany during the previous business
day. The number ten entry in the trend charts indicates that “Juliet” may
have a Top 20 or at least Top 30 chart entry in Germany next week. In today’s
trend charts “Juliet” falls to number 16.
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April 25, 2002: Last
year, Thomas Anders and Christian Geller, Thomas’ partner at his music
production and publishing company K.A.G.B. Music, wrote one song for the
debut album of pop group No Angels ("I Cry For You"). No Angels
were the stars of the first season of the German version of Pop Stars, a
reality TV show that deals with the creation of a new pop group. This year,
Thomas Anders and Christian Geller wrote a song for the debut album of TEARS,
the stars of the Swiss version of Pop Stars. The album, entitled “En rouge”,
was released this week in Switzerland and contains the Thomas
Anders/Christian Geller song “Mr. Nobody”.
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April
25, 2002: The last Modern Talking album that charted in France was “Alone”. The
album reached number 11 in 1999. Now Modern Talking are back in the French
charts but not in the main album charts. “Best Of Modern Talking” entered the
official French compilation charts (Source: IFOP) at number 14 last week.
This week the album falls to number 32. The album was released on March 26 in
France and is essentially a re-release of “Back For Good”. The only
difference is that “Best Of Modern Talking” does not include the new version
of “Angie’s Heart” and the original version of “You’re My Heart, You’re My
Soul” but instead the rap versions of “Brother Louie” and “You’re My Heat,
You’re My Soul”.
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April 09, 2002: Today, BMG announced the track list of the
new Modern Talking single “Juliet” that will be released on April 29.
According to BMG, the Maxi-CD will contain the following tracks: 1) Juliet 2)
Juliet (Jeo’s Remix) 3) Higher Than Heaven (U-Max Mix) 4) Down On My Knees.
The song “Down On My Knees” was originally intended to be on the album
“Victory” but is now exclusively available on this Maxi-CD. The Maxi-CD will
also contain the music video for “Juliet”. Another Modern Talking related
Maxi-CD was released yesterday in Germany. Dieter Bohlen’s latest discovery
Isabel is currently still listed in the German charts with her first single
“Will My Heart Survive” (this week at number 52). Yesterday, a dance remix of
“Will My Heart Survive” was released. The Maxi-CD contains the following
tracks: 1) Will My Heart Survive (Dance Version) 2) Will My Heart Survive
(Radio Edit) 3) Will My Heart Survive (Instrumental). In addition, the
Maxi-CD contains the music videos for the radio version and the dance version
of “Will My Heart Survive”.
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April 03, 2002: While
Modern Talking’s new album “Victory” falls from number one to number five in
this week’s German album sales charts, the single “Ready For The Victory”
jumps from number 22 back up to number 17 in the German charts. Appearances
on two German TV shows last weekend (“Millionär gesucht” and Formula 1
pre-race show) are likely to have a positive impact on Modern Talking’s album
and singles sales during this week, which will be reflected in the charts two
weeks from now. Meanwhile the release date for the next Modern Talking single
“Juliet” is already scheduled. The single will be released on April 29 and
can already be pre-orderd on Amazon.de .
The music video for “Juliet” will have its premiere on April 12 during the
show Interaktiv on German music TV station Viva.
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April 03, 2002: While
Dieter Bohlen had indicated in an interview published by Bild am Sonntag last
Sunday that he and his girl friend Estefania intend to get married, Dieter’s
wedding plans seem to be more tentative than originally indicated by Bild. In
an interview Dieter Bohlen gave yesterday to German TV station RTL, he
indicated that he does not intend to get married this year. Dieter said
further that his relationship with Estefania works just fine the way the way
it is now. Asked about the Bild am Sonntag interview, Dieter Bohlen said “you
know that I change my opinion every few hours”.
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March 31, 2002:
According to a short interview with Dieter Bohlen that was published today in
German newspaper Bild am Sonntag, Dieter Bohlen intends to get married to his
girl friend of 13 months Estefania (22 years old). Just a few weeks ago,
Dieter Bohlen had still indicated on German TV that he does not intend to get
married any time soon. According to the Bild am Sonntag interview, Dieter
Bohlen and Estefania will go through an engagement period first and plan for
a traditional church wedding.
The wedding date is still undetermined.
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March 27, 2002: Modern Talking's new album
"Victory" enters the German album sales charts at number one this
week. "Victory" is the sixth number one album for Modern Talking in
Germany and the first number one since 1999's "Alone", which spent
four weeks at the top in Germany. "Victory" also continues Modern
Talking's streak of Top 3 albums in the German album charts. Out of 11 studio
albums, ten reached the Top 3 in Germany (five in the eighties and five since
the comeback in 1998).
