Tokio Hotel was founded by twin brothers; singer Bill Kaulitz and guitarist Tom Kaulitz, drummer Gustav Schäfer and bass-guitarist Georg Listing. The four met in 2001 after a live show in a Magdeburg club, where Listing and Schäfer, who knew each other from music school, watched from the audience while Tom and Bill Kaulitz played on the stage.[10][11]Under the name Devilish, the band soon began playing in talent shows and small concerts. [12]After Bill Kaulitz's participation in a children's Star Search in 2003 at age thirteen (which he lost in the quarter-final), he was discovered by music producer Peter Hoffmann. Devilish changed their name to Tokio Hotel: "Tokio", the German language spelling of the city Tokyo, Japan due to a love of the city and "Hotel", due to their constant touring and living in hotels [10]. Soon after Sony BMG took them under contract, Hoffmann hired David Jost and Pat Benzner into the team of creators and authors, and had them give the teens instruction on songwriting and instrument playing. However, shortly before release of their first album, Sony terminated their contract. In 2005, Universal Music Group took Tokio Hotel under contract and developed a marketing plan. The band has now become one of the biggest acts from Germany.
[edit] Schrei
Their first single, "Durch den Monsun" ("Through the Monsoon"), quickly rose in the charts, appearing on the German official Media Control single charts at #15 on 20 August 2005 and eventually reaching #1 on 26 August 2005; it reached #1 on the Austrian music charts as well. Their second single, "Schrei" ("Scream"), climbed to the #5 position in the German charts. Their debut album, Schrei, was released on 19 September 2005; the album later received a platinum certification [13]. These two songs were written by singer Bill Kaulitz together with their group of producers Peter Hoffmann, David Jost, Pat Benzer and Dave Roth. In 2006, a third and fourth single, "Rette mich" ("Rescue Me") and "Der letzte Tag" ("The Final Day"), were released; both reached #1 as well. "Der letzte Tag" also contained a B-side called "Wir schließen uns ein", which was accompanied by a music video as well.
[edit] Zimmer 483
The first single off their second album Zimmer 483 (Room 483), called "Übers Ende der Welt", which was later re-released in English under the name "Ready, Set, Go!", was released on 26 January 2007 and quickly reached #1. Zimmer 483 was released on 28 February 2007, with a deluxe edition of the album, containing a DVD, also becoming available. Their second single from the album, "Spring nicht" ("Don't Jump") was released on 7 April 2007. The tour accompanying the release of the album, the Zimmer 483 tour, was scheduled to start in March 2007, but was delayed by two weeks because the band members wished to have a new stage. A third single from the album "An deiner Seite (Ich bin da)" ("By Your Side") was released on the 16th of November. The single also contains a B-side, called "1000 Meere" ("1000 Oceans") which was also accompanied by a music video.
[edit] Scream
While their German CDs never received official releases outside the German-speaking world, Tokio Hotel's first English album Scream was released on the 4 June 2007 in all of Europe. In Germany, the album was released as Room 483 in order to emphasize the continuity with their last German album Zimmer 483. The album contains English versions of a selection of songs from their German-language albums Schrei and Zimmer 483. "Monsoon", the English-language version of "Durch den Monsun", was the first single from the album. "Ready, Set, Go!" (the translation of "Übers ende der Welt") was released as the album's second single, "By Your Side" (the translation of "An deiner Seite") as the third and "Don't Jump" (the translation of "Spring nicht") as the fourth. A video for "Scream", the English-language version of their 2005 hit "Schrei", was also recorded, and was released to iTunes in early March 2008.
Tokio Hotel gave their first concert in the United Kingdom on 19 June 2007. "Ready, Set, Go!" was released in the UK as the band's first single on 27 August 2007. The song reached #77 in the Singles Chart.
Tokio Hotel won an EMA for Best InterAct on 1 November 2007 and were also nominated for Best Band. They also performed "Monsoon" at the event.
Tokio Hotel released their first U.S. single, simply entitled "Tokio Hotel", in late 2007. The single contained tracks previously released elsewhere in the world, "Scream" and "Ready, Set, Go!", and was available exclusively at Hot Topic stores. Their second US single, "Scream America", was released on 11 December 2007. The single contains the track "Scream" and a remix of "Ready, Set, Go!" by AFI's Jade Puget. In February 2008, the band toured North America for five dates starting in Canada and finishing up in New York. After appearing and performing live on MuchMusic, while touring in Canada, "Ready, Set, Go!" entered the Much On Demand Daily 10, a countdown of videos as chosen by viewers. It remained there for over a week, then returned to the top of the MOD Daily 10 on April 8, 2007. On March 25th, 2008, Scream was released in Canada and the US version was released on May 6, 2008. Tokio Hotel has recently begun another America tour during August 2008. The band's music video for Ready Set Go! was nominated for Best Pop Video [14] and the band won Best New Artist at the 2008 MTV Video Music Awards[15].
