by Gary Hill
Michael Rother was born in Germany in 1950. In the late '60s, he played for a group called Spirits of Sound and also Wolfgang Flür. The latter group would later become Kraftwerk; Rother also played with Kraftwerk in 1971. That same year he went on to the band NEU! He recorded three albums with them during his four-year tenure. He also worked with Harmonia (with whom he released two albums) starting in 1973, running concurrently with several of his years in NEU! In 1976, he recorded with Brian Eno. The recording was released in 1997 under the moniker Harmonia 76. 1977 saw the release of Rother's first solo album, entitled, Flammende Herzen. The following year Rother released his second solo album, Sterntaler. He followed that one up in 1979 with Katzenmusik. His next solo release would not be seen until 1982. This time the title was Fernwärme. The following year saw Rother releasing Lust. Süssherz und Tiefenschärfe, his sixth solo album, would be released in 1985. 1987 saw the follow-up to that one, it was entitled Traumreisen. His next solo album was not released until 1996. That one was called Esparanza.