Albert & The Heart of Gold

Listed as "our favourite band" by Alphaville. Albert and the Heart of Gold are credited as the lyricists of "Lady Bright" on Afternoons in Utopia (according to the Afternoons in Utopia music book, the writers of the song are Marian, Bernhard and Ricky).

Albert and the Heart of Gold appeared alongside Alphaville at the Tempodrome in Berlin at an Aids benefit concert in 1987, where they performed Islands (a cover version of the track by New Musik) and Big in Japan (both of which appear on the History album), and Underworld (which appears on Dreamscapes).

The band's line-up:
  Rainer Bloss / Fairlight
  Flo Florie / guitars
  Stephanie / bass
  Julie Ocean / additional keyboards
  Dirk / drums
  Gabi Becker / backing vocals
  Marian Gold / Vocals

Alphaville Band Members

Marian Gold
Bernhard Lloyd
Frank Mertens
Ricky Echolette
Hans-Joachim Behrendt
Carsten Brocker
Robbie France
David Goodes
Pierson Grange
Rob Harris
Jakob Kiersch
Maja Kim
Martin Lister
James Mack
Christian Marsac
Shane Meehan
Alexander Merl
Rudy Nielson
Alex Slavik

AtlanticPopes

See: AtlanticPopes

Band Für Afrika

Performed the song "Nackt im Wind" ("Naked in the Wind") at the Band Für Afrika concert in December 1984.
Participants were: Alphaville, BAP, Ina Deter, Extrabreit, Geier Sturzflug, Herbert Groenemeyer, Gitte Haenning, Hans Hartz, Hein Rudolf Kunze, George Kranz, Klaus Lage, Udo Lindenberg, Wolf Maahn, Peter Maffay, Ulla Meinecke, Marius Mueller-Westernhagen, Muenchener Freiheit, Nena, Rheingold, Rodgau Monotones, Spider Murphy Gang, Spliff, Trio, Juliane Werding.
In February 1985 the song reached number 3 in the German Billboard Charts.

The Beatles

The Beatles' track "Something" (written by George Harrison) was covered by Alphaville on CrazyShow. The song first appeared on the Abbey Road album (1969) and was later released as a double-A single with "Come Together"

The Beatles' "When I'm Sixty-Four", written by Paul McCartney and credited to Lennon-McCartney, first appeared on the 1967 album Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band. Alphaville's cover appeared on Live at the Whisky a Go Go.

Big in Japan

The title of Alphaville's first single was inspired by the name of a short-lived but hugely influential British punk band whose members included -- at various times -- Bill Drummond (JAMS/Timelords/KLF), Holly Johnson (Frankie Goes to Hollywood), Ian Broudie (Care/The Lightning Seeds), Jayne Casey (Pink Military/Pink Industry), Clive Langer (Clive Langer and the Boxes), Ambrose Reynolds (Ded Byrds, Pink Industry), Budgie (The Spitfire Boys/Pink Military/The Slits/Siouxsie and the Banshees/The Creatures), David Balfe (Radio Blank/Dalek I Love You/The Teardrop Explodes/Lori & The Chameleons), Phil Allen and Steve Lindsey.

Big in Japan released two singles before breaking up, the first -- "Brutality, Religion and a Dance Beat" -- being a double-A release with the track "Big in Japan" on one side, and "Do the Chud" by The Chuddie Nuddies on the other.

"Brutality, Religion and a Dance Beat" (Sep 1977)

"From Y to Z and Never Again"(Nov 1978)

Rainer Bloss

See: Rainer Bloss

The Boom Operators

A German band whose 1991 album Hu-Man featured the track "Peace on Earth" written by Eric Sooter, Hanns Joachim Mennicken and Voov. It was covered by Marian Gold on his debut album So Long Celeste.

David Bowie

Bowie's song "Five Years" (first published on the 1973 album The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust and The Spiders from Mars) was covered by Marian Gold on his second solo album United.
Both Marian Gold and Bernhard Lloyd have often cited Bowie as one of their greatest musical influences.

