Artist Detailed Info: Gisbert Zu Knyphausen

Gisbert zu Knyphausen (born on April 23, 1979 in Wiesbaden as Gisbert Wilhelm Enno Freiherr zu Innhausen und Knyphausen), is a German-language singer-songwriter, vocalist, and guitarist from Eltville-Erbach in the Hessian Rheingau.

After a stay in Berlin, zu Knyphausen studied music therapy in Nijmegen, Netherlands. In August 2005, he co-founded the indie label Omaha Records with Philipp Heintze. In the following autumn, he performed publicly for the first time under his own name, though he later preferred performing with a full band for most of his shows. His debut album, "Gisbert zu Knyphausen", was released on April 25, 2008 by PIAS Germany and featured both solo and band-accompanied songs. His lyrics are often melancholic yet generally hopeful, and he cites ClickClickDecker, Ton Steine Scherben, and Element of Crime as musical and lyrical influences. In 2009, he received the HANS award as Best Hamburg Artist. That same year, he held the first "Heimspiel", an annual summer concert on his family’s vineyard in Eltville-Erbach, which later developed into the "Heimspiel Knyphausen" festival, featuring artists such as Kettcar, Element of Crime, Sophie Hunger, The Notwist, and AnnenMayKantereit.

From October 2006 to April 2010, zu Knyphausen lived in Hamburg before moving to Berlin. His second album, "Hurra! Hurra! So nicht.", was released on April 23, 2010 and reached number 12 on the German album charts. On October 29, 2010, he released a split single with Nils Koppruch featuring the song "Knochen und Fleisch", which had previously appeared on a charity compilation for the Hamburg street magazine Hinz&Kunzt. On March 3, 2011, he released another split 7-inch single with the band Lichter, in which each artist covered a song by the other: zu Knyphausen performed Lichter’s "Leerer Raum" and Lichter covered his "Spieglein Spieglein".

Zu Knyphausen’s song "Sommertag" is featured in the end credits of the 2011 film "Halt auf freier Strecke" by Andreas Dresen. In 2011, he performed with Francesco Wilking and Moritz Krämer in their project Die Höchste Eisenbahn, and contributed vocals to the song "Der Himmel ist Blau" on their 2012 EP "Unzufrieden". In 2012, he collaborated with Nils Koppruch until Koppruch’s death, forming the band Kid Kopphausen and releasing the album "I".

Following Koppruch’s death, zu Knyphausen largely withdrew from music for a year. During this period, he worked with the Iranian band Pallet through the Goethe-Institut. In 2013, he participated in the fairy tale project "Es war einmal und wenn sie nicht." and narrated "Der Froschkönig" and "Der eiserne Heinrich" for the double CD release.

In 2014, he joined Olli Schulz on tour as bassist and contributed to the album "Feelings aus der Asche", released in January 2015, which reached number four on the German album charts. He had previously contributed as a guest musician on Schulz’s albums "Es brennt so schön" (2009) and "SOS – Save Olli Schulz" (2012).

In 2016, zu Knyphausen, together with Moses Schneider and Tobias Friedrich, founded the band project Husten, with the concept of releasing a new EP each year without performing live.

His third solo album, "Das Licht dieser Welt", was released in October 2017 and produced by Jean-Michel Tourette (Wir sind Helden). The title track is used in the end credits of the 2017 film "Timm Thaler oder Das verkaufte Lachen".

In 2020, he performed as a duo with pianist Kai Schumacher at the Reeperbahn Festival and gave a live concert under COVID-19 safety conditions at Hamburg’s St. Michael’s Church, performing works by Franz Schubert. The concert was streamed online via NDR’s website.

Full Wikipedia article: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gisbert_zu_Knyphausen

Studio albums
Gisbert zu Knyphausen (2008)
Hurra! Hurra! So nicht (2010)
Das Licht dieser Welt (2017)

← Go Back