Tokio Hotel
Tokio Hotel is a German music band formed in 2001 by singer Bill Kaulitz, guitarist Tom Kaulitz, bassist Georg Listing, and drummer Gustav Schäfer.[7] Starting from the foundation, the band's music genres were pop rock and alternative rock; since 2014, the band began to perform electropop and synth-pop.
For the hotel in Chicago, see Tokyo Hotel.
Tokio Hotel
Magdeburg, Germany
- Pop rock
- alternative rock[1]
- pop-punk[2]
- post-grunge[3]
- electronic rock[4]
- electropop (since 2014)[5]
- synth-pop (since 2014)[6]
2001–present
- Bill Kaulitz
- Tom Kaulitz
- Georg Listing
- Gustav Schäfer
After recording a demo album under the name "Devilish" and having their contract with Sony BMG Germany terminated, the band released their first German-language album, Schrei, as Tokio Hotel on Universal Music Germany in 2005. Schrei sold more than half-a-million copies worldwide[8] and spawned four top-five singles in both Germany and Austria. In 2007, the band released their second German-language album, Zimmer 483, and their first English-language album, Scream, which have combined album sales of over 2.5 million copies worldwide and helped win the band their first MTV Europe Music Award for Best InterAct. The former, Zimmer 483, spawned three top-five singles in Germany while the latter, Scream, spawned two singles that reached the top-twenty in new territories such as France, Portugal, Spain and Italy.
In September 2008, they won their first MTV Video Music Award, for Best New Artist. Tokio Hotel became the first German band ever to win an award at the MTV VMAs and to also win awards at the MTV Video Music Awards Latin America. They also picked up the Headliner award at the MTV Europe Music Awards 2008 and the award for Best Group at the MTV Europe Music Awards 2009. They won for Best World Stage Performance on 7 November 2010 at the MTV Europe Music Awards. In July 2011, they became the first German band to win an award at the MTV Video Music Awards Japan. The band has sold more than 10 million records worldwide.[9]
Their most recent work is the 2022 album 2001.
History[edit]
Formation, early years, and debut album (2001–2006)[edit]
Twin brothers Bill Kaulitz and Tom Kaulitz along with drummer Gustav Schäfer and bass-guitarist Georg Listing formed the band in 2001[10][11] under the name Devilish, and they soon began playing in talent shows and small concerts.[12] After Bill Kaulitz participates in a children's Star Search in 2003 at age thirteen (which he lost in the quarter-final), he was discovered by music producer Peter Hoffmann. Devilish changed their name to Tokio Hotel: "Tokio", the German spelling of the Japanese city Tokyo, due to a love of the city, and "Hotel" due to their constant touring and living in hotels.[10] Soon after Sony BMG took them under contract, Hoffmann hired David Jost and Pat Benzner into the team of creators and authors, and had them give the teens instruction on songwriting and instrument playing; most of the songs of the first album were written by Hoffmann, Jost and Benzer (including the singles "Scream" and "Rescue me" which were completely written by them); only the single "Unendlichkeit" was written completely by Tokio Hotel themselves. Shortly before the release of their first album, Sony terminated their contract.
Studio albums
Music videos
Live albums
Documentaries