La Dusseldorf - Biography
August 16th, 2003 by Koldo Barroso
La Düsseldorf
La Düsseldorf was the German project founded in 1974 by drummer, guitarist, and singer Klaus Dinger, former member of Kraftwerk and Neu!. The band was completed by a series of musicians, including Nikolaus Van Rhein (keyboards, synthesizer) Thomas Dinger (vocals, percussion), Hans Lampe from Neu! (percussion, electronics), Harald Konietzko (bass), and Andreas Schell (piano).
La Düsseldorf was one of the most representative bands and ultimate survivors from the krautrock scene. The band recorded three legendary albums in a period of seven years, produced by the legendary Kraftwerk’s producer, Conny Plank. The band’s debut album “La Dusseldorf” was released in 1976 and it included the funk track “Silver Cloud”, which surprissely reached the top charts in Germany. After two years of innactivity and after the recognition of their influence by artists like the Sex pistols and David Bowie, the band released their second work “Viva La Dusseldorf!” in 1978, reaching the German top charts again with the instrumental track “Rheinita”. The album was chosen record of the year in a poll of a German music magazine.
In 1980, La Düsseldorf released their third and last album “Individuellos”, coinciding with the suicide of pianist Andreas Schell. Sadly, the band split shortly later with acrimony between Klaus Dinger and the rest of the band and they ended in court for royalty rights.
Klaus Dinger has also worked in different parallel projects including Die Engel des Herrn and La! Neu?. His brother Thomas Dinger released in 1981 the solo album “Für mich”, where he played all the instruments including organs, synthesizers, piano, drums and tubular bells, with the collaboration of Hans Lampe on drums. He died on April 9th, 2002 after releasing several solo albums.