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March 25: According to an article published yesterday in
German newspaper Bild am Sonntag, Dieter Bohlen intends to write his memoirs.
His co-author will be journalist Katja Kessler. The book is scheduled for
release in Germany this fall and will be entitled “Nichts als die Wahrheit”
(“Nothing But The Truth”).
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March 21, 2002:
According to an article in tomorrow's issue of German newspaper Hamburger
Morgenpost, the second single from Modern Talking's new album
"Victory" will be "Juliet". According to the article, the
video shooting will take place on April 02 in the dance club
"Wollenberg" in Hamburg, a place very frequently visited by Dieter
Bohlen. A casting of female dancers for the video will take place tomorrow
evening in the dance club "Valentino's" in Hamburg.
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March 21, 2002:
According to an interview Thomas Anders gave yesterday to German radio
station Antenne AC, "Victory" has already achieved gold status in
Germany. In Germany, gold status is awarded for sales of 150,000 units. Sales
are determined based on shippments of CDs from record companies to retailers.
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March 19, 2002: If
album sales of online retailer Amazon.de
are any indication, Modern Talking's new album "Victory" may enter
the German album charts at a very high position next week. While
"Victory" already showed relatively strong sales on Amazon.de based on pre-orders of the album
during the last few weeks, the album was the number one selling CD for Amazon
on Monday and the number three selling CD on Tuesday. Meanwhile, the single
"Ready For The Victory" falls from number 11 to number 17 in its
fourth week in the German singles sales charts. While the single is so far
considerably less successfull than "Win The Race" last year,
"Ready For The Victory" is already a bigger hit than "China in
Her Eyes", which spent only three weeks in the German Top 20 in 2000.
While Modern Talking's single falls six positions in the German charts,
another Dieter Bohlen production climbs up the charts. "Will My Heart
Survive" by Dieter Bohlen's latest discovery Isabel jumps from number 61
to number 36 in its third week in the German charts.
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March 15, 2002:
Although, the official German release date for the new Modern Talking album
"Victory" is March 18, many German music retailers started to sell
the album already on Thursday. While the majority of songs on the album are
energetic dance songs, the album also contains four ballads (Don't Make Me
Blue, You're Not Lisa, Blue Eyed Couloured Girl, If I ...), one mid-tempo song
(Summer In December) and one electric guitar driven song (We Are Children of
The World). The album contains one song written by Thomas Anders (Love To
Love You). All other songs on the album were written and produced by Dieter
Bohlen. Co-producers for the album were Axel Breitung, Thorsten Brötzmann,
Lalo Titenkov, Kay M. Nickold and Werner Becker. Following BMG Germany's new
policy, the CD has a copyright protection system, which means that no illegal
digital copies of the CD can be made. However, this also means that it may
not be possible to listen to the CD on some models of car CD players and CD
drives for PCs.
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March 08, 2002: Although
Modern Talking were among the nominees for the German 2002 Echo Awards in the
category "best national band", the pop duo did not win the award.
The award went to the No Angels instead, who sold more CDs in Germany during
2001 (the award is sales based). The award show took place in Berlin last
night and was broadcasted on German TV station RTL.
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March 02, 2002: As in
previous years, the Internet was flooded already for several weeks with false
track lists for the upcoming Modern Talking album "Victory". Now BMG.de
announced the actual track list for the album that will be released on March 18,
2002. According to BMG there will be fifteen songs on the album: 1. Ready For
The Victory (Radio Version) 2. I'm Gonna Be Strong 3. Don't Make Me Blue 4.
Juliet 5. Higher Than Heaven 6. You're Not Lisa 7. When The Sky Rained Fire
8. Summer In December 9. 10 Seconds To Countdown 10. Love To Love You 11.
Blue Eyed Couloured Girl 12. We Are Children Of The World 13. Mrs. Robota 14.
If I ... 15. Who Will Love You Like I Do.
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February 26, 2002:
Modern Talking's new single "Ready For The Victory" enters the
official German sales charts at number seven this week. The song is the 12th
Top 10 hit for Modern Talking in Germany and also the highest chart entry
since their comeback in 1998, tied with "Win The Race". Modern
Talking also enter the Hungarian charts this week at number 4. This means all
ten Modern Talking singles released in Hungary since the comeback in 1998
made it into the Top 10 of the charts. "Ready For The Victory" is
tied with the "Spacemix '98" for the second highest chart entry.
The only time Modern Talking entered the Hungarian charts at a higher
position was in 1998 when "Brother Louie '98" entered the charts at
number one in its first week of sales.
