Frl. Menke

Infobox musical artist
Name = Frl. Menke

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Background = solo_singer
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Born = birth date and age|1960|11|4
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Origin = Germany
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Genre = Neue Deutsche Welle
German music
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Years_active = 1982–present
Label = Polydor Records
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URL = [http://www.frlmenke.de/ www.frlmenke.de]

Frl. Menke (born November 4, 1960 as Franziska Menke in Germany) was one of the stars of the Neue Deutsche Welle, a genre of German music originally derived from punk rock and New Wave music, which also brought the German band Nena ("99 Luftballons") into the international spotlight. Menke is best known for her hit single "Hohe Berge" (High Mountains), which was a Top 10 hit on the German single charts in 1982 and sold more than 2.5 million copies to date.

Music career

Franziska Menke is the daughter of the well-known German songwriter, producer and publisher Joe Menke. She stepped into the spotlight in 1982 when her hit single "Hohe Berge" became an instant success. "Hohe Berge" was one of the first songs to start a new music genre in Germany, namely the Neue Deutsche Welle. It is very strange that this new genre, which dominated the German single charts from 1982 - 1984, mostly made groups or male singers popular. Menke was basically the only successful female artists, next to Ixi or Nena (which actually was a band, too, but the female lead singer Nena was more prominent than her band).

Menke's most successful time in the music business was during the Neue Deutsche Welle. She scored three successful hit singles and one self-named album. She sold more than three million records during 1982 and 1983.

Menke gave birth to two children at the end of the 80's and composed various jingles for radio stations and advertisement campaigns. She tried out for a comeback in 1992 with her second album "Ich Will's Gefährlich."

Throughout the years she has often recorded cover versions of her most successful singles. In 1990 she was remixed by the German band Masterboy and in 1994 she recorded two techno music versions of "Hohe Berge" and "Tretboot in Seenot." She did another version of "Hohe Berge" for her 2005 album "Einwandfrei" and has recently recorded an industrial version in cooperation with the German band "The Seven Seals" in 2007.

Trivia

* Frl. Menke still tours Germany very often together with other bands and singers from the Neue Deutsche Welle era.
* Frl. is the abbreviation for Fräulein, which was the German equivalent for "Miss." However, the term is not used in Germany anymore.
* Menke was voted one of the 10 most popular singers in 1982 by the very successful and influential German teenager magazine Bravo
* Menke has very often starred in different musicals in Hamburg, Germany since 2001
* Her debut album was re-released on CD for the first time in 1999, containing several extended versions, B-sides of her original singles, plus two previously unreleased songs ("Du Tarzan, Ich Jane" and "Schuljungenreport")

Chart Information

Two of Menke's hit single, "Hohe Berge" and "Tretboot in Seenot," are evergreens by now. Those songs are still being played by radio stations are especially popular among fans of the 80's.

* Hohe Berge: #10 German single charts
* Traumboy: #39 German single charts
* Tretboot in Seenot: #24 German single charts

Discography

Albums

* 1982 Frl. Menke
* 1992 Ich Will's Gefährlich
* 2005 Einwandfrei

ingles

* 1980 Wie Du bist
* 1982 Hohe Berge
* 1982 Traumboy
* 1983 Tretboot in Seenot
* 1983 Messeglück in Düsseldorf
* 1984 Die Ganze Nacht
* 1990 Hohe Berge - Remix
* 1992 Ich Will's gefährlich
* 1992 Ich Hol Doch Keine Brötchen
* 1992 Himmel
* 1993 Frau Neben Mir