As soon as the name Matthias Reim is mentioned, everyone immediately thinks of a song line: "Damn, I love you". With this song, the artist has an absolute long-running hit to his name. But anyone who has a ticket for a Matthias Reim tour quickly realises that this is a thoroughbred musician with a huge repertoire on stage.
Matthias Reim was born and grew up in Hesse. After school, he moved to Göttingen in Lower Saxony to study English and German. But after just a few lectures it was clear that his love belonged to music and not to the lecture hall. The logical consequence: Matthias Reim looks for bands in which he can sing. His first two singles were a flop. But Reim doesn't let that get him down and makes a name for himself as a songwriter in the following years. He writes lyrics for Jürgen Drews, Roberto Blanco and Tina York, among others.
Breakthrough with "Verdammt, ich lieb' dich" on Wim Thoelke
Although his career as a singer is not really going anywhere, Matthias Reim does not give up. Shortly afterwards he writes the song "Verdammt, ich lieb' dich" and records it together with his then wife Mago and a mutual friend. The first record company he presented the song to turned him down. The label's reason: the song had too little potential for success. Another music company, however, agrees - provided Matthias Reim sings the song himself.
So Matthias Reim sends a demo tape of the song to the showmaster Wim Thoelke and gets an appearance on the show "Der große Preis" in 1990. The rest is music history. The single sells more than 2.5 million copies worldwide. But "Verdammt, ich lieb' dich" also breaks records in another respect: from May to September 1990 the song stays at No. 1 in the charts without interruption. A success that Matthias Reim only has to share with the pop band Boney M.. In addition, the song won several awards: Once gold and twice platinum for the hit.
A number of other artists also find Reim's hit interesting: there are a total of twelve different cover versions. Among them is a slapstick version by Mike Krüger and an English version. The English version is sung by Baywatch star David Hasselhoff.
Comeback after many problems
But for Matthias Reim, his big hit is both a curse and a blessing. He himself put it this way in an interview: "This incredibly big German hit also had a huge shadow for me, everything I did after that was always measured against "Verdammt, ich lieb' dich"."
But in 2013 Matthias Reim made the comeback that hardly anyone still believes he can make. With the album "Unendlich" he makes it to the top of the charts again. The album follow-ups "Phoenix" and "Meteor" also climb into the Top 5. But that's not all: Reim apparently passes on his musical talent to the next generation. Daughter Marie and son Julian are also successfully at home on the pop stage.
In private life, Matthias Reim now takes it easy. After several relationships, the artist now lives with singer Christina Stark in Stockach on Lake Constance. But Matthias Reim still gives his all at his shows and is therefore considered a guarantee for a rousing concert experience.