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February
26, 2002: Modern Talking singer Thomas Anders and his partner at his music
production and publishing company K.A.G.B. Music Christian Geller already wrote
songs for several artists, including No Angels, It-Girls, T-Seven and
Zlatko & Jürgen. Now another artist can be added to this list. Together
with Christian Geller, Thomas Anders wrote and produced two songs for the new
album of German singer Isabel Varell. The lyrics for the two songs called
"Ich frier' ohne Dein Licht" and "So rot wie Blut" are in
German and were not written by Thomas Anders and Christian Geller. The album
entitled "Heut' ist mein Tag" will be released on March 4 in
Germany.
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February 22, 2002:
Tonight, TV station ARD aired the German pre-selection show for the European
Song Contest. Dieter Bohlen's new discovery Isabel was among the contestants
and presented her song "Will My Heart Survive" for the first time
in front of a live audience. The contest winner was determined via telephone
votes by the German TV viewers. Singer Corinna May won the pre-selection and
will represent Germany in the 2002 European Song Contest - Isabel ranked
number six out of 15 contestants. Modern Talking were not among the
contestants but did present their new single "Ready For The
Victory" during the show.
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February 22, 2002: The
album "The Very Best Of Modern Talking", which was released in
Greece last month, is now also available in South Africa. According to BMG
South Africa, the album is currently the fourth best selling album for the
record company based on sales to South African retailers.
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February 22, 2002:
According to BMG Russia's website,
"America" was the best selling album for BMG Russia in 2001. Also
among the Top 20 sellers for BMG Russia in 2001: Modern Talking
"Collection" (#13), Modern Talking "Year Of The Dragon"
(#17) and C.C.Catch "Super 20" (#19).
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February 19, 2002:
Today, Modern Talking entered the German trend charts at number five with
their new single "Ready For The Victory". The trend charts are
compiled by Media Control on a daily basis and are based on nationwide retail
sales in Germany on the previous business day. The number five entry
represents a very good start for "Ready For The Victory" - in
particular since Modern Talking did not yet have any TV appearances in
Germany in order to promote the new single. Last year "Win The
Race" entered the trend charts at number four on its first day at
retail. Whether "Ready For The Victory" will be able to enter the
Top 10 of the weekly German charts will depend on the sales during the
remainder of this week.
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February 18, 2002:
Yesterday, the German TV show "Arena der Stars" was recorded in
Oberhausen (Germany). Among the stars performing during the show were Modern
Talking. Dieter Bohlen and Thomas Anders did not present their new single
"Ready For The Victory" but instead a ballad called "Don't
Make Me Blue" that will be included on the album "Victory".
The show is scheduled to air on German TV station ARD on May 4.
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February 15, 2002: The
first single produced by Dieter Bohlen for his new discovery Isabel will be
released on February 25 in Germany. The title of the single will be
"Will My Heart Survive". The Maxi-CD will contain the following
tracks: 1) Will My Heart Survive (Radio Edit) 2) Will My Heart Survive
(Lalo's Remix) 3) Will My Heart Survive (Instrumental) 4) Will My Heart
Survive (Lalo's Instrumental). The single can already be pre-ordered on Amazon.de.
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February
06, 2002: Last year, German newspaper Bild sponsored a talent competition to
find a successor for German teenage singer Blümchen. Dieter Bohlen was among
the jury members declaring Millane Fernandez the winner of the talent
competition. In the following months, Dieter produced two chart hits for Millane,
before ending his working relationship with Millane earlier this year. This
year, Bild sponsored another talent competition to find a female singer who
will be among the candidates for representing Germany in this year's European
Song Contest (Grand Prix De Eurovision). Dieter Bohlen was once again one of
the jury member. Eighteen year old Isabel Soares who was born in Portugal and
now lives in Hamburg (Germany) was the winner of this year's Bild talent
contest. According to an article published in Bild today, Isabel will be in
the recording study with Dieter Bohlen tomorrow. According to the article,
Dieter Bohlen wrote an English-language pop ballad for Isabel. Isabel will
present the song On February 22 in the German pre-selection show for the European
Song Contest. The show will be aired live on German TV station ARD. Modern
Talking will also perform their new single "Ready For The Victory"
during the show but will not be among the contestants.
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February 01, 2002:
Today, the "Ready For The Victory" music video had its world
premiere during the week-daily "Interaktiv" show on German music TV
station Viva. Different from many previous Modern Talking videos, "Ready
For The Victory" tells a simple story rather than focusing on dance
scenes. The video shows Modern Talking riding in a car through the South
African landscape on their way to view a boxing competition. Although the
song will be the theme song for Formula 1 racing broadcasts on German TV, the
video makes no reference to Formula 1 racing. Screenshots from the video can
be found on ModernTalking-Web.de.
