Biography
Bernhard Zimmermann is a professional Austrian songwriter and one of the leading keyboard-players and singers of the north-east region of Austria. He is also capable of playing the guitar and bass.
His musical influence ranges from classical music, rock, pop to funk and jazz.
He performed his music and wrote songs for many bands (see the Bands/Project page).
For his recordings check out the Discography section.
Curriculum Vitae:
1977 born in Austria (Lower Austria) into a family of hobby-musicians
1981 brother Stefan is born, later to become a high-profile bass-player
1983 takes first lessons in a local music school, recorder and pre-education, writes his first composition called “War Hymn” (similar melodic line as “Das Boot”)
1985 takes his first piano lessons, classical etudes and compositions, becomes his major instrument
1989/90 starts playing along songs from the radio, teaches himself music theory, pop/jazz piano and other pop-styles, starts playing the guitar autodidactically
1991 joins his first band “Naemi” together with some very talented students from the local music school; (e.g.: Wolfgang & Werner Köck: guitars & bass, Christian Frank: keyboards, Bernhard Egger: drums, …), band split after some gigs and demo-tape recording
1992/93 Keyboarder with the “Stone City Swing and Blues Band”, conducted by saxophonist Thomas Schwebisch (formerly of “Zenith”)
1994 together with Wolfgang Eisler, founds the progressive rock band “Mr. Wizard”, many gigs the following years
1996 “Mr. Wizard” win the Rockinella band battle among dozens of other groups, Bernhard receives the extra-prize “Best Composition” for the song You’ve got the devil inside competing with over 100 other songs!; many gigs follow
1997 Bernhard writes the rock-suite The Lord of the Rings, based on the bestseller by J.R.R. Tolkien (long before it became a movie-blockbuster), performances of the musical piece by “Mr Wizard” (including a visual show);
production of the “Mr. Wizard” CD-Single Ancient Tales he also joins his brother’s band “A Frog & A Strawberry Blonde”
1998 many very successful concerts with “A Frog & A Strawberry Blonde” in East Austria, (among those a gig in the Ernst-Happel-Stadion in Vienna facing thousands of people) production of the “Frog” CD-Single Fruity Activities, which gets steady radio-airplay and has a local chart entry, “Mr. Wizard” is laid on ice and gets revived in a new line-up at the end of the year;
1999 some concerts with “Mr. Wizard” and “AF&ASB”, both bands split in the course of the year out of musical, personal and geographical reasons joins a “Talking Heads Cover Band” in Vienna (including guitar-professor Wolfgang Peidelstein from the University of Music) split after one gig in the Papa’s Tapas;
Bernhard suffers from acute tinnitus and takes a break from playing onstage;
2000 Bernhard regains his health again and has a period of “heavy-songwriting”, many of the songs for his new band “The Dreambakers” are written that year, in late 2000 Bernhard starts rehearsing with the new band
2001 “The Dreambakers” play some gigs in their home area, Bernhard starts his tour of Solo Concerts playing songs from his former and present projects - only voice and piano
2002 “The Dreambakers” concerts, some solo performances; starts working as a teacher for music and English in an Austrian Gymnasium; joins the Austrian rock band “Granitarium” and tours for their new album Marillo Brando
2003 release of the “Dreambakers” CD-Single No Saint; gets his university degree and finishes his studies, some concerts in Vienna and Lower Austria, extensive tour with “Granitarium”, playing concerts all over East Austria, Vienna and the Czech Republic, radio airplay of his "Dreambakers"-song No Saint
2004 again some tour dates for “The Dreambakers” and “Granitarium; both bands play at the Carpe Noctem Festival in Schladming in August 2004; the “Granitarium” line-up is changed drastically; together with Floh Floyd, Bernhard founds the short-lived “De 2 scho wieda” project (a kind of “double-solo” concert programme), some gigs
2005 Bernhard dissolves “The Dreambakers” out of a standstill of creativity and an unstable line-up; puts together his little home-studio and starts recording his first solo-album; some concerts with the new “Granitarium”- line-up;
2006 continues recording and writing for his solo-album and for the ”Granitarium” album Stöh kane Frogn, which gets released in April of the year; finishes recordings for his solo-album A New Dawning; release of the album at the end of the year; concepts for classical, compositions (a sonata for piano, preludes, a mass)
2007 rehearsals/concerts for the A New Dawning Tour, puts together a new band for this project - Knightingale; concerts with a new acoustic trio - Extra 3 - including Erwin Weisgram (git, violin, voc) and Wolfgang Ableidinger (git, voc), Knightingale are nominated for the Austrian Newcomer Award, they get a TOP 20 position among 300 other bands!
2008 many concerts with Extra 3 and Knightingale, starts recording his second solo-album, release of the German Pop Maxi-CD Zimmermann/Fischer - Du liebst mich nicht, which becomes a bestseller, selling even more CDs than the last album A New Dawning!
2009 records and produces the CD "Meridian Liedergeschichten" by singer/songriter Daniela Sainitzer, plays many concerts with Knightingale/Extra 3/Granitarum, continues to record his next solo-album
2010 release of the second solo album "Made In Paradise", new Band for touring, wins one of the most important pop-songwriting competitions in Austria "Projekt Pop!" with the song "The Heart Is A Lonely Hunter", the song is included on the CD "4444 Second Of Austrian Pop! Music", Song Contest Nomination for Austria with "The Heart Is A Lonely Hunter" and radio airplay on Ö3, music video for the song
