Rio Reiser

German musician and songwriter born January 9th, 1950 in Berlin; died August 20th, 1996 in Fresenhagen, Germany. He used this alias since the late 1960's, in his early career, he used his real name Ralph Möbius. In 1970 the famous band Ton Steine Scherben develloped from the theatre group Rote Steine, the first line-up being additionally R.P.S. Lanrue, Kai Sichtermann and Wolfgang Seidel. The band was soon the leading band of Berlin's leftwing and squatter scene. That year, they released their first single "Macht kaputt, was Euch kaputt macht". In the mid-1970's, Reiser and his bandmates moved to a farm in Fresenhagen, Schleswig-Holstein. They were fed up with Berlin and opened a community there. In the early 1980's, the band got into financial problems and Reiser started a solo career by aid of Annette Humpe. His solo career was successful and was managed by George Glueck. Reiser became clear of debt, while the band gave up in May 1985. Parts of the band remained his accompanying band of his solo concerts. The next 10 years Reiser continued his solo career and also worked as actor. After his death in 1996, his heritage remained in the farmhouse in Fresenhagen, where he also was buried. After the farm was sold in 2011, his remains were moved to Berlin.