According to BMG.de, the music video will be
included on the "Ready For The Victory" Maxi-CD that will be
released on February 18 in Germany. According to the website, the Maxi-CD
will contain the following tracks: 1) Ready For The Victory (Radio Version)
2) Ready For The Victory (Alternative Radio Version) 3) Ready For The Victory
(Club Version) 4) Ready For The Victory (Extended Version) 5) Ready For The
Victory (Alternative Radio Version Extended) 6) Ready For The Victory
(Instrumental) + Ready For The Victory video.
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January 24, 2002:
According to German newswire service DPA, Modern Talking are among the
nominees for the German "Echo Awards 2002". As in 1999, 2000 and 2001,
Modern Talking are nominated for the award for the "best national
band". Modern Talking had won this award in 1999 but not in the other
two years. The other 2002 nominees for the "best national band"
category are Bap, Pur, Glashaus and No Angels. As the Echo Awards winners are
determined based on the sales success in Germany, Modern Talking are unlikely
to take home the award, as in 2001 the No Angels sold more CDs in Germany
than Modern Talking. The awards show will be broadcasted on German TV station
RTL on March 7.
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January 24, 2002:
"There's Something In The Air" from the tenth Modern Talking album
"America" was never released as a commercial single, yet the song
manages to appear in the year end tally of the Latvian Airplay charts. The
song never reached the Top 30 of the weekly Latvian Airplay charts, yet ranks
number 212 for the year. Simular to that, "Last Exit To Brooklyn"
never made it in to the Top 30 charts but ranks number 239 for the year.
"Win The Race" actually managed to spend five weeks in the Top 30
charts, peaking at number 20. As a result "Win The Race" ranks
number 158 for the year 2001.
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January
18, 2002: Although Thomas Anders had announced at the Official Thomas Anders
Fanclub Party last month that the title of the new Modern Talking single
would be "10 Seconds to Countdown", Dieter Bohlen was quick to
caution fans that this song is only one of several options for the first
single from the forthcoming album "Victory". Now, Dieter Bohlen
announced in a statement posted in the German Modern Talking Forum
that it is "99% decided" that the new Modern Talking single will be
"Ready For The Victory". Thomas Anders confirmed this in a
statement posted in the Forum on Thomas-Anders.com. Thomas further
indicated that the video for the single will be shot in Cape Town (South
Africa). The Maxi-CD can already be pre-orderd at Amazon.de - the online retailer does not
list the title yet but indicates a release date of February 18, 2002.
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January 12, 2002: The
list of official and unofficial "Best of Modern Talking"
compilations is already quite long. Now another album adds to the length of
this list. BMG released a mid-price album (10.27 EURO) entitled "The
Very Best Of Modern Talking" in Greece. The album contains the following
songs: 1) You’re My Heart, You're My Soul (New Version) 2) Brother Louie (New
Version) 3) Cheri Cheri Lady 4) You Can Win If You Want 5) Atlantis Is Caling
6) Geronimo’s Cadillac 7) Give Me Peace On Earth 8) Jet Airliner 9) Lady Lai
10) In 100 Years 11) With A Little Love 12) Let’s Talk About Love 13) You And
Me 14) Slow Motion 15) Locomotion Tango 16) I Will Follow You 17) Don’t Play
With My Heart 18) You Are Not Alone. Thanks to George Argyris from Greece for
this information.
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January 05, 2002:
Although Thomas Anders already announced during the Official Thomas Anders
Fanclub Party held in Koblenz (Germany) last week that the title of the new
Modern Talking single will be "10 Seconds to Countdown", there is
still the possibility that a different Modern Talking song will be released
as first single from the new Modern Talking album "Victory". In a
statement posted in the German
Modern Talking Forum, Dieter Bohlen clarified that "10 Seconds to
Countdown" might indeed be the next Modern Talking single but that there
are still other songs being considered for the choice of the single.
Discussions about the new Modern Talking single with record company BMG are
not yet finalized. Dieter further indicated that Thomas Anders recorded the
16 songs for the new Modern Talking album in record time, spending only six
hours in the studio. While the voice of Thomas is already recorded, Dieter is
still working on finalizing the production of the songs included on the
album. Dieter indicated further that while he will no longer work with
Millane Fernandez, he is going to produce another act in the near future.
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January 05, 2002:
After already announcing in a statement posted in the German Modern
Talking Forum several weeks ago that he will no longer produce Millane
Fernandez, Dieter Bohlen now explained the reason for his decision in a short
interview published by German newspaper Bild in today's issue. Dieter
indicated to Bild that he felt that Millane had a very good recording
contract. However, Millane and her parents had a different opinion and wanted
more and more control over everything concerning Millane's career and upset
Dieter and many other people in the process. In the Bild article, Millane
indicated that she intents to continue her recording career but without
Dieter Bohlen. Millane's father Jeff Fernandez indicated that "Millane
never liked the songs by Dieter Bohlen."
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