How did the Modern Talking group originate? Modern Talking, the history of the group, before the formation of the duet, the beginning of modern talking

The German duo Modern Talking, consisting of Dieter Bohlen and Thomas Anders, became the undisputed leader of the disco music of the 80s with many hits. A number of popularity records set by Modern Talking have not been broken so far.

The first hit of Modern Talking, from which their stellar story began, was the composition "You" re My Heart, You "re My Soul" in 1984. The single's chart position speaks for itself: No. 1 Germany, No. 1 Belgium, No. 1 Denmark, No. 1 Italy, No. 1 Spain, No. 1 Greece, No. 1 Turkey, No. 1 Israel, No. 1 Austria, No. 1 Switzerland, No. 1 Finland, No. 1 Portugal, No. 1 Lebanon, No. 2 South Africa, No. 3 France, No. 3 Sweden, No. 3 Norway, No. 15 Japan, No. 56 UK. 8 million copies have been sold.

Modern Talking - You "re My Heart, You" re My Soul

Modern Talking("Modern Conversation") - a German musical duo that performed dance music in the Eurodisco style, consisting of Thomas Anders and Dieter Bohlen. At the end of their existence, the duo developed into the most commercially successful German pop formation so far. Formed in 1984. Performed and released records from 1984 to 1987 before the first breakup. After 11 years, they joined again and continued to perform from 1998 to 2003. In the second half of the 1980s, Modern Talking was one of the most popular bands in the world. The duo made a great contribution to the development of European and, in part, Asian music.

Duo line-up: Dieter Bohlen(full name Dieter Günter Bohlen, born February 7, 1954, Oldenburg) and Thomas Anders(real name Bernd (Berndhart) Weidung, born March 1, 1963, Münstermeifeld). Also working on the project was Luis Rodriguez, co-producer and arranger of many songs until 2001.

The musicians met in February 1983 thanks to the Berlin record company Hansa: the aspiring composer and producer Dieter Bohlen was looking for a vocalist to perform the composition "Was macht das schon" (a cover version of the F.R. David song "Pick Up The Phone", to which he was written in German). Responding to Dieter's suggestion, Thomas immediately flew to Hamburg, and work began.

In 1983-1984, the musicians jointly released 5 singles in German, the most successful of which was "Wovon träumst du denn" (1983), which immediately hit the German charts and sold 30,000 copies.

However, gradually Dieter began to understand that international recognition could only be achieved with songs in English, and in mid-1984 the musicians recorded a cover version of Real Life's hit Catch Me I'm Falling. But the names of the musicians were missing in the imprint - the project was called Headliner, and Steve Benson (one of the creative pseudonyms of Dieter Bohlen) appeared as the author of the song.

The duet's fame began with the popular composition "You" re My Heart, You "re My Soul" ("You are my heart, you are my soul") - a hit released in September 1984. When Thomas and Dieter were recording this song, everyone present in the studio applauded - this melody fell to their hearts so much. Success soon came. 40,000 records were sold daily in Germany alone.

Initially, the single did not receive due appreciation from the audience, and only after performing on the Formel Eins program (January 21, 1985) did the duet become truly popular: the single took first place first in the German charts, and then in the European charts.

Sportswear company Adidas signs a contract with Dieter to show their clothes in videos and at concerts.

In March 1985, Modern Talking recorded the next hit - "You Can Win, If You Want" ("You can win if you want").

Modern Talking - You Can Win, If You Want

A little later, the first album "The First Album" was released, in which the main vocals were performed by Thomas Anders and only one song "There's Too Much Blue In Missing You" - the only one in the entire 20-year history of the duet - was recorded with Dieter's lead vocals.

Modern Talking - There's Too Much Blue In Missing You

The album was a huge success. At the well-known television "Peter's Pop Show" in September 1985, the duet was awarded 75 "gold" and "platinum" discs. The outgoing records were sold in huge numbers.

In October 1985, the duo pleased fans with another hit - "Cheri, Cheri Lady" ("Sweet sweet lady") from the second album "Let's Talk About Love".

Modern Talking - Cheri, Cheri Lady

The new disc in the first two weeks sold out in Germany with a circulation of over 186,000 copies.

Modern Talking was rapidly gaining fame all over the world, but this was not enough for Dieter - he dreamed of "taking over" America and Great Britain, where strangers, especially from Germany, were always reluctantly accepted.

Modern Talking - Brother Louie

However, having released an album in 1986 called “Ready For Romance”, which included such hits as “Brother Louie” (“Brother Louie”) and “Atlantis Is Calling” (“Call of Atlantis”), they still fall into the English and Canadian charts.

Modern Talking - Geronimo's Cadillac

No less popular was the next album of musicians called "In The Middle Of Nowhere" with the songs "Geronimo's Cadillac" ("Geronimo's Cadillac") and "Give Me Peace On Earth" ("Give me peace on Earth").

The song from this album "Lonely Tears In Chinatown" ("Lonely Tears in Chinatown") was released as a single in Spain.

Modern Talking - Lonely Tears In Chinatown

First breakup of Modern Talking

However, disagreements began to arise between the duet members over time, which later led Modern Talking to the first breakup. The final breakup scene took place at a concert in Munich in 1986. While the fans screamed and raged as they waited for their idols to take the stage, there was a big brawl behind the curtain.

Modern Talking - Jet Airliner

Thomas, apart from Dieter, had two girls working on backing vocals - his wife Nora Balling and Jutta (her friend). Dieter also had two Munich girls - Sylvia Zuniga and Biggie Nandke, however, instead of being on stage, they twirled between security. And besides, Nora found rotten chickens in her closet. Enraged, she sent her assistant, Guido Carp, to instruct the guards to kick them out. This did not happen and Nora and Giutta left the stage, giving it to Biggie and Sylvia, Thomas followed his wife.

The concert was over, and now everyone knew what was going on... Behind the scenes, Nora poured out her fury on Dieter and so loudly that everyone could hear it.

Modern Talking - In 100 Years

In 1987, the contract expired and Bohlen decided that Modern Talking's activities should be suspended for a while. The group decided not to tell anyone about this fact, and by mutual agreement of the participants broke up.

Modern Talking - Locomotion Tango

Dieter Bohlen responded succinctly: “The girls I have chosen may not be as beautiful as Nora, but she is Thomas's wife and knows nothing about music. She never worked on any of the Modern Talking songs.".

