Role Drummer Instruments Drummer Music group Trio (Since 1980) | Associated acts Silberbart, Trio Movies Promise the Moon Name Peter Behrens | |
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Born 4 September 1947 (age 76)
Sande, Lower Saxony, Germany ( 1947-09-04 ) Genres New German Wave, Krautrock Similar People Gert Krawinkel, Stephan Remmler, Elisabeth Volkmann, Klaus Voormann, Frl Menke | ||
Occupation(s) Musician, actor, clown | ||
Peter Behrens (4 September 1947 – 11 May 2016) was a German drummer, actor, musician, and clown.
Contents
Life
Peter Behrens was the illegitimate son of an American GI, and was put up for adoption by his biological mother. He was adopted by the Behrens family, where he grew up in northern Germany. After graduating from high school in Jaderberg, he studied at a college nearby, but quit a short while later.
Subsequently, he toured as a drummer in several bands, playing throughout northern Germany, and for half a year throughout Africa. In 1971 he played in the Krautrock band Silberbart, who released an album of psychedelic hard rock, now very popular among collectors. Nearing the end of the 1970s, he attended the Milan circus school, and worked briefly as a clown and pantomime artist.
Together with Stephan Remmler and Gert "Kralle" Krawinkel, Behrens was a member of the German band Trio in the early 1980s, where he played the drums. The band became known particularly through the minimalist title Da Da Da, as part of the New German Wave. The other two members met Behrens through a newspaper advertisement. Behrens was especially known for his somewhat formal dress attire: white T-shirt, white pants, red suspenders (aka braces) and red shoes. Behrens' hair-do showed an upward coil similar to that of Moritz of Max and Moritz. Behrens owned this outfit before clown school and Trio. Also he used to play the drums standing upright in a stoic manner, which added to the visual appearance of the band.
After Trio disbanded in 1987, and after overcoming alcoholism and a severe drug problem, he dedicated himself in Bremerhaven and Wilhelmshaven to his work as a social worker on the streets. As a solo artist, he was not successful. He interpreted songs, including the official song for the European Football Championship 1988, Das Tor, Dep De Dö Dep, a cover version of "Tom's Diner" by Suzanne Vega.
In the late 1980s, Peter Behrens appeared in a few movies. In his first three films (André schafft sie alle, Drei gegen Drei and Tausend Augen), he played even bigger roles. In Manta – Der Film, he played a minimal supporting role. In 2005 and 2006, he joined Frl. Menke performing in a musical in Hamburg. Since this musical ended, he again played drums in a band. In 2008, under the name Peter Behrens (Ex-Trio) & Drei Mann im Doppelbett a song called "drei zwei", written by three Trio-fans, was published, for which a music video was produced.
Behrens had two children and lived in Wilhelmshaven, where he died on 11 May 2016 from multiple organ failure. He was 68.