Curt Cress
Curt Cress | |
---|---|
Birth name | Curtis Cress |
Born |
Brachttal, Germany | August 11, 1952
Occupation(s) | Drummer, composer, professor |
Years active | 1965-present |
Curtis "Curt" Cress (born August 11, 1952, in Brachttal, Germany) is a German drummer and composer.
Life and work
Curt Cress began his career in 1965 in Hanau with the band Load. Later also in Hanau he played with the bands Inspiration Six and most recently in 1969 Orange Peel, which was officially disbanded again the very next year, but comes together for occasional appearances. He has taken part in about 12,000 published recordings sold on at least 400 million records. He worked as a member of several bands including Klaus Doldinger's Passport, Atlantis, Spliff, Milli Vanilli and Snowball, Curt Cress Clan, and as a guest on numerous studio recordings and live performances with German and international artists, e.g. Falco, Peter Maffay, Rick Springfield, SAGA and Tina Turner.
Cress is also known as a producer, most notably for Uwe Ochsenknecht, Claudia Cane, Heiner Pudelko, Nena, Nina Hagen and the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra. He continued to work as a studio musician, as for Boney M., Hubert Kah, Michael Cretu, Scorpions, Alphaville, BAP, Inga and Annette Humpe, Peter Cornelius, Marianne Rosenberg, Stefan Waggershausen, Udo Lindenberg, Meat Loaf and Freddie Mercury (Mr. Bad Guy).
Cress also made himself a name as a TV and film music composer. He composed the music for the series SK Kölsch, The Red Mile, HeliCops - Einsatz über Berlin and for the telenovelas Bianca - Wege zum Glück and Julia - Pursuit of Happiness. Cress is one of the composer's music scene for the series Love in Berlin. He also worked for Tatort and composed, among others, the theme songs of the ARD sports show and Wetten, dass ..?. For the feature film Bandits Cress was hired as playback drummer. Since 2009 he records along with Chris Weller and Manuel Mayer for the music of the ZDF telenovela Alisa - Follow your heart.
Since 2006, Cress has been a professor at the Hamburg Hochschule für Musik und Theater; he has taught there since 2004.
His company CC HOLDING GmbH produces media products for music, film and television. The holding company has F.A.M.E. company Recordings Publishing GmbH, F.A.M.E. Artist Recordings GmbH, CRESS PUBLISHING GmbH and pilot Tonstudio GmbH.
Personal life
Curt Cress is married and has three children.
Discography
Solo work
- 1975: Curt Cress Clan (LP)
- 1983: Avanti (LP: WEA 24.0133; CD: WEA 240 133-2)
- 1987: Sing (LP)
- 1992: Bäng (CD)
- 1998: Trip (CD: WEA [Warner] 3984-21825-2)
With other musicians
- 1973: Klaus der Geiger – Arbeit macht frei (LP: Bluff Records, BF 1010)
- 1973: Passport – Hand Made
- 1973: Passport – Looking Thru
- 1974: Doldinger Jubilee Concert
- 1975: Passport – Cross-Collateral
- 1976: Lucifer’s Friend – Mind Exploding (LP: Vertigo)
- 1977: Passport – Iguaçu
- 1977: New Triumvirat – New Triumvirat Presents Pompeii
- 1978: Snowball – Defroster
- 1979: Snowball – Cold Heat
- 1980: Snowball – Follow the White Line
- 1981: Mike Batt – Six Days In Berlin
- 1982: Passport – earthborn
- 1983: Peter Schilling - Error in the System
- 1984: Alphaville - Forever Young
- 1985: Freddie Mercury - Mr. Bad Guy
- 1985: Passport - Running in Real Time
- 1987: Saga - Wildest Dreams
- 1988-1990: Milli Vanilli
- 1989: Saga - The Beginner's Guide to Throwing Shapes
- 1990: Alex Gunia – Alex Gunia’s Groove Cut
- 1990-1992: The Real Milli Vanilli
- 1996: Scorpions – Pure Instinct
Awards
- 15 times Drummer of the Year (journal)
- Record Prize of the German Phono Academy
- Gold records, and A. for Bandits , BAP , Münchener Freiheit
Literature
- Martin Kunzler: Jazz Encyclopedia. Rowohlt, Reinbek 2002
References
External links
- Werke von und über Curt Cress in the German National Library catalogue
- Curt Cress at the Internet Movie Database
- Interview auf sueddeutsche.de
- Interview auf comeunited.com
- Prof. Curt Cress beim Popkurs Hamburg
- Curt Cress zum Professor ernannt - abendblatt.de
- Offizielle Website von Curt Cress Plattenfirma "Fame Recordings"
- Interview mit Curt Cress vom 28. Juni 2011 aus der Sendung Mensch Theile (Podcast)
- Podcast des Interviews Eins zu Eins auf Bayern 2