GENTLEMAN
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GENTLEMAN

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Band R&B Reggae

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Discography

Albums:
1999 Trodin On
2002 Journey to Jah
2003 Gentleman & The Far East Band Live
2004 Confidence
2007 Another Intensity
2010 Diversity
2011 Gentleman & the evolution - Diversity Live (CD & DVD)

Singles:
1994 When The Sunlight Go Down
1998 Tabula Rasa (mit Freundeskreis und Mellowbag)
1998 In the Heat Of The Night
1999 Jah Jah Never Fail
2002 Leave Us Alone
2002 Dem Gone
2003 Runaway
2003 Rainy Days
2003 Widerstand (Curse feat. Gentleman)
2004 Superior
2005 Isyankar (Mustafa Sandal feat. Gentleman)
2005 Intoxication
2005 Send A Prayer
2005 Why Cry (Afu-Ra & Gentleman)
2006 On We Go/ Caan Hold Us Down
2007 Different Places
2007 Serenity
2007 Zeit Zu Verstehen (This Can't Be Everything) (Azad feat. Gentleman)
2008 Lack Of Love (feat. Sizzla)
2010 It No Pretty
2010 Roots To Grow (Stefanie Heinzmann feat. Gentleman)
2010 To The Top (feat. Christopher Martin)
2010 Lonely Days

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Bio

Gentleman
“Diversity Live“
Biography 2011

“We’re trodin‘ on our journey to Jah with confidence into another intensity of diversity”

It’s Gentleman’s charmingly raw timbre which makes the songs by Germany’s most popular reggae musician so unmistakable. Quite a few of those tracks have long counted among the canon of contemporary reggae: along with “Dem Gone”, “Superior,” and “Runaway”, to name but a few, recent chart hits such as “It No Pretty” and “To The Top” are extremely popular with the fans. The 36-year-old musician who has played most parts of the globe has produced an impressive oeuvre of first-rate reggae anthems in which he fights for a more peaceful and tolerant world. For more than two decades, Gentleman has maintained contacts with Jamaican musicians and reinforced them through numerous collaborations – his current album “Diversity” being a prime example. No other German reggae artist enjoys such an excellent international reputation.

2010 was a very rewarding year for Gentleman. His fifth studio album, “Diversity“, entered the German album charts at no. 1 in spring, confirming his status as Germany’s most successful reggae vocalist. His opus magnum featured no less than 28 new songs which saw the 36-year-old cover the whole range of the genre – from well-tempered traditional roots reggae and inspired soul hybrids to infectious dancehall and electrified ragga. The recording seems set to hit the gold mark soon and has produced two top-twenty hits to date, namely “It No Pretty” and “To The Top”, forming an excellent basis for the “Diversity” tour, which took Gentleman and his newly-formed backing band The Evolution not only through all German-speaking countries, but also to France, Italy, Portugal, Poland, Macedonia, Spain, the Czech Republic and the Netherlands.

One of the absolute highlights of the festival season was their concert at Cologne’s Summerjam, which celebrated its 25th anniversary in 2010. Now Gentleman’s memorable ‘home game’ is about to be released under the title “Diversity Live” on DVD and CD. Experiencing Gentleman live on stage has always been a genuine pleasure. Following five studio albums, he can draw from a cornucopia of true reggae gems which make every one of his shows a celebration. Inspired by a band which seems electrified to the tips of their hair, Gentleman delivered a high-powered set consisting of no less than 30 tracks, leaving nothing to be desired and making it almost impossible to pick individual highlights. Frequently, the transitions between the songs are so smooth that the audience find themselves incessantly wallowing in pleasure, gushing and sweating in red, yellow, green, and black.

Gentleman is a performer of constant movement, scuttling, prancing and rampaging across the stage with sweeping gestures. He literally seeks eye-contact with his audience and comes alive in his fan’s glowing eyes. “It hasn’t been this much fun in a long time. There’s something more intimate about it again. People who come to our concerts now are also passionate about them. That’s better than when you have a great hype going on and get people turning up who don’t have much to do with the music.” That’s really nothing you need to worry about at the Summerjam, especially with a band as triumphant as The Evolution – “this strong momentum backing you, playing music with so much soul,” as Gentleman enthuses.

Bassist André Heyer, drummer Giuseppe “Big Finga” Coppola and percussionist Bertil “Bert-Ill” Mark form a powerful rhythm triumvirate. The two keyboardists Frank “Pollensi” Pollak and Peter Hirsch deliver, depending on how the mood strikes them, a plush or exhilarated sonic tapestry, and guitarist Florian “Stahl” Münzer drives things ahead with every riff. Saxophonist Johanna Järemo-Rebbelmund and the two backing singers, Tamika and Mamadee, who occasionally also sparkle as soloists, ensure wonderfully feminine nuances. And alongside guest musicians from the American reggae act, SOJA, with whom Gentleman had toured a few weeks earlier, and guest star Christopher Martin, Jamaica’s likeable shooting star, the band even surprised with dancehall dancers at the Summerjam.

That Summerjam night was also a memorable occasion from a soccer point of view, Ghana dropping out of the quarter-finals after a nerve-wracking penalty drama at the World Cup in South Africa. The match, which was broadcast live in a tent behind the main stage, finished just after Gentleman & The Evolution had started their show, so the football fans who had kept their fingers crossed for the African team soon forgot their grief at Gentleman’s high-performance show, which also went into extra time.

Along with the full concert footage and a number of extras such as recent video clips, the “Diversity Live” DVD includes the highly entertaining tour film, “Got To Go”, which the musicians shot using mobile cameras. Thousands of impressions were condensed into a colourful kaleidoscope which