Thomas Anders talks about the breakup like this: “Almost everyone believes that the duo broke up because of Nora. But in fact, I was just very tired, tired of Dieter, of our common cause and endless trips. I had absolutely no free time to meet with friends or just to be at home. I did not belong to myself at all, I belonged to our company, which used me with might and main. Unfortunately, this condition is difficult to explain. Of course, many may say: "Yes, but you did earn money, and a lot of it. And if you earn a lot of money, you need to work hard." To some extent, I agree with this formulation of the question. But if you travel three years in a row 320 days a year, live in 300 different hotels for a year, then one day you feel exhausted and empty, tired of everyone and everything. At the same time, your partner experiences completely different feelings - Dieter was always focused only on his career and success. He didn't care about my feelings at all. I only asked for a short timeout. Just 2-3 months to rest and then return to the stage again. All this is very difficult for people to understand, because it is much easier to say that the duo broke up because of the insufferable Nora. Yes, without a doubt, she was a very complex person. But after all, many women have a rather difficult character. Nora's fault is that our group broke up - 10-15%. She was by no means the main reason for our breakup.”.

By creating a group Blue System even before the release of the last album (“In The Garden Of Venus”), Dieter actually competed with his main band at that time.

After the collapse, Thomas Anders began a solo career and left for the USA. After Modern Talking, he was not popular in Germany, but he achieved great success in Latin America, largely due to the hits of Modern Talking, as well as the Spanish album Barcos de Cristal.

Dieter also took up a solo project - Blue System, which achieved more success than Thomas in Europe and especially in the countries of the former USSR.

But none of them could repeat the success of Modern Talking. Dieter Bohlen, in addition to working on the Blue System project, wrote music and songs for various artists (German and not only), such as C.C. Catch, Chris Norman, Bonnie Tyler, Errol Brown, Engelbert Humperdinck and others.

During the break, Thomas Anders always performed Modern Talking hits along with his songs. Dieter Bohlen performed choruses of popular encores. At first, Thomas Anders (with his wife Nora Balling as part of the backing vocal group) performed as the "Thomas Anders Show" and even as a Modern Talking group, despite the absence of Dieter on stage.

Return of Modern Talking

Modern Talking triumphantly returned to the pop scene in the spring of 1998, again joining forces and releasing the album "Back For Good", consisting of dance remixes of old songs with the addition of four new songs: "I Will Follow You", "Don't Play With My Heart", "We Take The Chance", "Anything is Possible". Completed the album No. 1 Hit Medley, collected from the duo's popular songs. As a result of sales, the album became four times platinum in Germany and surpassed the platinum mark in several other European countries. The total worldwide sales of the album amounted to 26 million copies. These figures, contrary to expectations, were an order of magnitude higher than the success of the 80s. According to Dieter, they had been planning to unite for several years, but kept it a secret from journalists.

Modern Talking - No. 1 Hit Medley

A tour dedicated to this event was organized. On stage, the duet Modern Talking performed accompanied by musicians from the Blue System group.

From 1999 to 2003, the duo released five new albums, three of which also went platinum. The style of light modern dance music remained unchanged, only, unlike the 80s, it was no longer Eurodisco, but Eurodance. Some of the songs were recorded with the participation of rapper Eric Singleton, thanks to which the duo hoped to win over the American audience. Dreams were not destined to come true, and the presence of a third member in the duet sometimes caused a sharply negative reaction from the fans of the "first wave". Compositions with Eric were published until 2001 on singles and in video clips. Some clips were made in two versions - with and without a rapper. But there was also a positive moment: thanks to Eric, the group, for example, had great success in France.

Second collapse of Modern Talking

On June 7, 2003, Dieter Bohlen, at a concert in Rostock (Germany) in front of 24,000 spectators, quite unexpectedly for the management of the duet and the management of the record company, announced the breakup of Modern Talking: “I have to tell you that Modern Talking is over. Thomas and I have decided that we will go our separate ways again in the future.".

The official version of the collapse, according to Dieter, was that Thomas, without his knowledge, undertook a solo tour in the United States in the summer of 2003. Back in 1987, before the release of the band's 5th disc, Thomas was already organizing a tour without Dieter Bohlen in the Eastern Bloc under the sign "The Thomas Anders Show" and Modern Talking was written on each poster.

In 2003, posters and banners in the United States again read: "Concert by C.C. Catch and the Modern Talking group at the Taj Mahal, despite the fact that Dieter was not on stage, and it could not be called Modern Talking. Thus, even before the collapse Thomas made it clear that he was ready to perform again without his colleague.The duo's fans believe that the unofficial reason for the group's breakup is the fall in sales of the duo's records and the desire of Dieter Bohlen to devote more time to the promotion of Germany's most popular TV show "Germany is looking for a superstar" and its members, whose records were sold much better than Modern Talking itself.

On June 21, 2003, the duet's farewell concert took place in the open air of Berlin, which could be seen by 13,000 spectators. After the breakup, both musicians announced their intention to remain on the music scene and pursue solo work.

“Yesterday was spring, today is summer. Someday spring will come again. You never know what will happen next", - Dieter remarked philosophically from the stage.

The words "Stay healthy, see you soon" (Dieter) and "Thank you" (Thomas) were the last words Modern Talking said on stage.

On June 23, 2003, the group's last album was released: "The Final Album", which included the 20 best songs of the duo recorded over 19 years of its existence, and on November 10, the eponymous, the first in the history of the group, DVD with a similar track list was released.

The group gave a final concert, excerpts of which, together with Dieter's interview, were also included in the DVD. 22 songs were performed: "TV Makes the Superstar", "Everybody Needs Somebody", "Atlantis Is Calling (S.O.S. For Love)", "Angie's Heart", "Geronimo's Cadillac", "Knocking On My Door", "Don 't Make Me Blue", "No Face, No Name, No Number", "You Can Win If You Want", "Don" t Take Away My Heart", "Last Exit To Brooklyn", "Juliet", "In 100 Years", "China In Her Eyes", "Jet Airliner", "Sexy Sexy Lover", "Ready For The Victory", "Cheri, Cheri Lady", "Brother Louie", "You Are Not Alone", "Win The Race", "You're My Heart, You're My Soul". In fact, it was a concert from the Universe tour.

During the existence of the group, more than 120 million audio media have been sold worldwide. Modern Talking is still popular in Eastern Europe, Russia, Argentina, Chile, Poland, Hungary, Finland, Vietnam and other countries.

After the collapse Dieter Bohlen in his autobiography "Behind the scenes"(2003) speaks unflatteringly about his former partner Thomas and accuses him of embezzling the duo's money. Thomas Anders sues Dieter Bohlen and wins. Thanks to these events, the duet continues to be popular, but already on the newspaper pages.

After the collapse of Modern Talking, several former backing vocalists of the group created their own group, Systems in Blue, which is almost a complete analogue of Blue System and Modern Talking in terms of genre. At the moment, the group has released two albums, which have become cult among fans of the duo.

