Stars of the 60s – The Lords

The Lords: When the Beat made in Germany saw the light of day

It wasn't Liverpool. It wasn't London. It was Hamburg's Star Club. And it wasn't John, Paul, George, and Ringo, but Ulli, Leo, Rainer, Knud, and Peter , who were first proclaimed the new hope of German beat music in BRAVO issue 39 in 1964. The Lords —later celebrated as "the most successful German beat band of the '60s" —won the competition sponsored by United Artists to find Germany's best "Beatle band." The prize money: 1,000 Deutschmarks. The real prize: a recording contract with EMI , a management deal—and a direct line to the top tier of pop music.

What began as a local skiffle band under the name "Skiffle Lords" transformed – on a truly mythically charged New Year's Eve 1962/63 – into a style-defining beat group. With bowler hats, ruffled shirts, uniform outfits , and the legendary Prince Valiant hairstyle, the Lords established themselves as a trademark of West Berlin beat music: serious, clean, smart – the antithesis of the sleazy image of other scene groups.

The transformation was enacted during a performance at the Berlin jazz venue "New Orleans" —a performative new beginning, according to BRAVO. At midnight, the washboards came out and the Lord costumes came in. A stylistic manifesto with which the band finally bid farewell to the dying skiffle and embraced the sound of the future.

Ulli Günther , founder and voice of the band, was not only an eccentric showman, but also a shrewd strategist. He recognized early on that visual identity was just as important as musical precision. Their success proved him right: 1,500 Deutschmarks per gig , fully booked until the end of 1966 , BRAVO covers, fan clubs, and placements on Jukebox. Germany had its own Beatlemaniacs – they came from Berlin.

But even this success story was not spared tragedy. In February 1965 , Peter Donath and Knud Kunze were killed in a serious car accident. Lord Knud survived but lost a leg—a severe blow for the band. He was replaced by Heinz Hegemann , and later Bernd Zamulo took over permanently on bass.

"Shakin' All Over" was the first BRAVO Musicbox entry in 1965 (number 16), followed by significantly more successful titles like "Poor Boy" and "Gloryland" (both number 6). The Lords had struck a nerve—namely, that of German youth , who, between the economic miracle and the English invasion, were searching for their own sound.

After a five-year hiatus in the 1970s, the Lords continued to perform with changing lineups. In 1999, founding member Ulli Günther died after a fall during a stage performance—a dramatic end for a figure who gave German pop a face.

Leo Lietz – the last original Lord – will be on stage until 2024. But the band's legacy lives on. Over 60 years of band history , hits, image cultivation, reliability – that's more than nostalgia. This is German pop history. Period.