Saturday, October 07, 2006

German kitsch: The Batmen

Born and raised in Berlin, frontsinger Dieter Zill spent his youth playing football (soccer). He tried his hand at music, making it as far as supporting Bill Haley, Little Richard and Rolling Stones with his band Didi & His ABC Boys,(he also fronted The Batmen and released an album under the alias Lord Nelson), before deciding in 1969 to change career and started working for German Bravo magazine as a photographer.

The Batmen - Batman

Thanks to Tony the Tyger and Bruno

8 comments:

Bruno said...

Hi Sofie,just wondering do you have any other tracks by them like "Komm zurück zu mir / Was hat sie getan"?

Dansmoncafe said...

No I'm afraid I don't have those. But Tony The Tyger, said that the other tracks are pretty lame ;)

Bruno said...

Ah-so! :)

Anonymous said...

Sorry, but your information about The Batmen are wrong. There are many groups in Germany called The Batmen. This copy is a group about Didi Zill, known as Didi and the ABC Boys. They did a lot of songs of The Beatles, sung in German Language. The Batmen from Aachen didn`t record any other one as "Komm zurück zu mir" in 1964.

Dansmoncafe said...

Hi Horst
I found it here http://www.krautrockseite.de/kblnzbands-batmen.htm

Do you know where I can find correct information then?

Bruno said...

I've found this,thought this was a bit curious,since this single is on a major label...

Born and raised in Berlin, Dieter Zill spent his youth playing football (soccer). He tried his hand at music, making it as far as supporting Bill Haley, Little Richard and Rolling Stones with his band Didi & His ABC Boys,(he also fronted The Batmen and released an album under the alias Lord Nelson), before deciding in 1969 to change career and started working for German Bravo magazine as a photographer.

On his first visit to the States he photographed Sonny & Cher and Creedence Clearwater Revival, and as his success as a photographer grew he not only photographed every German chart artist, but also shot many international stars such as Ike & Tina Turner, Jethro Tull, Paul McCartney, Pink Floyd, Queen and Deep Purple.

Didi's work also started appearing on LP and single sleeves by bands like Deep Purple - and Boney M. Keeping up with the times, he would go on to photograph the most successful bands of the 1980s including Depeche Mode, Duran Duran, Cindy Lauper and Culture Club.

At the end of the 1980s Didi Zill left Bravo, but continued working on album and single covers.

Dansmoncafe said...

I corrected it, thanks :) hope this is the REAL batman then ;)

Anonymous said...

Hi Lush,
that`s okay and very good.
Under the name Didi And His ABC Boys, they recorded great Songs from the Beatles like "Nicht eine Mark"(Can`t Buy Me Love), "Daraus mach ich kein Geheimnis"(Do You Want To Know A Secret), "Hello Susann"(It Won`t Be Long).