Amigos

Brothers Bernd and Karl-Heinz Ulrich entered the world in a household of limited resources. Their parents nevertheless recognized the depth of the siblings’ musical dedication at an early stage and provided steady encouragement. Despite the expense of instruments, a guitar for Karl-Heinz and a drum kit for the younger Bernd turned out to be sound acquisitions. The pair assembled a set of songs and began traveling under the name Die Amigos by 1970, performing in villages and small towns wherever opportunities arose. While English-language recordings ruled the airwaves, Die Amigos remained committed to German-language material.

In 1986 an entrepreneur in Cologne expressed strong interest in their sound and proposed producing a single. Die Amigos cut “Uns’re Parents” and circulated it among regional labels. The Austrian firm Tyrolis backed two projects, yet commercial results stayed modest. This outcome persuaded the musicians that self-owned facilities offered the surest path forward, leading them to establish their own Tonstudio. There they completed three albums: Zwischen Libe und Wahnsinn, Herz an Herz, and Ich Steh Wider Auf.

Although lineup shifts occurred repeatedly, Die Amigos cultivated a loyal following across Germany, Austria, Switzerland, the Netherlands, and Canada. Their 2006 collection Die Grossen Erfolge appeared on European charts and became their broadest-reaching release up to that point. The duo maintained an active touring schedule throughout the continent while steadily writing and recording fresh material. In 2007 they achieved their first German number-one single with Der Helle Wahnsinn. Additional projects followed toward the close of the decade, including the pair of 2008 albums Es Lebe die Freundschaft and Ein Tag im Paradies as well as the 2009 releases Zwei Herzen aus Gold and Sehnsucht, die wir Feuer Brennt, reflecting their consistent output.

Early in 2011 Die Amigos received the German Echo Award. Later that year their seventeenth album, Mein Himmel auf Erden, debuted at number one in both Germany and Austria. The following year Bis ans Ende der Zeit extended their streak of chart-topping albums in those two countries. Still prolific, the brothers issued Weihnachten mit den Amigos as their second 2012 release, then Im Herzen Jung in 2013. Subsequent records—Sommerträume (2014), Santiago Blue (2015), and Wie ein Feuerwerk (2016)—likewise reached the top position on the German, Austrian, and Swiss charts.