[edit] 1000 Hotels Tour
The "1000 Hotels" European Tour began on 3 March 2008 in Brussels and was scheduled to continue to locations including The Netherlands, Luxembourg, France, Spain, Portugal, Italy, Germany and Scandinavia with an expected finish on the 9 April 2008.
On March 14th, during the concert in Marseille, France, Bill started to experience vocal problems. He let the audience sing more frequently than normal and instead of the original 21 songs that were on the set list, they only played 16 songs. Bill apologized, in German, for his bad singing and explained that he was sick.
On March 16th the band canceled a gig in Lisbon, Portugal, minutes before the concert was supposed to commence. The rest of the 1000 Hotels Tour and the North American Tour were canceled not long after following an announcement by the band's manager in Bild that Bill Kaulitz had to undergo surgery to remove a cyst on his vocal cords.
Bill Kaulitz had been putting strain on his voice after playing 43 concerts in the 1000 Hotels tour without vacation. He had to undergo Larynx surgery on March 30th to remove a cyst that had formed on his vocal cords. The cyst was the result of a throat infection that went untreated. Following his surgery, Bill was unable to speak for ten days, and took 3 weeks to heal completely. If Bill had continued singing the rest of the tour, his voice would have eventually been permanently damaged. After two weeks of complete silence for Bill and two months of vocal rehabilitation, Tokio Hotel started performing again in May, 2008.[citation needed]
[edit] Band members
Bill Kaulitz - lead vocals (born September 1, 1989)
Bill Kaulitz was born on September 1, 1989, in Leipzig, East Germany.[16] He was born to Simone Kaulitz, a freelance tailor, and Jörg Kaulitz.[16] When he and his twin brother Tom were seven, their parents divorced. Their mother remarried Gordon Trümper, a guitarist from the German rock band Fatun. Their stepfather inspired the twins to begin their music careers.[16][17] He began writing song lyrics with his twin brother at the age of seven.[18] [10] He has stated that his biggest musical influence is German pop artist Nena.[16] He voiced the role of Arthur in the German version of the film, Arthur and the Minimoys. [19]
Bill Kaulitz' style, charisma and his way of performing on stage are the factors that have caused the success of Tokio Hotel.[16] [20] His androgynous look, young age and edgy hairstyle has reached icon status among many teenage girls.[21] In August 2008, Bill Kaulitz was chosen as the most attractive singer on stage by the readers of the spanish magazine ¡Hola!. [22]
Bill was immortalized in wax at Madame Tussauds museum in Berlin. His wax statue was unveiled on September 30, 2008. At just 19 years old, he is now the youngest person to be duplicated by that museum. [23] [24]
Tom Kaulitz - lead guitar (born September 1 1989)
Tom Kaulitz was born on September 1, 1989 in Leipzig. He is ten minutes older than his identical twin brother, Bill Kaulitz. Tom currently uses Gibson guitars.[25] He has stated his musical influences to be Aerosmith[17] and German hip-hop[10] such as Samy Deluxe. Tom stated in an interview with Steven, of Fuse's 'Steven's Untitled Rock Show', that everything has always happened first to him before his twin Bill. Out of the two, he had the first kiss, and he was the first of the two to have sex, stating that Bill is a virgin. It is unknown if Tom was being sarcastic about the later comment.
Georg Listing - bass guitar (born 31 March 1987)
Georg Listing was born on March 31, 1987. He began playing bass when he was twelve [10] and he currently uses a Sandberg bass [25]He has said that his playing style was heavily influenced by Flea of the Red Hot Chili Peppers.[26] His musical influences also include Die Ärzte and Oasis[10]. His hometown is Magdeburg.
Gustav Schäfer - drums (born 8 September 1988)
Gustav Schäfer was born on September 8, 1988 in his hometown of Magdeburg. Gustav has been playing the drums since he was six.[10] He has one older sister. His musical influences include Metallica[18], Joe Cocker, and Rod Stewart[17].
