Biographic - Sunday October 19, 2008 Comic Strip Licensing and Permissions

Transcript

Tokio Hotel. Twins Bill and Tom Kaulitz were born in Leipzig, East Germany, on September 1, 1989. Their parents divorced when the boys were seven and their mother married a rock musician who encouraged the brothers to develop an interest in music. By 2001, the twins had recruited basist Georg Listing and drummer Gustav Schaffer, and the group was playing local shows and talent contests under the name Devilish. In 2003, 13-year-old Bill was a contestant on a German version of "Star Search" He was eliminated in the quarter-final, but attracted the interest of music producer Peter Hoffman, and the boys, by now renamed Tokio Hotel, were signed to a recording contract. But before they could release any material, they were dropped from the rooster. Another label snapped them up... and in August 2005, the band's debut single, Durch Den Mousun" (Through the Monsoon" soared to top of the charts in Germany and Austria. Following a string of hits in Europe, the group's first English-language album, "Scream" was released in late 2007. The album helped the boys win an MTV Europe music award, and brought them to the attention of audiences in North America, where Tokio Hotel's rapid rise at the 2008 MTV video music awards.

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