Following the collapse of Modern Talking, the albums by Thomas Anders are similar in style to the last albums of the duet. Dieter Bohlen refrains from releasing solo albums until 2006.

In 2006, Dieter Bohlen releases a comic full-length cartoon "Dieter - Der Film" describing the life of Dieter. The soundtrack for the cartoon "Dieter - Der Film" includes an unreleased duet song "Shooting Star" reworked by Bohlen, which is essentially a good melody, a new chorus and a cut of Thomas's voice from the group's previous songs.

Thomas's eleventh album, Two, was the first album from the new Anders|Fahrenkrog project, which, due to some similarities between Uwe Fahrenkrog and Dieter and similar playing style, was quickly dubbed the "new Modern Talking". Thomas himself had nothing against such an interpretation. The album was recorded in Germany during the winter-spring of 2011.

In September 2011, Thomas Anders published an autobiography (German: "100 Prozent Anders - Die Autobiografie"), which tells about Modern Talking, Nora, Dieter and much more. In November 2011, Thomas' ex-wife Nora Balling sues him and wins the case.

On May 25, 2014, on the Fernsehgarten program on the German channel ZDF, Thomas Anders announced that he had reconciled with former bandmate Dieter Bohlen.

On October 3, 2014, a collection of songs was released to coincide with the band's 30th anniversary. In addition to well-known hits, it contains remixes of Give Me Peace On Earth, Just Like An Angel, You "re The Lady Of My Heart, Just We Too (Mona Lisa), Tv Makes The Superstar and a large megamix. The album also includes a new version Brother Louie, produced by famous Swedish DJ Bassflow, the song was released as a promotional single and includes a radio and extended version.

Discography of Modern Talking:

1985 - The First Album
1985 - Let's Talk About Love
1986 - Ready for Romance
1986 - In the Middle of Nowhere
1987 - Romantic Warriors
1987 - In the Garden of Venus
1998 - Back For Good
1999 - Alone
2000 - Year of the Dragon
2001 - America
2002 - Victory
2003 - Universe

Modern Talking singles:

1984 - "You" re My Heart, You "re My Soul"
1985 - "You Can Win If You Want"
1985 - Cheri, Cheri Lady
1985 - "You"re The Lady Of My Heart"
1986 - "Atlantis Is Calling (S.O.S. for Love)"
1986 - Geronimo's Cadillac
1986 - "Give Me Peace On Earth"
1986 - "Lonely Tears In Chinatown"
1986 - "Keep Love Alive"
1987 - "Jet Airliner"
1987 - "In 100 Years"
1987 - Don't Worry
1987 - "You And Me"
1988 - "Locomotion Tango"
1998 - "You're My Heart, You're My Soul" 98
1998 - "Brother Louie" 98
1998 - Cheri Cheri Lady "98"
1998 - "Space Mix" 98 - We Take The Chance"
1999 - "Brother Louie" 99
1999 - "You are not Alone"
1999 - "Tearin' Up My Heart / You Are Not Alone"
1999 - "Sexy Sexy Lover"
2000 - "China In Her Eyes"
2000 - Don't Take Away My Heart
2001 - "Win the Race"
2001 - "Last Exit To Brooklyn"
2002 - "Ready For The Victory"
2002 - "Juliet"
2003 - "TV Makes The Superstar"
2014 - "Brother Louie 2014 (Bassflow 3.0 Mix)"
2014 - "Give Me Peace On Earth (New Hit Version)"

Interesting facts about Modern Talking:

♦ The hit "You" re My Heart, You "re My Soul" in 1985 reached first place in the charts of several countries (among them Belgium, Germany, Austria, Switzerland). It has been covered by numerous performers.

♦ The hit "Cheri, Cheri Lady" reached number one in several countries including Germany, Austria, Norway, Switzerland, Belgium.

♦ The hit "Brother Louie" also reached number one in a number of countries. It was on the UK charts for 8 weeks and peaked at number four.

♦ The hit "Atlantis Is Calling", released in 1986, became the group's fifth consecutive and last No. 1 hit in Germany.

♦ Modern Talking's record - five No. 1 singles (in Germany) in a row and 4 multi-platinum albums in a row - has not been broken so far.

♦ In the first period - from 1985 to 1987 - they released 2 albums a year, and from 1998 to 2003 - 1 album each.

♦ Modern Talking sold 85 million copies in 1988.

♦ In 1998, 700,000 copies of "Back For Good" were sold in Germany in the first week.

♦ In 1998, there were about 200 thousand people at the first concert in Budapest.

♦ In 1998, the album "Back For Good" became the leader in global sales.

♦ In 1999 in Canada there was a release of the album "Back For Good". and according to the results of annual sales on amazon.ca, the album took an honorable 16th place.

♦ In 1999, in Monte Carlo, Modern Talking received The World Music Award for "Best Selling German Band in the World".

♦ They sold 100,000 copies of "Back For Good" in South Africa.

♦ The single "Sexy Sexy Lover" was in the top twenty of the MTV Europe charts.

♦ In 2001 in Manchester (England) Modern Talking won the Top of the Pops Award for the best German band.

♦ The singles Win the Race and Ready for the Victory were recorded on order for the German channel RTL to be played during broadcasts of Formula 1 races.

♦ Modern Talking sold few copies of their records in the US, while the duo's recording media (BMG) sold over 120 million copies worldwide as of 2003.

♦ Compilation 2010 Modern Talking - 25 Years Of Disco-Pop - hit high places in the charts in Germany, Austria and Poland, thus proving that the group is still popular after the breakup.

♦ In the Soviet cartoon "Return of the Prodigal Parrot", Kesha's parrot listens to the song of Modern Talking You "re My Heart, You" re My Soul in the player. He also mentions the song of the "Weiner brothers" called "the song of the Modern Tokinov brothers."

♦ In January 1986, Dieter Bohlen performed in France on the program "C'est Encore Mieux l'apres-midi" with the fake Thomas Anders as the band Modern Talking. The soloist's name is Uwe Borgwardt - he is a member of The Koola News.

♦ In the USSR, the video with the participation of the group was first shown on February 7, 1986 in the program "Rhythms of the Planet". The next program to show "Modern Talking" in the USSR was "Morning Post" on May 18, 1986.

MODERN TALKING IS A GERMAN PHENOMENON

- cult group. Its members deserve such fame, because their songs are recognizable by the first chords and are pulled to the dance floor. Over 100 million records sold speak volumes. No one has been more successful in the Eurodisco style than the guys from.

Could he have thought during the studio recording of the song “You’re My Heart, You’re My Soul” that this composition would radically change his whole life. It was their first song and an instant super hit.

