Ralf Illenberger is a German Grammy-nominated New Age

New Age music

New Age music is music of various styles intended to create artistic inspiration, relaxation, and optimism. It is used by listeners for yoga, massage, meditation, and reading as a method of stress management or to create a peaceful atmosphere in their home or other environments, and is often...

 guitarist

Guitarist

A guitarist is a musician who plays the guitar. Guitarists may play a variety of instruments such as classical guitars, acoustic guitars, electric guitars, and bass guitars. Some guitarists accompany themselves on the guitar while singing.- Versatility :The guitarist controls an extremely...

.

Biography

His first appearance was in 1977 as a duet with Jürgen Kirsch. He then founded the duo Kolbe & Illenberger with the guitarist and singer Martin Kolbe, releasing the album Waves in 1978. It was nominated for the Deutscher Schallplattenpreis

Deutscher Schallplattenpreis

The Deutscher Schallplattenpreis was a prize that the Deutsche Phono-Akademie awarded from 1963 through 1992. Its successor is the ECHO prize....

. In the following years until 1987, they released six more albums and played over 1000 concerts in 40 countries, partly in collaboration with the Goethe-Institut

Goethe-Institut

The Goethe-Institut is a non-profit German cultural institution operational worldwide, promoting the study of the German language abroad and encouraging international cultural exchange and relations. The Goethe-Institut also fosters knowledge about Germany by providing information on German...

.

In 1987 Illenberger formed the band Ralf Illenberger's Circle. An eponymous album released in 1988 was featured in the yearly top ten list of the magazine Pulse!

Pulse!

Pulse! was a tabloid magazine published by Tower Records which contained record reviews, interviews and advertising. Initially, it was given away free in their stores to promote their record sales. After nine years, in 1992, the magazine began national distribution with a cover price of $2.95,...

. The title song of the next album Heart & Beat (1990) was a radio hit in the U.S. and attained the top spot in three radio play top lists. Soleil (1993) received a four-star review in Down Beat

Down Beat

Down Beat is an American magazine devoted to "jazz, blues and beyond" to indicate its expansion beyond the jazz realm which it covered exclusively in previous years. The publication was established in 1934 in Chicago, Illinois...

and was called "one of the best examples of the New Age genre" by the Chicago Tribune

Chicago Tribune

The Chicago Tribune is a major daily newspaper based in Chicago, Illinois, and the flagship publication of the Tribune Company. Formerly self-styled as the "World's Greatest Newspaper" , it remains the most read daily newspaper of the Chicago metropolitan area and the Great Lakes region and is...

. The album Serenade with the multi-instrumentalist Büdi Siebert was released in 1994.

Since 1991 Illenberger has worked continually with the New Age singer Susan Osborn

Susan Osborn

Susan Osborn is a vocalist who came to prominence as the lead singer for the Paul Winter Consort 1978 to 1985. She can be heard on such albums as "Common Ground", "Missa Gaia." and "Concert For the Earth." Since leaving the Paul Winter Consort, Osborn has relocated to Orcas Island in the state of...

. They produced more albums and completed five tours of Japan. Since 1995, he has recorded the albums Sedona, Still Waters (with David Friesen

David Friesen

David Friesen is an American jazz bassist born in Tacoma, Washington. Friesen plays the double bass as well as the Oregon bass, which is an electrified acoustic bass....

), The Gateway, and The Kiss in his studio in Sedona, Arizona

Sedona, Arizona

Sedona is a city that straddles the county line between Coconino and Yavapai counties in the northern Verde Valley region of the U.S. state of Arizona...

, where he lives. In 1997 he appeared on Hannes Wader

Hannes Wader

Hannes Wader is a German singer-songwriter . He was an important figure in German leftist circles from the 1970s on, with his songs covering such themes as socialist and communist resistance to oppression in Europe and other places like Latin America...

's Schubert-interpretation album An Dich hab ich gedacht (English: "I noticed you") alongside Eberhard Weber

Eberhard Weber

Eberhard Weber is a German double bassist and composer. As a bass player, Weber is known for his highly distinctive tone and phrasing...

 on bass. Illenberger arranged the original piano backing for guitar and bass. In 2005 he released the album Beyond Words with the singer Lenedra Carroll (the mother of the singer Jewel

Jewel (singer)

Jewel Kilcher , professionally known as Jewel, is an American singer-songwriter, guitarist, producer, actress and poet...

, and in 2006 he worked as producer and arranger for the Hawaiian singer Kiana and the New Zealand singer Simon Spire.

Partial discography

• Waves (with Martin Kolbe) (1978)
• Ralf Illenberger's Circle (1988)
• Heart & Beat (1990)
• Soleil (1993)
• Serenade (with Büdi Siebert) (1994)
• Sedona (1995)
• Still Waters (1998)
• The Gateway (1999)
• The Kiss (1999)
• Beyond Words (with Lenedra Carroll) (2005)
• Love Intense (2009)

External links

• Official website
• Ralf Illenberger Interview by Robert Decker | April 2000