Chinchilla Green

See: Chinchilla Green

The Cleaners from Venus

A British band whose song "A Mercury Girl" (written by Martin Newell) first appeared on their 1987 album Going to England. Alphaville's cover version appeared on Dreamscapes as "Mercury Girl"

Aleister Crowley

Crowley is mentioned in the comments for "Red Rose" on the First Harvest album.
Edward Alexander Crowley - later to be known as Aleister - was born in Scotland in 1875, the son of religious fundamentalists. At an early age he rejected his parents' beliefs, and turned to black magic (or "magick", as he preferred to spell the word, to avoid confusion with more down-to-Earth prestidigitators), alchemy and Satan-worshipping.
In his adult years, Crowley built up a large following who believed that he was an Earthly incarnation of Satan - in fact, he encouraged them to refer to him as "the Beast" or "the Great Beast of the Apocalypse." He used their adoration to satisfy his tremendous appetites: chiefly for sex and drugs.
His maxim was "Do what thou wilt shall be the whole of the law," a phrase designed to justify his lack of ethics: by issuing this law, Crowley was able to use his followers to amass a large fortune, which he subsequently lost during the stock market crash in 1929.
Though he is largely unknown today, Crowley was infamous during the early part of the century. The papers were rife with rumours about his lifestyle, particularly his relationships with his acolytes. On more than on occasion it was rumoured that Crowley used human sacrifices in his experiments, though nothing was ever proven.
He died in 1947, penniless and alone.

Janey Diamond

She is credited as co-lyricist on "For a Million", "Feathers and Tar", "Missionary", "For the Sake of Love" and "Cosmopolitician", and as lyricist on "Sirens", "Heart of the Flower", "Legend", "Danger in Your Paradise" and "Pandora's Lullaby". "Sirens" and "Legend" are both taken from "Elegy", which appears on Dreamscapes. Some of her lyrics originally appeared as poems in the Utopia Mirror.
See also: Songwriters

Furniture

A British band whose 1989 album Food, Sex & Paranoia contained the track "One Step Behind You (written by Tim Whelan), which was covered by Marian Gold on his debut album So Long Celeste.

German All-Star Band

Performed "Sag Mir, Wo Die Blumen Sind?", a German version of Pete Seeger's "Where Have all the Flowers Gone?" at Anti-Waansinns-Festival, 1986. Particpants included Rio Reiser and Marian Gold.

Die Goldenen Zitronen

Their first album Porsche, Genscher, Hallo HSV (June 1987) features a version of "Forever Young" recorded as "Forever Punk" with Marian Gold on backing vocals and credited to "M. Gold." The group's name translates as "The Golden Lemons."

David Guetta

Remixed Forever Young with new material recorded by Ava Max, released on 18 October 2024.

Romy Haag

Recorded Alphaville's Love Will Find a Way with Marian Gold, released on 14 December 2012.

Murray Head

"Say it Ain't So, Joe" was first released by Murray Head on his second album Say it Ain't So (1975) and later released as a single. The song was covered by Marian Gold on his second album United.

The Headboys

Scottish band whose 1979 self-titled debut album contained the track "The Shape of Things to Come", written by George Boyter, Lou Lewis, Calum Malcolm and Davy Ross. The song was covered by Marian Gold on So Long Celeste.

Ideal

Hans Behrendt, Ernst Deuker and Frank-Jürgen Krüger (three quarters of Berlin band Ideal, minus the lead singer Annette Humpe), performed on the recording of "Heaven or Hell". Ideal released four albums and seven singles between 1980 and 1983, and further single in 2010, in addition to seven compilation albums. They have also worked with Klaus Schulze.

Hans Behrendt, who sadly died in 2023, was also a member of Chinchilla Green, and also played live with Alphaville from 1993 to 1995.

