.The following story about the group
has been given to me by the "Dynamite!"-magazin,
which has a website by its own
.
The Chaperals
The Chaperals from Wolfsburg are one of the best-known
German Doo-Wop-Bands. They were founded in 1987. Wolfsburg was the
capital City of Rock'n'Roll in Germany, then and The Chaperals as well
as the "Stringlers", "Jailers" and the "Runaway Boys" gained
international recognition. The Chaperals usually sing with between
five and six vocals. Their music is white acappella in the typical
50's and 60's style.
| The actual line-up der Chaperals: | |
| Achim Schlüter | Bass, Background, Lead |
| Michael Walter | Lead, Background |
| Stefan Bierbaum | Lead, Background |
| Holger Mlodystach | Lead, Background |
| Nils Ebermann | Lead, Background |
| Karsten Reiter | Lead, Background |
| Discographie: | - |
| July 1989 | Single In the still of the night (Note 358714) |
| March 1990 | LP Come out tonight (Bear Family 15318) |
| May 1991 | LP/CD Another Show (Bear Family 15573) |
| May 1998 | CD Chain Gang (MPR 00907) |
 |
|
| Samplers: | - |
| LP | Rock around with Ollie Vee (MPR 00224) |
| CD | Jingle Bell Rock (MPR 00225) |
| CD | Doo-Wop & Acappella in Germany Vol. 1 (Little Maria 1001) |
| LP | You can't stop the Christmas Hop (BeBe's 001) |
A back view
Everything started in a cellar in Wolfsburg. Karsten, Achim and Nils
were each fans of the Rock'n'Roll scene. But it wasn't enough anymore
to just listen to the music. They decided to become active, themselves
and wrote an own song (The Bells) just like that.
Shortly after that Michael joined the band. Michael became the musical
head of the formation and soon they had their first gig.
In spite of the success they had, they felt the need of a fifth man.
So they started looking for one - and found Stefan. Although Stefan
does not originally come from the Rock'n'Roll szene, he fitted in,
perfectly. He even improved (and still does) strongly the style of the
Chaperals.
From now on the band was on its way up.
The gigs weren't limited to Germany anymore. Also in Switzerland,
Sweden and England they became well-known.
Finally Television took notice of them. After some presentations in
regional TV stations (NDR, RTL, SAT 1), their cover of "Motorbiene"
was nationally transmitted in a Show called "Frank und Frei" (SAT 1).
Bodo Nies, who then was manager and sixth member (without vocals) of
the band, definitely improved the popularity of the band with his good
promotion work.
Their success was stopped by Stefan, leaving the band outof private
reasons. Appearances with only four of them seemed to be a step back.
They looked for a new fifth member and found it in Holger. While they
rehearsed with Holger, Stefan was again able to come back into the band.
With the musical capacity of six, the band was able to even improve
their arrangements.
In many shows they proved again their talents. Due to further education,
Nils decided to quit the band. As the rest of the band didn't want to
go on without him they finally gave up and their good bye concert.
A new beginning
After a two years break, the Chaperals met to sing together "one" more
time. First they only sang some of their old songs. But soon they
started writing new songs.
After an appearance for friends in Bielefeld, they decided to appear
again from time to time. Within one year they developed a completely
new program which can easily cope with their old one.
Their success had them make a CD recording
"Chain Gang".
Even though the Chaperals sing their songs mainly for their own joy,
we can look forward to their future appearances.
Andy Widder - Editor of "Dynamite!"-Magazins, 1999
