26 Facts About Rio Reiser

Ralph Christian Mobius, known professionally as Rio Reiser, was a German musician and from 1970 to 1985 the lead singer and main lyric-writer for the rock group Ton Steine Scherben.

Rio Reiser's father was an engineer for Siemens, and the family moved several times because of his father's work; they lived in West Berlin, Upper Bavaria, Nuremberg, Mannheim, and Fellbach.

Rio Reiser was never really able to feel at home in any of these places.

Rio Reiser was known by his friends as someone who had a special mind of his own.

Rio Reiser's mother supported his musical and artistic ambitions since she had soon realized that he was an autodidact; he never learned things when he was taught by someone else.

Rio Reiser was given his nickname Rio as teenager by an eccentric artist and friend of the family who invented the name "Rio de Galaxis" for him in an "intergalactic youth ordination".

Rio Reiser kept the nickname and later decided to change his name from Ralph Mobius to Rio Reiser when he played a leading role in the movie Johnny West and needed a catchy artist name.

Rio Reiser took the idea for the name Reiser from his older brother Gert who had occasionally used it as artist name before.

Besides contemporary rock bands which became the soundtrack of the social changes beginning in the Sixties, Rio Reiser was influenced by other music styles including orchestral film soundtracks, German "folk songs" and traditional music and German singers such as Marlene Dietrich.

Rio Reiser was unique among German rock stars of his time in being openly gay.

Rio Reiser came out in 1970 and lived openly as gay in his private life.

At the beginning of his career, Reiser sometimes felt like a misfit among the political groups and various movements which, in the early Seventies, did not strongly approve of homosexuality.

Rio Reiser later gained confidence while working with artists who were engaged in the newly forming gay movement of Berlin, including the gay performance group "Bruhwarm" which recorded two LPs with music composed by Ton Steine Scherben.

Nevertheless, Rio Reiser stayed in Berlin, where he was later joined by Lanrue.

In 1970, Rio Reiser recorded his first single with the band Ton Steine Scherben.

Rio Reiser later revealed in his autobiography that he sometimes would have preferred to just get away with some nice person.

Rio Reiser lived together with the band and a large group of friends and supporters most of that time, first sharing a commune in Berlin.

Rio Reiser had a large debt with the group, but his early solo career went so well that he was free from debt in a short time.

The song "Konig von Deutschland" became one of the few real hits of Rio Reiser, has been covered and cited by many artists ever since and is still known among most people in Germany.

However, when listening closely to the lyrics, it can be noted that Rio Reiser never abandoned his personal approach to music, politics, life and love, although the message was delivered in a more subtle way now.

The album was the last one which he was contractually obliged to deliver to his major music company, and both the musical approach as well as the lyrics imply that Rio Reiser was about to return to a state of inner independence from the major business not only personally, but in artistic terms, including a sound and concept which is often seen as more authentic than the previous studio albums.

Some critics say that Rio Reiser created a new image of a German folk singer; he was even called a "Schlager" artist and a "Volksmusik" musician.

However, Rio Reiser sometimes approved of being referred to a Volksmusik musician, because he thought that this would simply mean he sang music for the people.

Rio Reiser died on 20 August 1996 from a circulatory collapse after internal bleeding at his home in Fresenhagen, where he was buried on his own property under an apple tree.

Rio Reiser's grave was moved to Berlin in March 2011, because Reiser's heirs sold the Fresenhagen property.

Rio Reiser produced six studio albums as a solo artist, which were released on Columbia.