Tokio Hotel introduction
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Some people love them, some people hate them. No matter to which group you belong, you can not deny their huge success in Germany. During last few years they sold more then 5 millions CDs…let me introduce Tokio Hotel, a German band founded in Magdeburg, Germany in 2001 by singer Bill Kaulitz, guitarist Tom Kaulitz, drummer Gustav Schäfer and bassist Georg Listing.
The quartet have scored four number one singles and have released three number one albums in their native country, selling nearly 5 million CDs and DVDs there. After recording an unreleased demo-CD under the name “Devilish” and having their contract with Sony BMG terminated, the band released their first German-language album, Schrei, as Tokio Hotel on Island Records in 2005. Schrei sold more than half a million copies worldwide and spawned four top five singles in both Germany and Austria.
In 2007, the band released their second German album Zimmer 483 and their first English album Scream which have combined album sales of over one million copies worldwide and helped win the band their first MTV Europe Music Award for Best InterAct. The former, Zimmer 483, spawned three top five singles in Germany while the latter, Scream, spawned two singles that reached the top twenty in new territories such as Portugal, Spain and Italy.
In September 2008, they won in the US their first MTV Video Music Award for Best New Artist. In October 2008, they won four awards including Best International Artist and Song of the year at Los Premios MTV Latinoamérica held in Mexico. Tokio Hotel became the first german band ever to win an award at the MTV VMAs and also at the MTV Latin America Awards. They also picked up the Headliner award at the MTV Europe Music Awards 2008 held in Liverpool on 6 November 2008 and the Award for Best Group on 5 November 2009 at the MTV Europe Music Award held in Berlin.
Tokio Hotel’s genre definition is a matter of a debate. Frankfurter Rundschau article describes their music as “Straightforward pop-rock with catchy melodies and a well-calculated mix of “stolen” Metallica riffs and romantic ballad elements.” “Lyrics laced with “emo” angst, wrapped in a flamboyant pop-rock package”, says an ABC reviewer, mentioning that style “range from catchy pop anthems… to appealing rock ballads” from song to song. Tokio Hotel deliver “both yowling rockers and sentimental ballads”, follows Rolling Stone.
Band members
Bill Kaulitz
Bill Kaulitz was born on September 1, 1989 in Leipzig, East Germany. He was born ten minutes after his identical twin brother, Tom, to Simone Kaulitz, a freelance tailor, and Jörg Kaulitz. His parents divorced when he was seven, and his mother remarried Gordon Trümper, a guitarist from the German rock band Fatun. His stepfather inspired Bill and his brother to begin their music careers, and they began writing song lyrics.
Bill has stated that his biggest musical influence is German pop artist Nena. He voiced the role of Arthur in the German version of the film, Arthur and the Minimoys.
He is famous for his androgynous look. German site dw-world.com says that his look, young age and edgy hairstyle has reached icon status among many teenage girls. In August 2008, Bill Kaulitz was chosen as the most attractive singer on stage by the readers of the Spanish magazine ¡Hola!.
Bill was immortalized in wax at the Madame Tussauds museum in Berlin. His wax statue was unveiled on September 30, 2008. At 19 years old, Bill became the youngest person to be duplicated by the Madame Tussauds museum in Berlin.
In December 2008, Bill Kaulitz was named “Man of the Year #6″ by MTV News.
Tom Kaulitz
Tom Kaulitz was born on September 1, 1989 in Leipzig ten minutes before his identical twin brother, Bill. His style of dress is baggy Hip-Hop clothes, with dreadlocks and large New Era hats, the only one of the band to do so. As of September 2007, Tom was using Gibson guitars. He has stated his musical influences to be Aerosmith and German hip-hop such as Samy Deluxe.
Georg Listing
Georg Listing was born on 31 March 1987. His hometown is Halle. He began playing bass when he was thirteen-years-old, and, as of September 2007, uses a Sandberg bass. He has said that his playing style was heavily influenced by Flea of Red Hot Chili Peppers, and other musical influences include Die Ärzte and Oasis.
Gustav Schäfer
Gustav Schäfer was born on 8 September 1988 in his hometown of Magdeburg, and has an older sister. Gustav has been playing the drums since he was five. His musical influences include Metallica, Joe Cocker and Rod Stewart.
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