Alphaville

Alphaville is a German synth-pop band centered around vocalist [a=Marian Gold] ([a=Hartwig Schierbaum]), formed in 1982 in Münster. Started out as a trio with Gold backed by synth players [a=Bernhard Lloyd] and [a=Frank Mertens].

At the end of '81, Gold and Lloyd (Frank would come in not long afterwards) take part in a concert with 5 other artists, on [b]Nelson Community[/b].
Initially the band name was just [b]Forever Young[/b], however, after a few months they changed the name inspired by [url=http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0000419/][b]Jean-Luc Goddard[/b][/url]'s film: Alphaville "the city of the future". Which, incidentally, represented even better their whole project.

Mertens left the band in late 1984 and was replaced by [a=Ricky Echolette] ([a=Wolfgang Neuhaus]), in early 1985.

The band is still active today, playing new concerts and also promoting re-mastered re-releases of their first albums.