Klaus

Keyboardist

His very first musical passion were The Beatles with their albums “Rubber Soul” and “Sgt. Pepper”. When at a young age he started playing the piano the urge arose in him to become musically active himself.

His first band developed "cult status" around Göttingen in the mid-seventies, their idols being Yes, Gentle Giant and Deep Purple. His heroes at that time - and until now - were: Brian Auger, Keith Emerson, George Duke, Jan Hammer and, of course, Jon Lord. Also Paul Carrack, whom he admired for his vocal qualities as a member of Warm Dust and, last but not least, Don Airey, now keyboard player with Deep Purple, whom he saw playing with Colloseum II.

But there was certainly another band which he truly admired: Nektar, who frequently played in his area. And what unforgetable moments he had: their unique light shows, wow… what a trip!!

After finishing school, he worked as a male nurse followed by attending to civilian service in Hamburg in 1978. However, evidently, his passion for Rock 'n Roll was even stronger and so he started his professional musical career with the Jutta Weinhold Band, playing heavy Rhythm 'n Blues and later on working for Klaus Schulze's IC Label as a studiomusician.

After moving to Hanover in 1983, he played with the Krautrockband PeterPanka's Jane. Throughout the nineties, he had his own poprock project Two are One and worked with Klaus Hess' Mother Jane. In the mid-nineties, after playing with Big Mama & The Golden Six, he developed a strong interest in Gospel music, which also was to become his passion. It ultimately led to a collaboration with Irish singer and Grand Prix winner Johnny Logan, whom he accompanied on the piano.

In 1998 he reunited the Jutta Weinhold Band, which he mainly led and produced. After Jutta's decision to return to Heavy Metal, they split in 2003.

All bands/projects here mentioned produced records and, in the case of Big Mama, also a live DVD.

He has also contributed towards many studio recordings in Hanover.

As of spring 2015, he is also a guest musician with the rock band Epitaph, and is represented on their latest albums and DVDs. In that same year he also joined the band Elephant - a famous/well-known pop band from the eighties and has been touring with them ever since. In November 2017, he joined Josh Smith, an exciting blues guitarist from Los Angeles, for two shows in Germany, one of which was specifically recorded for broadcasting on one of the biggest German radiostations, Deutschlandfunk.

Upon joining Nektar in 2007, he realised that the course of his musical development, starting in his youth, had come full circle. After the sad passing of frontman Roye Albrighton, he is now the one to whom the baton has been passed as musical lead, producer and head of the band.
Of course, as a keyboardist of the "old school", he calls a Hammond M3 his own, which he doesn't carry around but uses for studio work. His live setup contains a Nord Electro 5D 73, Nord Electro rack, two Korg M50s (88 & 61), Roland A90, Yamaha Motif rack XS and a Korg Prophecy.