Sweet start

In the early 1980s, the Eurodisco style only appeared, and with it the composer. At that time he worked in a music publishing house and almost everything that sounded in Germany was written by him. Dieter's voice data was not outstanding, but his composing skills quickly helped him get back on his feet. Bohlen realized that for complete success he lacked English-language compositions and a singer whose voice could make real hits out of his songs.

At this time, he came to Hamburg to record his album young Thomas Anders. After completing the work, he still had two more hours before the plane, and Dieter took advantage of this. He invited Thomas to record his new song "You're My Heart, You're My Soul". After listening to the music on a cassette recorder and reading the words, Thomas caught fire with this composition.

The single was released in September 1984, but no one really bought it. In the first 2-3 weeks, only about 1,000 records were sold. But after the Christmas holidays, this figure increased by 60 times. Only then did the guys realize that maybe they hit the bull's-eye.

Modern conversation

- this is how two young and talented musicians from Germany called their group. The name was inspired by the success of Talk, Talk. Dieter wrote songs one after another, so that the entire debut album with the unpretentious name "The First Album" could easily be composed entirely of his compositions. Dieter's songs flowed like water, and the group released 2 records a year. Nobody does this today. A mix of the normal soft voice of Thomas Anders and the falsetto tones that Dieter Bohlen layered 50 times on top of each other, as in song "Cheri, Cheri Lady", and created the contrast that proved to be in demand and was a huge success.

Their further success stretched from Japan to Thailand, from China to Russia, from South America to France. It was real popularity, part of the history of pop music. One after another, they released hits, received music awards, it was hard to even imagine. became the most popular German band of all time.

The moment came when Dieter Bohlen and Thomas Anders could no longer go out into the street, wherever they were, everywhere they were surrounded by a crowd of fans. And in front of Thomas's house, heartbreaking scenes unfolded in general. A guy with the same dark hair and similar clothes drove up, got out of the car, and fans rushed towards him with squeals and screams. Imagine their disappointment when the truth was revealed.

With the same love, the group was met outside their homeland. In the largest capitals of the world, entire streets were blocked due to the fact that tens of thousands of people gathered to see their favorite musicians. Now it is even difficult to understand what they liked more - their music or the created images.

Modern Talking Music Records

The songs "You're My Heart, You're My Soul", "You Can Win If You Want", "Cheri, Cheri Lady", "Brother Louie" are combined into a kind of record. They were fulfilled within two years and became No. 1 hits in Germany. In addition, 4 consecutive albums went multi-platinum. This record is still unbeaten.

At the same time, the group was not very popular among the American audience. There, in the mid-1980s, completely different musical styles dominated. If in Europe it was enough to perform in 8-10 major cities to mark their position on the music map, then for America this mark should have been 50-60 cities. While they were winning over a European audience (including the fastidious British), the United States simply did not have the necessary forces. Perhaps that is why their songs never hit the American charts.

Third wheel

Thomas and Nora

Despite all the creative victories, three years later problems arose in the group, not the last role in which was played by the wife of Thomas Anders, Nora. This trio became a powder keg, inside of which there was already a critical situation. Managers and producer from album to album thought only about how to save the group from breaking up.

For the members of the group, this was not a surprise. Later, Dieter Bohlen admitted that it was very difficult to find a common language with Nora, perhaps due to a ten-year age difference.

Thomas was happy about the collapse of the team, he finally had free time, and life on suitcases ended. But Dieter was not going to rest and created a new project Blue System.

Together impossible and apart in any way

For 10 years they each went their own way, until in 1998 their paths crossed again. It is impossible to enter the same river twice, Anders and Bohlen understood this very well, so they were terribly worried if their reunion and return to the banner would be a failure. For the first seven years after the breakup, the musicians did not even see each other, then they began to gradually establish communication, rarely seeing each other. And then the manager of the record company with which they worked suggested that they revive the team and try to win their former popularity. Both at first were not particularly accommodating in this matter, but something nevertheless made them re-enter the stage together, as they once did.

Having modernized several old hits and appeared in several TV programs, Thomas Anders and Dieter Bohlen announced the resumption of the band's work. New songs were created, which became hits one after another.

Hit return of Modern Talking

The first album after the reunion "Back For Good" became the leader in world sales, took the first lines of the charts in many countries. In the first day alone, 180,000 copies were sold in music stores. In Germany, he became four times "platinum collection". 26 million discs have been sold worldwide. This figure exceeded all the expectations of Dieter Bohlen, the success was overwhelming. It was the biggest selling album of the year. In many ways, this was facilitated by the younger generation, who liked the work of the resurrected group.

At this time, the musicians often attracted vocalists from Dieter Bohlen's Blue System project, as well as rapper Eric Singleton, to collaborate. But not all fans liked such an original trio, many wanted to see their favorites in the usual composition.

The new hit that blew up the world in 2001 was the composition "Last Exit To Brooklyn". At the same time, they recorded an equally popular Formula 1 anthem, "Win The Race". This was the merit of Dieter Bohlen and his commercial acumen. He not only composed songs with talent, his thoughts were also occupied with how to promote the composition, what needs to be done so that it becomes another hit, and moreover, the Formula 1 anthem.

Music critics denoted the theme of the group's songs of that period with two words - "love" and "success", referring to the group's two super hits - "Sexy Sexy Lover" and "Ready For The Victory". None of the group's managers could have dreamed that the comeback would be a triumph and make such a splash.

Back in USSR

Special mention deserves the creative "relationship" of the group with the former Soviet Union. and subsequently by the CIS countries. Since the 1980s, the participants were absolute stars in the USSR, they were not afraid to come to a communist country, unlike many of their colleagues. The interest of the Russian public in Dieter and Thomas did not disappear even after their reunion.

The group's TV promoter Peter Angemeer said in an interview that one of the close acquaintances of the current President of Russia Vladimir Putin asked him for a performance by Thomas Anders as a birthday present. So the group ended up after reuniting with a concert in the Kremlin.

End of the legend

There was no group of such level and scale as before. So many number 1 hits, 12 albums over the two periods of the band's existence, a lot of "golden discs" and, of course, wonderful video clips at the turn of the 2000s. The bold point of the "second phase" of the group was delivered by the song "TV Makes The Superstar", and their last concert took place in 2003 in Berlin.

Summing up the results, we can state that for the first 3-year and the second 5-year periods of existence, the group managed to set a lot of records and, most importantly, to win as many fans and awards around the world as other groups cannot collect in 40 years. Maybe the time coincided so, or maybe the stars became just so that these two musicians were destined to leave a not very long, but such a memorable page in the history of music. The Germans can be proud of, because they do not have many groups and musicians who have managed to achieve such success around the world.

