Alphaville

Alphaville is a German synth-pop band centered around vocalist Marian Gold (Hartwig Schierbaum), formed in 1982 in Münster. Started out as a trio with Gold backed by synth players Bernhard Lloyd and Frank Mertens. At the end of '81, Gold and Lloyd (Frank would come in not long afterwards) take part in a concert with 5 other artists, on Nelson Community. Initially the band name was just Forever Young, however, after a few months they changed the name inspired by Jean-Luc Goddard's film: Alphaville "the city of the future". Which, incidentally, represented even better their whole project. Mertens left the band in late 1984 and was replaced by Ricky Echolette (Wolfgang Neuhaus), in early 1985. The band is still active today, playing new concerts and also promoting re-mastered re-releases of their first albums.