Rheingold

German New Wave/Synthpop Band

Rheingold was a German New Wave group that consisted of Bodo Staiger (vocals, guitar), Lothar Manteuffel (lyrics) und Brigitte Kunze (keyboard). Before they formed Rheingold, Bodo Staiger sang together in a band with Marius Müller-Westernhagen. Inspired through the Düsseldorf's music scene and fellow Germans Kraftwerk, Staiger formed Rheingold who was named after the opera of Richard Wagner. Lothar Manteuffel wrote the songs and Brigitte Kunze did some vocals on their first self-titled LP that was released on Weltrekord. Their most successful single "Dreiklangsdimensionen" was released in 1980 as well as the singles "Fluss" and "Fan Fan Fanatisch". "Fan Fan Fanatisch" appeared on their second album "R", which was released in 1982. This song was also on the soundtrack from the film "The Fan" with Bodo Staiger in the main role. Rheingold also released English versions of the songs in England and USA, not with much success as they hoped though. Neither did their last album show more success and so the band split and they never released music under this name. Lothar Manteuffel teamed up with former Kraftwerk musician Karl Bartos to form Elektric Music and Bodo Staiger was working with ex Kraftwerk member Wolfgang Flür and with production. Bodo passed away in December 2019.