DATA

Musicians have always had a peculiar style of clothing. Thomas went on stage in elegant jackets or jackets and light-colored trousers, while Dieter preferred original tracksuits in pastel colors. At the same time, in the first period of the band's existence, Thomas always wore a chain in the form of the word NORA on his chest. Then many laughed at him and considered him henpecked, giving him the nickname "Chain Nora".

It turns out that Dieter Bohlen dedicated the famous song "Brother Louie" to sound engineer Luis Rodriguez, who for many years helped him make arrangements for his compositions.

Updated: April 9, 2019 by: Elena

The Modern Talking group throughout its existence was not only one of the most popular, but also the most influential group of the eighties.

To be precise, the Modern Talking group was a duet consisting of two soloists - Thomas Anders and Dieter Bohlen.

Dieter Bohlen, after graduating from the university, received the specialty of a business economist, participated in youth musical groups, where he wrote about 200 songs. Interestingly, the maternal grandmother of the singer was of Russian origin. Dieter, in his youth, constantly made attempts to find work in recording studios, sending them his demos. After many attempts, luck smiled at him - Dieter was hired by the music publishing house Intersong, where he worked as a producer and musician.

Before meeting Thomas Anders, Bohlen was a member of the bands Monza, Sunday, collaborated with Katya Ebstein, Bernd Klüver, and also released his own singles.

Bernd Weidung (real name Thomas Anders) was born in the town of Münstermeifelde. The boy was lucky, as his father encouraged his musical studies in every possible way. Bernd actively studied to play the guitar and piano, graduated from the university with a degree in German language and literature.

In 1980, his debut song Judy was released, at the same time the singer came up with his stage name. In 1981, there was a historical acquaintance with Dieter Bohlen, who at that time was a novice producer looking for a vocalist to record a cover of the F.R. David song.

The recorded song was the beginning of a fruitful collaboration - 1983-84 was marked by the release of five German-language singles, one of which hit the German charts. To achieve international recognition, Dieter takes the initiative to record an English-language song "Catch Me I'm Falling". However, no one knew the names of the musicians yet - the project was known as Headliner.

The musicians became famous after the hit "You're My Heart, You're My Soul". This song "Modern Talking" is their calling card, by which they are recognized in all corners of the world. After the stormy fame that fell on the heads of the musicians, Adidas signs a contract with Dieter.

In 1985, Modern Talking recorded their first collaboration, "The First Album", on which the vocals are mainly owned by Thomas. The record was a resounding success - the group received gold and platinum discs with a total of 75 pieces.

In the autumn of the same year, another song "Modern Talking" was released, without which it is difficult to imagine their era: "Cheri, Cheri Lady".

The group was rapidly gaining momentum in Europe, but Bohlen yearned to become popular in the US and the UK. His dream was helped by the songs "Brother Louie" and "Atlantis Is Calling", which reached the Canadian and English charts.

"Modern Talking" songs which everyone knew by heart, at that time sounded in every house in Europe.

Despite prosperity and fame, friction arises between Thomas and Dieter, which caused the breakup in 1986. The official reason for the breakup is disagreement with the recording of backing vocalists. Although there were rumors in the press that the real reason was the too ambitious wife of Thomas Nora Balling. By the way, a curious fact: after marriage, the singer took her last name.

The group lasted another year, releasing two albums during this time, and after the completion of the contract, they disbanded. After the collapse of Modern Talking, Dieter switched to his brainchild Blue System, which the singer created even before the collapse of Modern Talking.

The reunion of the group took place in 1998, which the musicians noted with the album "Back For Good". In the new album "Modern Talking", remixes of old hits occupied the main part, and were diluted with only four new compositions.

A present for the fans was the Modern Talking concert, where the soloists were accompanied by Blue System musicians.

In the period from 1999 to 2003, five more records were released, which received a warm response from the audience.

A surprise for fans and the leadership of the group was Bohlen's statement about the breakup of the group, made at one of the concerts in 2003: “I must say that the group is over. Thomas and I decided to go our separate ways." According to Dieter, the reason for the collapse was Thomas' tour in the United States, without agreement with a colleague.

Fans agreed that the reason for the collapse was the fall in album sales and Bohlen's desire to engage in his own projects.

However, the musicians could not just leave their fans - in 2003, The Final Album was released, which collected the best songs of the duet recorded during the entire existence of the group.

The personal life of musicians is not as successful as their careers. Dieter Bohlen lived most of his life with Erica Sauerland, who gave him three children. After a divorce from his wife, Dieter married Verona Felbusch in 1996, but did not live with her even a year.

But the musician is quite philosophical about success in all aspects of life: “Before you know victory, you will experience many more failures. Success is the exception and failure is the rule. On the way to success, you will fall a thousand times, but it is important to be able to rise.”

Thomas Anders also could not devote his life to one woman - after breaking up with Nora, in 2000 he married Claudia Hess, and two years later the couple had a son.

Despite the fact that the Modern Talking group no longer exists, and the paths of the musicians have diverged, their joint work has become a bright contribution to contemporary art.

Music "Modern Talking" and to this day is dearly loved by millions of fans.

Clip Modern Talking "You're my heart you're my soul"

Modern Talking(With English- "modern conversation") - a German musical duo that existed from to and from to 2003, performing dance music in the style of eurodisco, europop and eurodance. The band consisted of Thomas Anders (lead vocals) and Dieter Bohlen (guitar, backing vocals, songwriting, production). It is one of the most successful bands in the history of popular music and the most successful of those created in Germany: the group's records have been sold worldwide in more than 120 million copies (as of 2003).

The duo's singles topped the charts from the mid-1980s ("You're my heart, you're my soul") to the early 2000s ("Win the Race"), and compilations topped the charts worldwide ( back for good). The band's music still finds its way into the playlists of radio stations, and their albums continue to be sold to this day. The duo made a great contribution to the development of European and (partly) Asian music.

Modern Talking's record - five No. 1 singles (in Germany) in a row and 4 multi-platinum albums in a row - has not been broken so far.

Group history [ | ]

Before the duet[ | ]

The musicians met in February 1983 within the walls of the Berlin recording company Hansa: the aspiring composer and producer Dieter Bohlen was looking for a vocalist to perform the composition Was macht das schon, a cover version of F.R. David "Pick Up The Phone", for which he wrote the German lyrics. The novice singer Thomas Anders responded to the proposal of Dieter Bohlen, who soon flew to Hamburg to start working together.

