Lake (band)

Lake was a German rock music band that formed in the early 1970s under the name "Tornados", changing their name to "Lake" in 1973. They mostly covered material by other bands in their early years, but released three singles, "Come Down/We're Gonna Rock", "King Of The Rock'n Roll Party", and "Sailor". In 1975 they were joined by lead singer James Hopkins-Harrison, who gave them their signature sound for the remainder of their recording career.

They achieved modest success in much of Europe from the mid-1970s through the early 1980s, particularly in Germany where they were named artist of the year by the German Phono Academy in 1977. That same year, their self-titled debut album reached #22 in the US and the single "Time Bomb" reached #13, which would prove to be their greatest success in the US. They toured the US in the late 1970s as the opening act for various headline acts, including Lynyrd Skynyrd, Black Oak Arkansas, and Neil Young. Since it became apparent that Lake's star had fallen, their contract with CBS was discontinued. Consequently the label released previously unavailable live material from stage appearances between May 1979 and October 1980, introducing the Lake 1 (incl. Detlef Petersen) and the Lake 2 (incl. Achim Oppermann) formations on the double live album Live - On the Run. It's difficult to assess what happened at the time, but it appears that it was Achim Oppermann's connections which yielded another contract with the German Polydor label. In 1984 Lake eventually released album #6, No Time for Heroes, which contained some very catchy songs, but this new release was as unsuccessful as Ouch! and Hot Day. Lake had by now become a dinosaur of the German rock music scene and was basically the result of the joined efforts of James Hopkins-Harrison and Achim Oppermann.

In 1985, following the No Time for Heroes album Lake released Voices, an album with even stronger song material than the 1984 album. Right away the opener "Alright", "More Than A Feeling" and "Echo Of The Melody" were actually potential chart busters, but no one cared to listen anymore. In 1986 Lake's last album was recorded, the Polydor release So What. Long time drummer Dieter Ahrendt left in the meantime and was replaced by Udo Dahmen. Jo Kappl also left, leaving the job on the bass guitar to Benjamin Hüllenkrämer. With this line up, So What brought some more great songs like "In The Midnight", the title song "So What" and one of Achim Oppermann's compositions, which was already performed by former Kajagoogoo lead singer Limahl, "Inside To Outside", a huge hit in many European charts. Apparently Lake ceased to exist by 1986/87. In 1992 James Hopkins-Harrison succumbed to an overdose of heroin.

At the beginning of the new millennium Lake was revived by Alex Conti. This reformation was supposed to incorporate Detlef Petersen as well, but for some reason Petersen finally declined. Therefore the current band led by Conti includes Mike Starrs, Adrian Askew, Mickie Stickdorn and Michael "Bexi" Becker. In March 2005 the first Lake studio recording for 20 years was released: The Blast of Silence.

Personnel

The lineup during their period of peak success (1976-1980) consisted of:
* Martin Tiefensee - bass (1970-1980)
* Detlef Petersen - keyboards (1970-1980)
* Geoffrey "Jeff" Peacey - keyboards (1973-1980)
* James Hopkins-Harrison - lead vocals (1974-1986?)
* Alex Conti - guitars (1975-1981)
* Dieter Ahrendt - drums (1975-1981?)

Additional personnel during their early years:
* Spencer Mallinson - Guitars (1974-1975)
* Fritz "Freddy" Graack - drums (1970-1975)
* Ian Cussick - bass, vocals (1973-1974)
* Oreste "Lilio" Malagia - guitars (1973-1975)
* Bernard "Benny" Whelan - trumpet (1973-1975)
* Gerd Beliaeff - saxophone, trombone (1973-1975)

Additional personnel during their later years:
* Heiko Efferts - bass (1980-1981)
* Frank Hieber - keyboards (1980-1981?)
* Achim Oppermann - keyboards, guitar (1980-1986?)
* Jo Kappl - bass (1981-1985)
* Erlend Krauser - guitars (1981-1981?)
* Bernd Gärtig - guitars (1984-1986?)
* Benjamin Hüllenkrämer - bass (1984-1986?)
* Thomas Bauer - keyboards (1984-1986?)
* Udo Dahmen - drums (1984-1986?)

Discography

*"Come Down/We're Gonna Rock" (1973) (single)
*"King Of The Rock'n Roll Party/She's Alright" (1973) (single)
*"Sailor" (1974) (single)
*"Lake" (1976)
*"Lake II" (1978)
*"Paradise Island" (1979)
*"Ouch!" (1980)
*"Hot Day" (1981)
*"Lake Live ... On The Run" (1982)
*"No Time For Heroes" (1984)
*"Voices" (1985)
*"So What" (1986)
*"Greatest Hits" (1990)
*"Definitive Collection" (1997)

External links

* [http://www.lake-music.de Official (new) Bandpage]
* [http://members.tripod.com/lake_paradiseisland/ Lake - The Tribute Page]