Peter Freudenthaler

Peter Freudenthaler (born 19 February 1963) is a German rock musician, singer and songwriter best known as the lead vocalist and one of the founding members of the pop rock band Fool's Garden. He is the author of the song "Lemon Tree", which made the band, and him in particular, famous worldwide. In addition to participating in Fool's Garden, Freudenthaler has also collaborated with other music artists.

Peter Freudenthaler graduated from the Hebel Gymnasium high school in Pforzheim and later in 1990 entered the Stuttgart Media University, where he became acquainted with Volker Hinkel, who invited him into his music project Magazine. In 1991, Magazine was renamed Fool's Garden.

In 2012, Alexander Rusakov, in his book "Who is Who, or MUZPROSVET in Global Contemporary Popular Music", put Peter Freudenthaler on No. 792 in the rating of 1000 best musicians of global contemporary popular music for his participation in Fool's Garden. In 2017, Peter received the Portus Medal for Merit to Pforzheim from the city's mayor Gert Hager.

Biography Early life and beginnings of musical career Hebel Gymnasium Pforzheim is the high school where Peter Freudenthaler studied. Peter was born on 19 February 1963, in the small German town of Pforzheim in Baden-Württemberg. Also, his family was closely connected with music: his great-grandfather was a conductor and choirmaster. At the age of seven, he began to study the piano, his parents paid for his lessons even in spite of financial problems. Peter also had an uncle in Dresden, and as a child he periodically traveled with his family to the German Democratic Republic to visit him.

In 1974, Freudenthaler was impressed with the FIFA World Cup held in Germany. At that time, Peter was not yet a vocalist, in Election he only played keyboards.

Peter was impressed by the high quality of Volker's demos, so with his help the two re-recorded "Sandy" and "Tell Me Who I Am". This limited edition album was the precursor for the promo album Fool's Garden – Man in a Cage (simply abbreviated as Fool's Garden) released in 1991. In honor of the new album, Magazine was renamed Fool's Garden. In the magazine Novyi Ochevidets, the song "Lemon Tree" was named the main German hit of the 90s.

In December 1995, Freudenthaler's first daughter was born.

The song "Lemon Tree" became a hit shortly before the start of the final exams at the University of Stuttgart. To fully devote time to music, Freudenthaler had to drop out of the university. Although, according to his words, already from the second semester of education, his studies faded into the background, since even then he began to dedicate most of his time to playing in a group. The income from his musical activity was sufficient so that in 1996 Peter could quit his regular job and become a professional musician. In one of his interviews Peter told that one of the first purchases with the money received from the sales of Dish of the Day and "Lemon Tree" was a Mercedes-Benz W210 for 50,000 DM. The Zweites Deutsches Fernsehen TV channel claims that Freudenthaler receives 50,000 euros annually in royalties.

Following the commercial success of "Lemon Tree" and Dish of the Day, Peter Freudenthaler embarked on a worldwide concert tour with Fool's Garden, playing over 100 shows around the world. However, the band could not repeat the success of their only hit. In an interview for the Bild newspaper, the musician admitted that he was "almost happy" that Fool's Garden did not achieve repeated success, as he had to spend a very long time on tours away from his family. Volker Hinkel also contributed guitar parts to the other two songs on the album. Also at the presentation, Peter and Edipov Kompleks performed Fool's Garden songs "Lemon Tree" and "Probably". Also in 2006, Freudenthaler recorded vocals for the song "Didgeridoo" from the album The Big Flow of German musician Helmut Hattler. Freudenthaler met Hattler in 1995 at a concert, and Hattler had also participated in recording bass guitar parts for songs from the album 25 Miles to Kissimmee.

In 2015, Peter took part in the charity bike race Lila Logistik Charity Bike Cup, the funds from which were sent to the treatment of disabled children, as well as to support children from socially disadvantaged groups.

In 2016, Freudenthaler participated in the international expert jury in the Lithuanian national selection for the 2016 Eurovision Song Contest. The following year, Peter Freudenthaler was invited to take part in the recording of the song "Goldstadtsong" dedicated to his hometown of Pforzheim, as well as in the filming of a video clip for this song.

In 2018, the musician took part in the recording of the sixteenth studio album Zwischen den Welten of the German pop rock band Pur. It had stayed for 34 weeks on the German Albums Chart, reaching No. 2, and also charted in Austria and Switzerland. In October, Peter was invited to the Smash Hits music show dedicated to Germany's most famous music performers in the 1990s, as a member of Fool's Garden. In December of the same year, Freudenthaler was included in the jury of the best Christmas song of 2018 competition organized by SWR1. Also on 5 December, the International Volunteer Day for Economic and Social Development, Peter Freudenthaler took over the leadership of a major charity event in Stuttgart.

On 23 March 2019, Freudenthaler, together with Harry Klenck, the vocalist and guitarist of the German band You, performed in Knittlingen. The duo presented both the songs of Fool's Garden and You, as well as other famous songs of various performers over the past 40 years. In the same year, the musician once again took part in the Lila Logistik Charity Bike Cup. In the summer of 2019, Peter participated in writing the lyrics for the new album of the Georgian-German singer Natia Todua, and also recorded backing vocals for the album Aus Der Zeit Gefallen of the German singer Stefan Waggershausen. In November Freudenthaler took part in the "Udopium Orchester" concert in Lauda-Königshofen with such German performers as Johanna Stevens Schwarzwald, Anke Dinkel and Danny McCoy. In the same year, Peter performed at a concert in memory of Edo Zanki, who is called "the godfather of German soul". Two years earlier, the singer took part in the recording of his album Playing For Hope.

Also in April 2019, Peter Freudenthaler was invited in the filming of a short documentary about spinal diseases and the thematical discussion at the Congress Centrum Pforzheim in front of 400 listeners. Eight years earlier, the musician himself had suffered a herniated disc, but thanks to proper physical therapy and prolonged exercise, the problem was brought under control. Freudenthaler sang the song "Lemon Tree", and the frontman of Zodchie Yuri Davydov shared with the audience the story of his acquaintance with Freudenthaler.

Family and personal life Peter Freudenthaler has two daughters and a son. At the same time, as of 2005, he was not officially married: in one of the interviews, the musician said that his first daughter was an unplanned child, and, according to him, the obligation to marry after the birth of the child was stupid. As of 2018, Peter and his wife are officially married. and the song "All We Are" from the album Rise and Fall was dedicated to his son.

Religious and political views

title = I have learned so much in my life, know about chemistry, history, religion, music, but still have the same questions as I had as a child, but often feel further removed from the answers than before. You always have to be flexible, always find other ways and explanatory models. Maybe we don't need any explanatory models at all, but should enjoy life in its beauty and not question everything, but consciously walk through the world. Then you can feel this divine world simply. — Interview for Hanno Gerwin. which prevents the spread of the influence of the ultranationalist party "The Right – Party for Referendum, Sovereignty and Defense of the Homeland" . He took part in a concert against the politics of this party in February 2019 at the Osterfeld House of Culture in Pforzheim. Nevertheless, Freudenthaler is in favor of a democratic dialogue with those who support the political course of "The Right". In his opinion, the main task of the concert in Osterfeld was to draw attention to his "great country".