Beginning of Modern Talking [ | ]

The beginning of one of the most famous musical groups begins on October 29, 1984 when Thomas Anders and Dieter Bohlen released the first single Modern Talking " "("You are my heart, you are my soul"). When Thomas and Dieter were recording this song, everyone present in the studio applauded - this melody fell to their hearts so much. Initially, the single did not receive due appreciation from the audience, and only after performing on the Formel Eins program (January 21, 1985) did the duo become truly popular: the single became a super hit, taking first place first in the German charts, and then in the European charts. 60,000 records were sold daily in Germany alone.

In the wake of the group's popularity, sportswear company Adidas signed a contract with Dieter Bohlen to show their clothes in videos and at concerts.

No less popular was the next album of musicians called "" with songs " Geronimo's Cadillac"("Geronimo's Cadillac") and " ("Give me peace on earth"). Song from this album "(" Lonely Tears in Chinatown ") was released as a single in Spain, reaching number 9 there. Recording singles in the studio, Dieter Bohlen never sang high parts in the group. Instead, they were performed by Michael Scholz, Detlef Wiedeke and Rolf Köhler ( - , -).

The first breakup of the group in 1987[ | ]

With an ambitious and energetic character, Nora Balling claimed a more significant role, seeking to subjugate the creative life of the group to herself. According to the memoirs of Dieter Bohlen, "Nora could just forbid Anders to go on stage, took him on trips in the midst of recordings, disrupted filming and tours."

Against the backdrop of these contradictions, a final break occurred at a concert in Munich in 1986. The musicians decided not to upset the fans ahead of time, and only a year later, having recorded two more albums and waiting for the end of the contract, they announced the breakup of the group by mutual agreement.

Thomas Anders himself says this about the collapse:

It is curious that, having created the Blue System group even before the release of the last album (“In The Garden Of Venus”), Dieter actually competed with his main group at that time.

After the collapse [ | ]

The beginning of the reunion of the legend of the 80s was laid by a non-binding phone call from Bohlen, in which he friendly invited Anders to Hamburg. The conversation was continued in one of the fast food restaurants in Hamburg over a portion of selected fried potatoes with goulash. Thomas at first strongly doubted the relevance of the revival of the duet, but Dieter still managed to convince him.

Thus, quite unexpectedly for their fans, Modern Talking, once again joining forces, triumphantly returned to the pop scene in March 1998, performing on the popular German TV show “Wetten, dass..? "with a medley of his immortal No. 1 hits and releasing the album "Back For Good", consisting of dance remixes of old songs with the addition of four new songs: "I Will Follow You", "Don't Play With My Heart", " We Take The Chance", "Anything is Possible". Rounding out the album was the No. 1 Hit Medley, compiled from the duo's popular songs.

End of career[ | ]

Thomas Anders on the demise of Modern Talking:

The official reason for this difficult decision, according to Dieter, was that Thomas, without his knowledge, undertook a solo tour in the US in the summer of 2003. Back in 1987, Anders already did the same, organizing a tour without Dieter Bohlen in Eastern Europe under the banner "The Thomas Anders Show" (despite the fact that "Modern Talking" was written on the advertising posters). In 2003, posters and banners in the United States again read: "Concert by C.C. Catch and Modern Talking at the Taj Mahal", although Dieter Bohlen did not participate in that concert.

Fans of the duet believe that the unofficial reason for the end of Modern Talking's career is the drop in sales of the group's records and the desire of Dieter Bohlen to devote more time to the promotion of Germany's most popular TV show "Germany is looking for a superstar" and its members, whose records sold much better than Modern Talking itself.

During the existence of the group, more than 120 million audio media have been sold worldwide. Modern Talking is still popular in Eastern Europe, Russia, Argentina, Chile, Poland, Hungary, Finland, Vietnam and other countries.

The fate of the group members[ | ]

The style of most of the songs after the duo's reunion is Europop. Modern Talking released four Latin songs - No Face No Name No Number (2000), Maria (2001), I Need You Now (2001), Mystery (2003). Blackbird (2003) refers to jazz, Angie's Heart (New Version) (1998) - club pop, We Are Children Of The World (2002) - pop rock, Juliet (2002) - advanced disco, Blinded By Your Love (1987) ), You And Me (1987) and Who Will Save The World (1987) - pop rock, Witchqueen of Eldorado (2001) and If I… (2002) - ethnic pop, When The Sky Rained Fire (2002) and Who Will Love You Like I Do (2002) - eurodance. The track The Night Is Yours - The Night Is Mine (1985) can be attributed to.

Style features 1984-1987[ | ]

Modern Talking had several distinguishing features that set them apart from other performers of the same style:

Theme of the songs [ | ]

In many songs of the Modern Talking group, they sing about unrequited love, about a broken heart. In several tracks, Dieter Bohlen paid attention to the theme of victory ("You Can Win If You Want", "We Take The Chance", "Win the Race", "Ready For The Victory", "10 Seconds To Countdown", "TV Makes The Superstar ", "Life is too short" and partly in "Don't give up"). Also in the lyrics of Modern Talking there is a place for the theme of the future ("In 100 Years", "Who Will Save The World" and partly in "Who Will Be There"). The song "It's Christmas" is imbued with the spirit of Christmas. There is a track on the album "America" ​​that sings about a witch queen ("Witchqueen Of Eldorado"). The song "We Are The Children of the World" is about friendship and solidarity.

Authorship of texts[ | ]

Almost all the lyrics of the band's songs were written by Dieter Bohlen, and the authorship belongs to him alone, the following tracks are exceptions: "Love Is Like A Rainbow", "For Always And Ever" (1999), "Love Is Forever" (2000), "I Need You Now" (2001), "Love To Love You" (2002) - written by Thomas Anders; "It Hurts So Good" (1999) and "I'll Never Give You Up" (1999) - co-written by Dieter Bohlen and Thomas Anders; "Do You Wanna" (1985) - written by Dieter Bohlen, lyrics by Mary Applegate.

