Music: Founder of the rock band “City” Fritz Puppel is dead

He was the founder of one of the most important GDR rock groups: Fritz Puppel, guitarist and composer of the Berlin band City, is dead. He died unexpectedly on February 10th at the age of 79. City singer Toni Krahl told the dpa.

“We are at a loss for words and are stunned that we are losing our friend and comrade-in-arms for over five decades,” said Krahl. “And in general, the German music world is missing another creative mind who has enriched all of our lives with his art and his songs and touched millions of people.”

Doll always with you

Puppel founded the band in East Berlin in 1972 with drummer Klaus Selmke. City not only had many fans in the GDR, but also in non-socialist countries – for example through the hit “Am Fenster”. A few years after the fall of the Berlin Wall, the Berliners’ success continued. There have been different line-ups in the band’s history, but Puppel has always been there. For five decades. At the end of 2022, City said goodbye to the stage.

Puppel led the band through ups and downs for 50 years, until the farewell concert on December 30, 2022, said Krahl (74). And: “He always put his own personality, free of musical vanities, on the back burner and was inspired by the idea of ​​creating City as a band. With a cool head, Fritz was constantly the inspiring driving force for the challenges ahead and was honored for his loyalty in the appreciated by the entire music scene.”

“Do one thing! Do it right.” That was Puppel’s motto in life. Although he completed an apprenticeship as a toolmaker as a teenager, he founded his first band in 1963 together with the later Puhdys singer Dieter Birr: the Lunics. When both were drafted into the army a little later, the Lunics were history again. Birr told dpa: “We were best friends all our lives. We always made music together and went out to dinner together every week. He is missing. My thoughts are with his family.”

In the GDR on the edge of what was permitted

On February 3, 1972, the City Band played in a club in Berlin-Köpenick in front of around 200 listeners. In the repertoire: songs by Santana, the Rolling Stones and Jimi Hendrix. The city musicians later composed their own songs – in German. Whether “Am Fenster”, “The King of Prenzlauer Berg”, “Wand an Wand” or “Glastraum”: many texts were on the edge of what was permitted in the GDR. And a lot of songs became hits.

After the fall of the Berlin Wall, their career took a hit, but after a few years the fans returned in their thousands, the band filled large halls again and a new album was released almost every year. After the death of drummer Klaus Selmke in 2020, the remaining four band members decided to end City at the end of 2022. “We want to try to stop when it’s best. And not waste the whole thing,” said Puppel at the time. In addition to Puppel and Krahl, the last band line-up also included violinist Joro Gogow and keyboarder Manfred Hennig.

Silly guitarist Uwe Hassbecker was a guest on stage at the very last city concert. He wrote on his Facebook page about the news of Puppel’s death: “This caught me off guard. … In the last few months things have become quiet about Fritz, but I knew that he liked to travel. From this He won’t be returning from his last trip… Goodbye, dear Fritz.”