Die Lassie Singers

Marian Gold worked with this group, and sang on their song "Tantra Tantra" which appears on their 1994 album "Stadt, Land, Verbrechen" (on which Rudy Nielson also performed). Eff Jott Krüger, who played on The Breathtaking Blue, was a member of the band at this time.

John Lilly

Lilly is mentioned in the comments for "Red Rose" on the First Harvest album.
John C. Lilly is renowned for his work with dolphins, especially his experiments with communication.
Lilly also experimented with drugs and sensory deprivation through the use of flotation tanks (see Ken Russell's film Altered States for an idea of what Lilly was trying to achieve).
His early experiments with flotation tanks led to some very strange experiences: he believed that on some occasions he entered other planes of existence, populated by advanced and powerful beings. Around the mid-1950s he tried to combine the flotation experience with LSD, and found that the drug gave him even greater access to these other planes. Eventually, when LSD was finally outlawed, he gave up on it and continued with the tanks alone.

Lonely Boys

See: Lonely Boys

Wolf Maahn & Unterstützung

Marian sang in the background choir on the song "Tschernobyl (Das letzte Signal)", which translates as "Tschernobyl (The last signal)". The song was released in 1996 by Wolf Maahn to help raise funds against the use of atomic energy after the accident in Tschernobyl. The song reached about number 40 in the German charts.

Ava Max

Recorded new vocals for David Guetta's remix of Forever Young, released on 18 October 2024.

Ulla Meinecke

Marian Gold toured with Ulla and performed on her double live CD Kurz nach acht.

The Monochrome Set

Late seventies / very early eighties: Released a single called "Alphaville", the b-side of which was, oddly, "He's Frank." The Monochrome Set were Bid (guitar, vocals), Lester Square (lead guitar, backing vocals), Jeremy Harrington (bass guitar), and John D. Haney (drums).

Mott the Hoople

Their 1973 song "Roll Away the Stone", written by Ian Hunter, was initially launched as a stand-alone single, but was later included on the band's 1974 album The Hoople. It was covered by Marian Gold on So Long Celeste.

New Musik

An English band whose 1980 song "On Islands" (from the album From A to B, written by Tony Mansfield) was covered by Albert and the Heart of Gold, and featured on Alphaville's History compilation (under the title "Islands").

The Other Ones

See: The Other Ones

Rough Trade

A Canadian band comprised of Carole Pope and Kevan Staples whose song "Highschool Confidential" first appeared on their 1980 album Avoid Freud, and was subsequently released as a single. Alphaville's cover version appeared on Dreamscapes.

Roxy Music

Alphaville covered Roxy Music's "Do the Strand" on CrazyShow. It was originally released on their 1973 album For Your Pleasure, and released as a single later that same year. The track was written by Bryan Ferry.

Schiller

Schiller - real name Christopher von Deylen - collaborated with Alphaville on a new mix of Summer in Berlin, released on 5 February 2021.

Klaus Schulze

A former member of Tangerine Dream, Schulze produced The Breathtaking Blue for Alphaville. According to legend, Schulze arrived at Alphaville's Lunapark for a couple of hours and ended up staying for a year and a half.

He released several solo albums, and some in collaboration with Andreas Grosser, most notably Babel (1989), the cover of which features Pieter Bruegel's painting of the Tower of Babel (which also appears as the background to the cover of The Breathtaking Blue).

Marian Gold recorded a song called Duel on Schulze's Trancelation album in 1994. The lyrics of the song come from an early, then-unreleased Alphaville song called "Into the Dark". The CD credits read: "Marian Gold appears by courtesy of ALPHAVILLE. His vocals were recorded by Bernd Lloyd at LUNAPARK STUDIOS, Berlin." "Duel" and "Into the Dark" both appear on Dreamscapes.

See also: Interview with Klaus Schulze, Songwriters, Musicians

Marc Simon

Credited as one of the writers of "Big in Japan" on the single and the Warner music sheet, though not on the album.

Yello

Deiter Meier directed the video for "Big in Japan". His wife appeared in the video as the Japanese girl.

See also: Songwriters, Musicians, Cover versions.