People who worked on the project[ | ]

Relationships with other notable performers[ | ]

Interesting Facts[ | ]

• Hit " You "re My Heart, You" re My Soul" in 1985 reached number one on the charts of several countries (among them Belgium, Germany, Austria, Switzerland). It has been covered by numerous performers.
• Hit " Cheri, Cheri Lady"reached number one in several countries, including Germany, Austria, Norway, Switzerland, Belgium.
• Hit " Brother Louie also reached number one in a number of countries. It was on the UK charts for 8 weeks and peaked at number four.
• Hit " Atlantis Is Calling”, released in 1986, became the group's fifth consecutive and final No. 1 hit in Germany. Several subsequent singles reached number one in other countries.
• Modern Talking's record - five No. 1 singles (in Germany) in a row and 4 multi-platinum albums in a row - has not been broken so far.
• In the first period - from 1985 to 1987 - they released 2 albums a year, and from 1998 to 2003 - 1 album each.
• In 1988, Modern Talking sold 85 million copies.
• In 1998, 700,000 copies of the album " Back For Good».
• In 1998, there were about 200 thousand people at the first concert in Budapest.
• In December 1998, 25,000 spectators attended the Modern Talking concert at the Peterburgsky Sports and Concert Complex.
• In 1998, the album " Back For Good" has become the leader of global sales .
• In 1999, Canada released the album " Back For Good". and according to the results of annual sales on amazon.ca, the album took an honorable 16th place.
• In 1999, in Monte Carlo, Modern Talking received The World Music Award for "Best Selling German Band in the World".
• They sold 100 thousand copies" Back For Good» in South Africa.
• Single " Sexy Sexy Lover was in the top twenty of the MTV Europe chart.
• In 2001 in Manchester (England) Modern Talking won the Top of the Pops Award for the best German band.
• Singles win the race And Ready for the Victory were recorded on order for the German channel RTL to be shown during broadcasts of Formula 1 races.
• Modern Talking sold few copies of their recordings in the US, while the duo's recording media (BMG) sold over 120 million copies worldwide as of 2003.
• Compilation 2010 Modern Talking - 25 Years Of Disco-Pop - hit high places in the charts in Germany, Austria and Poland, thus proving that the group is still popular after the breakup.
• Despite the fact that Modern Talking has never been on the American charts, they are repeatedly [ ] were written in the American authoritative Billboard magazine, their songs were covered by such American artists as George McCrae (cover of Don't Take Away My Heart), known for his work in the KC and the Sunshine Band and (covers of YMH YMS and YCWIYW).
• Neil Tennant of the Pet Shop Boys likes " You "re My Heart, You" re My Soul» [ ] .
• In the Soviet cartoon "Return of the Prodigal Parrot", Kesha's parrot listens to the song of the Modern Talking group You "re My Heart, You" re My Soul on the player. He also mentions the name of the group, saying the phrase: “According to your numerous requests, the Weiner brothers will perform the song “Modern Talking””.
• In January 1986, Dieter Bohlen performed in France on the program "C'est Encore Mieux l'apres-midi" with a fake Thomas Anders as a Modern Talking band. The soloist's name is Uwe Borgwardt - he is a member of The Koola News.
• In the USSR, a video with the participation of the group was first shown on February 7, 1986 in the program "Rhythms of the Planet". The next program to show "Modern Talking" in the USSR was "Morning Post" on May 18, 1986, with a repeat a week later.
• In 2009, in the Comedy Club in the program "Legendary Legends", under the general name: Norden Vicking, Podzem Parking, Media Holding, Slushenz Poking, Tea for Two, Mnogo Tiolkink and Modern Talking. The group consists of: Thomas Anders, Dieter Bohlen and Claus Fon Gen Talle.

Discography [ | ]

Studio albums[ | ]

Collections [ | ]

Singles [ | ]

• 1984 "You" re My Heart, You "re My Soul" (No. 1 Germany, No. 1 Belgium, No. 1 Denmark, No. 1 Italy, No. 1 Spain, No. 1 Greece, No. 1 Turkey, No. 1 Israel, No. 1 Austria , No. 1 Switzerland, No. 1 Finland, No. 1 Portugal, No. 1 Lebanon, No. 2 South Africa, No. 3 France, No. 3 Sweden, No. 3 Norway, No. 15 Japan, No. 56 UK) (8 million sales).
• 1985 "You Can Win If You Want" (No. 1 Germany, No. 1 Austria, No. 1 Belgium, No. 1 Turkey, No. 1 Israel, No. 2 Switzerland, No. 2 Portugal, No. 3 Denmark, No. 5 Finland, No. 6 Sweden, No. 6 Netherlands, No. 8 France, No. 10 South Africa, No. 70 UK)
• 1985 "Cheri, Cheri Lady" (No. 1 Germany, No. 1 Hong Kong, No. 1 Greece, No. 1 Turkey, No. 1 Israel, No. 1 Austria, No. 4 Portugal, No. 7 Italy, No. 10 Netherlands, No. 15 South Africa, No. 44 Japan)
• 1985 "" (released as a single in South Africa only)
• 1986 Brother Louie (No. 1 Germany, No. 1 Sweden, No. 1 Spain, No. 1 Chile, No. 1 Greece, No. 1 Turkey, No. 1 Israel, No. 1 South Africa, No. 2 Ireland, No. 4 Great Britain, No. 10 Portugal , No. 5 Italy, No. 15 Mexico, No. 16 Netherlands, No. 34 Canada)
• 1986 "Atlantis Is Calling (S.O.S. for Love)" (No. 1 Germany, No. 2 Austria, No. 3 Sweden, No. 3 Switzerland, No. 4 Belgium, No. 6 Holland, No. 8 Norway, No. 21 France, No. 13 Italy, No. 55 Great Britain)

Post for lovers of disco 80s-90s

"Heroes of the Soviet Youth"
The legendary German music duo Modern Talking, who performed music in the Eurodisco style, was created by singer Thomas Anders and composer Dieter Bohlen in 1984 thanks to a happy coincidence.

Thomas Anders (real name - Bernd Weidung) has been professionally involved in music since childhood: he took piano lessons, sang in a church choir and studied musicology. Already at the age of 16, the talented singer became the winner of the prestigious Radio Luxembourg competition, and at 17 he released his debut single "Judy". However, the name and surname of the young artist were too hard to pronounce and hard to remember for the big stage, and the producer of the record company advised Bernd to take the sonorous pseudonym Thomas Anders. It was under this stage name that he became famous.
Anders' fateful acquaintance with aspiring composer and producer Dieter Bohlen took place in February 1983 at the Berlin recording company Hansa. Bohlen was looking for a vocalist to perform his new composition in German, and Anders, who responded, immediately flew to Bohlen's studio in Hamburg, where he began recording the song. After recording several collaborations in German and becoming popular in Germany, Dieter and Thomas realized that international success and recognition can only be achieved with songs in English.

In 1984, Thomas Anders and Dieter Bohlen created the Modern Talking group, which immediately loudly declared itself with the composition "You" re My Heart, You "re My Soul" ("You are my heart, you are my soul"). Bohlen originally wanted Anders to sing the song, but the bosses of the music studio managed to persuade the composer to sing a duet with Thomas. And they were not wrong. The single became a mega-hit, and German singers became famous all over the world.
“Yes, then we did our best,” Dieter Bohlen recalled many years later. "I'm still proud of some of my work." By the way, the popularity of the group in the USSR was so great that Bohlen was called the "hero of the Soviet youth" and recognized as the most popular foreign composer. However, in the rays of glory, the star duo did not bathe for long.

