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He soon moved to Hamburg to continue studies at the "Meisterschule
für Gestaltung". Early on, before his graphic education was concluded,
Klaus was thrown into working as a commercial artist in various
forms: as layout, graphic designer, illustrator. Klaus was employed
by fashion magazines, advertising agencies and art studios.
"One
day, after having a minor argument with my girlfriend Astrid Kirchherr,
I was wandering through the St.Pauli district of Hamburg and was
suddenly attracted by the sound of Rock and Roll music. It was Rory
Storm and the Hurricanes at the Kaiserkeller. The next group to
appear were The Beatles. I was speechless!"
The urge to
live and work in England became stronger and stronger for Klaus.
Right in the middle of Beatlemania, George and Ringo invited him
to London, to stay with them in their apartment on Green Street,
until he found employment as a commercial artist and an apartment
of my own. He found both, but it didn't last for long, because then
"Rock`n`Roll really hit me!"
In 1963 Klaus
returned to Hamburg, where he joined his first band, Paddy, Klaus
& Gibson. They played regularly at the German Star Clubs and soon
Klaus was back in London, but this time as a musician.
In
1965, Right in the middle of his music career, Klaus was asked to
jump back into the "world of graphics". He got the offer to design
the "Revolver" cover for the Beatles. He ultimately received a Grammy
for his efforts.
In
1965-68, Klaus played in the band "Manfred Mann ". They had countless
hits, which followed each other like pearls on a string.
In 1969 John Lennon and Yoko Ono started the "Plastic Ono Band "
and they choose Klaus as their bass player. The only live performance
they ever did was the concert "Live Peace in Toronto" with Eric
Clapton and Alan White. Soon after, Klaus began more work as a session
musician for many different artists
Klaus
soon became known as an outstanding studio musician and recorded
for several well know acts.
It
was always more like a bunch of good friends, looking forward to
meet on the next production. It was exciting to play in the studio
with the likes of B.B. King , Jerry Lee Lewis, Harry Nilsson and
Carly Simon . George Harrison's "All Things Must Pass"-LP was a
great success. Following that was the Concert For Bangladesh. I
was proud and happy to be part of an event with great artists like
Bob Dylan , Ravi Shankar , Eric Clapton and other wonderful people.
I also got another Grammy-Award for it ...my second!
1973
-79 L.A. became my new home. I met up with great musicians and very
special people like The Band, Van Dyke Parks, Phil Spector, Jim
Keltner, Jesse Ed Davis, Ry Cooder, Larry Carlton, to name but a
few. Just before the end of my musical activities in the States,
I had a very special encounter. I played on Randy Newman´s Short
People LP. The "icing" of my musical cake was being asked to join
Dr. John (Mac Rebenak) and his band. How can you top that!
In
1983-88, Klaus tried my luck with producing records. The first band
he produced was completely unknown, a German group called"Trio".
DA DA DA ended up selling over five million records.
In
1990, The idea to do a book about the "Hamburg Days" of the Beatles,
as remembered by Jürgen Vollmer, Astrid Kirchherr and Klaus came
up. It covers the years from 1960 to 62, the time when the Beatles
lost their "musical virginity" Bit by bit Klaus finished the "Hamburg
Days"-paintings which recreate many of the scenes from Hamburg which
were not previously documented.
In
1996, Neil Aspinal, of Apple Records, asked Klaus to create an image
for the "Beatles Anthology Project ". In competition with seven
other artists He got the job and did the final artwork with his
friend Alfons Kiefer.
Klaus
still lives and works in Germany as a successful commercial artist.
Klaus
Voormann Artwork on our site
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