Magicians became world champions - thanks to Yello

Dieter Meier (71) used to be a poker player, bank employee, artist and member of a band called The Assholes. Boris Blank (64) earned his living as a truck driver and typewriter salesman before the two of them founded Yello together with Carlos Perón at the end of the 1970s. Perón left in 1983 and is still active as a music producer today.

Dieter Meier, the actor

Dieter Meier has not only made a name for himself as the voice of Yello, but also as an artist, author, wine producer and restaurateur. He is also active as an actor. He is listed in the Internet Movie Database as having played 10 roles.

Dieter Meier, the director

Dieter Meier has also made a name for himself as a film director. In 1981, he made the feature film "Jetzt und alles" with Richy Müller. He worked on his film "Lightmaker" from 1988 to 2001. It was shown at the Berlinale in 2002. What few people know: Dieter Meier also shot music videos for the hit songs "Big in Japan" (1984) by Alphaville and "Da da da" (1982) by Trio. The latter was shot in a Berlin pub on Lützowufer and was the first foreign video to win an award from MTV.

Yello help magicians to the world championship title

"The Race" from 1988 is one of Yello's biggest hits. What few people know is that just under a year earlier, in the summer of 1987, Yello had already provided the two Zurich magicians Marco Tempest and Midi Gottet with a first version of the song for their show: The two won the "World Cup of Magic" at the New York Magic Symposium in New York that same year.

At the documenta 5 art exhibition at Kassel Central Station in 1972, Dieter Meier had a metal plaque set in concrete with the following inscription: "On March 23, 1994 from 3:00 - 4:00 p.m., Dieter Meier will stand on this plaque." He then kept this promise 22 years later.

Boris Blank launches an app

Boris Blank launched the "Yellofier" app in 2013. It allows you to create an entire song from simple sounds in no time at all, even without any previous musical knowledge. The app is available for 3 francs on Google Play and iTunes.

In 1990, Yello gave one of their then rare performances at the World Music Awards in Monte Carlo. Original Bond girl Ursula Andress presented them with the award. Beatle drummer Ringo Starr also came especially to see them. He praised the pair: "Your music is f**ing brilliant".

Dieter Meier goes to Hollywood

In 1995, Gene Hackman and John Travolta filmed a movie scene in the kitchen of Dieter Meier's villa in Malibu near Los Angeles. The house served as the location for the film comedy "Get Shorty". In 1996, Dieter Meier moved his recording studio there to the former villa of silent film star Antonio Moreno (1887-1967) in Los Feliz. Much to the chagrin of pop diva Madonna, who snatched the handsome property from under his nose. In 2009, Dieter Meier sold the house in the Hollywood Hills again - for more than double the purchase price.

Dieter Meier with acoustic guitar

In the 38 years of their existence, Yello are now going on their first concert tour. Until now, the two have only rarely performed live. Dieter Meier has often performed on stage with his band "Out of Chaos" in recent years - and he made his debut as a singer/songwriter in 2015 for BalconyTV Zurich, where he played acoustic guitar and sang for the first time. The song "Why This Why That And Why", which was written at the time, was released a few months later as a Yello collaboration on Jean-Michel Jarre's album "Electronica 2: The Heart of Noise".

YELLO
30. 11. 2017 Hallenstadion Zurich
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