“Better to die than to work in such conditions”
In 1985, Anders and Bohlen pleased the fans with another hit - their new composition "Cheri, Cheri, Lady" was sold around the world with a circulation of more than 250 thousand copies. The rise of Modern Talking was so rapid that in the first year of its existence, the group collected a huge collection of various prestigious awards.

For three years, the legendary German handsome men collected stadiums, and millions of fans around the world shed tears for them. On account of the musicians turned out to be six albums that became gold and platinum. However, in 1987, a black cat ran between Thomas Anders and Dieter Bohlen - the stars at the peak parted with a scandal, and the mega-successful duo Modern Talking ceased to exist.

The official reason for the collapse was the disagreement between the artists over the copyright for the performance of the songs, as well as the selfish behavior of Dieter Bohlen towards Anders. But later it turned out that the main reason for the quarrel between the musicians, which led to the collapse of the Modern Talking group, was the wife of Thomas Anders, Nora Balling.

An ambitious and tenacious woman claimed the role of not only the third in a duet, but also a producer, manager, and at the same time a director. She wanted to completely subordinate the creative life of the group to herself. Bohlen hated her at first sight. Nora could simply forbid Anders to go on stage, take him on trips in the midst of recordings, disrupt the shooting and tour of Modern Talking.
“Due to the whims of Nora, we disrupted a very important performance in the program“ Top Of The Pops ”, after which in Britain they simply made a pen for us,” Bohlen said. “Then I thought that I would rather die than continue working in such conditions, and I decided that it would be better if we went on different paths.” Soon brought to a nervous breakdown by the antics of Anders' wife, Dieter Bohlen slammed the door behind him with a scandal. And then a period of real enmity began between former friends ...

"Anders' solo career is doomed because he can only work under duress"
After the collapse of Modern Talking in 1987, Dieter Bohlen created the Blue System group, and Thomas Anders began a solo career. It was then that their "exchange of courtesies" in the press began. Bohlen tirelessly insisted that Anders' solo career was doomed, because he only knew how to work under duress. The solo work of Thomas Dieter en masse called "hack-work".
In turn, Anders spoke no less venomously about Dieter's numerous "post-talk" projects, especially about his favorite brainchild - the Blue System group. Thomas called Bohlen "omnivorous", "scandalous", "crazy" and "unbalanced" person. For many years, exchanging barbs through the media, legendary musicians built new careers. During the existence of the Blue System, Bohlen released 13 albums, 30 singles and shot 23 video clips, and Anders recorded 6 discs, actively participated in dance shows and even acted in films. It seemed to everyone that the reunion of idols was impossible.
However, in 1998, 11 years after the collapse of Modern Talking, Dieter Bohlen and Thomas Anders unexpectedly announced the revival of the cult duo, which really shocked their fans.

“Dieter and I talked a lot about our career in the 80s, and it seemed to us that there was something unfinished in it,” Thomas Anders said then. - There was a feeling that the breakup of our group in 1987 occurred for purely emotional reasons. Then we got older, maybe wiser - and often thought together why this happened.
It turned out that the first talk about the reunion of the group took place between Bohlen and Anders back in 1993. The musicians talked every two or three months on the phone, sometimes met. And all the time they thought that maybe it would be nice to reunite. But they weren't really sure.

In 1997, Anders received a call from the management of a very famous European show and was asked if it was possible to organize a joint performance with Dieter Bohlen within the framework of this project. The stars phoned and unexpectedly decided to reunite and try to return the incredible popularity of the mid-80s.

"We became friends again when Thomas divorced that damn doll"
The solemn reunion of Thomas Anders and Dieter Bohlen was broadcast live on the very popular show in Germany, "I bet that ...?". Then a symbolic wall was built on the stage between the ex-musicians of Modern Talking, which they first destroyed by common efforts, and then declared that they forgave each other all insults and were ready to start all over again.

When asked how, after all that had happened, they managed to become friends again, Dieter Bohlen replied: “Easy. As soon as Thomas divorced that damn doll Nora and finally threw away his idiotic locket. This collar just drove me crazy. (Bolen meant the plate with the name "Nora", which Thomas Anders wore on a chain around his neck for many years - Approx. ed.). We are not going to fundamentally change anything in our style. We will continue to be Modern Talking, and as before, our music will be based on a melody, as beautiful as possible, no hard, rock, metal.”

In 1998, Anders and Bohlen released the album "Back For Good", which consisted of dance remixes of old songs with the addition of four new songs. Time seemed to turn back: in just three months the record became double platinum, and Europe, as in the 80s, again sang the songs of Dieter Bohlen and Thomas Anders. In June of the same year, the revived duet appeared before the Moscow public, giving a concert at the State Kremlin Palace.

After a triumphant return, the Modern Talking group lasted another 5 years. In 2003, during a tour, Dieter announced that the duo was finally ceasing to exist. And soon it became known that cult performers continued to communicate in court ...

"The revival of Modern Talking is out of the question"
The second breakup of the group was marked by a grandiose scandal - Dieter Bohlen, in hot pursuit, wrote the books “Nothing but the Truth”, “Behind the Scenes” and “My Catchphrases”, which became bestsellers and were sold in sky-high circulations. In his autobiographies, Bohlen accused Thomas Anders of all mortal sins, including financial fraud during the former glory of Modern Talking.

Insulted, Anders immediately went to court, filing a counterclaim against Bohlen for "theft from the group's treasury" and "slander", and won the process. In addition to paying Thomas for moral damages, the court ordered the publishing house that printed the books to either reprint the entire edition, or manually, in each copy of the book, paint over the “slanderous” words that offended Anders’ “honor and dignity” with a black marker. The publishing house chose the second option, and soon the few sold copies of the books, which did not have edits with a black marker, became the subject of a real hunt for the band's fans.
In 2011, Thomas Anders released his autobiography. However, soon the ex-wife of the musician Nora Balling filed a lawsuit, who saw in the book of the ex-wife unflattering statements addressed to her. The court sided with her, and the famous singer had to pay Nora 100,000 euros and remove offensive quotes from circulation.

Cult singers have not communicated for more than 13 years. In the media, "ducks" periodically appear that Thomas Anders and Dieter Bohlen have reconciled again and plan to revive Modern Talking. However, the musicians themselves consider this project to be completely completed for themselves. Not so long ago, Anders once again disappointed the fans by denying all the rumors about a reunion with Bohlen. “The revival of Modern Talking is out of the question. Honestly, I'll tell you, I'm very happy that I no longer need to see Dieter. I hope he is also happy about it,” said Thomas Anders.