Felix Weber
Encyclopedia
Felix Weber is a German producer, songwriter and arranger.
At the age of 6 Felix started a professional classical piano training. When 14 he played in his first garage band and when 17 he toured with an American cover band through the US army clubs in Bavaria, performing for American soldiers stationed in Germany. In 1978 he produced his first record together with his songwriting partner Irmgard Klarmann at the "Galgenberg Studio" in Stuttgart
, Germany
. During studio work in Munich
he met drummer/producer Todd Canedy whose production skills left a positive mark on Felix. Shortly after Felix started working in his own recording studio where he and his partner Klarmann penned many hit songs under the name Klarmann/Weber
. In 1981 Felix became the keyboard player of the popular German band "Relax". During this time he made contacts with the record industry, which resulted in many cuts for popular German artists and Golden Records. In 1987 after six years playing with the band he left "Relax" and focused on his international songwriting career.
Felix was always fascinated with American music and so he began to compose exclusively for the American market, which brought him his first Billboard
Top 40 hit in 1988 with singer Tracie Spencer
("Symptoms of True Love
"). In 1989 Paul Anka
recorded Felix's song "Turning My Mind Back to You" on his Somebody Loves You album, produced by Humberto Gatica
. In 1990 Toni Braxton
together with her sisters ("The Braxtons
") released Felix's song "The Good Life
". In 1992 Felix had his first #1 hit in the US with singer Chaka Khan
("Love you all my lifetime"). Khan's album "The woman I am" received a Grammy and Felix' song was awarded with the ASCAP award. Billboard called Weber and his partner the "most successful German songwriters." Over the next years more songs were recorded by artists like La Toya Jackson
, Leo Sayer
, La Bouche
, Beverley Knight
, Jennifer Rush
, Kathy Troccoli
, Canadian singer Sheree Jeacocke
, Lory Bianco
, Japanese singer/songwriter Seiko Matsuda
, Randy Crawford
, Exposé, Nancy Wilson
(a collaboration with his late friend and mentor Skip Scarborough
(Earth, Wind & Fire
, Anita Baker
), Penny Ford
(a co-production with American Idol
judge Randy Jackson
), saxophonist Boney James
and Australian singer Vanessa Amorosi
.
Weber moved to the USA in 2000 where he started a production company.
At the age of 6 Felix started a professional classical piano training. When 14 he played in his first garage band and when 17 he toured with an American cover band through the US army clubs in Bavaria, performing for American soldiers stationed in Germany. In 1978 he produced his first record together with his songwriting partner Irmgard Klarmann at the "Galgenberg Studio" in Stuttgart
Stuttgart
Stuttgart is the capital of the state of Baden-Württemberg in southern Germany. The sixth-largest city in Germany, Stuttgart has a population of 600,038 while the metropolitan area has a population of 5.3 million ....
, Germany
Germany
Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...
. During studio work in Munich
Munich
Munich The city's motto is "" . Before 2006, it was "Weltstadt mit Herz" . Its native name, , is derived from the Old High German Munichen, meaning "by the monks' place". The city's name derives from the monks of the Benedictine order who founded the city; hence the monk depicted on the city's coat...
he met drummer/producer Todd Canedy whose production skills left a positive mark on Felix. Shortly after Felix started working in his own recording studio where he and his partner Klarmann penned many hit songs under the name Klarmann/Weber
Klarmann/Weber
Klarmann/Weber is a successful German producer and songwriter duo, consisting of Irmgard Klarmann and Felix Weber.The duo is composing and producing music since the late 70's. In the 80's Klarmann/Weber established their name in Germany as successful composers...
. In 1981 Felix became the keyboard player of the popular German band "Relax". During this time he made contacts with the record industry, which resulted in many cuts for popular German artists and Golden Records. In 1987 after six years playing with the band he left "Relax" and focused on his international songwriting career.
Felix was always fascinated with American music and so he began to compose exclusively for the American market, which brought him his first Billboard
Billboard (magazine)
Billboard is a weekly American magazine devoted to the music industry, and is one of the oldest trade magazines in the world. It maintains several internationally recognized music charts that track the most popular songs and albums in various categories on a weekly basis...
Top 40 hit in 1988 with singer Tracie Spencer
Tracie Spencer
Tracie Monique Spencer is an American pop and R&B singer-songwriter, actress, and model.-Biography:She began singing by the age of three and modeling in pageant competitions at age five. Tracie performed, produced and directed her first music videos before she was ten years of age...
("Symptoms of True Love
Symptoms of True Love
"Symptoms of True Love" is the second single from Tracie Spencer's self-titled debut album. The single was released in 1988. It was written by German composer team Irmgard Klarmann and Felix Weber. Unlike her first single , this song was an uptempo club/dance track...
"). In 1989 Paul Anka
Paul Anka
Paul Albert Anka, is a Canadian singer, songwriter, and actor.Anka first became famous as a teen idol in the late 1950s and 1960s with hit songs like "Diana'", "Lonely Boy", and "Put Your Head on My Shoulder"...
recorded Felix's song "Turning My Mind Back to You" on his Somebody Loves You album, produced by Humberto Gatica
Humberto Gatica
Humberto Gatica is a Chilean-born American record producer, music mixer, audio engineer anda long-time collaborator with producer David Foster....
. In 1990 Toni Braxton
Toni Braxton
Toni Michelle Braxton is an American R&B singer-songwriter, record producer, and actress. Braxton has won six Grammy Awards, seven American Music Awards, and five Billboard Music Awards and has sold over 60 million records worldwide...
together with her sisters ("The Braxtons
The Braxtons
The Braxtons were an American R&B girl group consisting of sisters Toni Braxton, Traci Braxton, Towanda Braxton, Trina Braxton, and Tamar Braxton...
") released Felix's song "The Good Life
Good Life (The Braxtons song)
"Good Life" is a 1990 single by The Braxtons, featuring Toni Braxton and her four sisters: Towanda, Trina, Traci, and Tamar Braxton. "Good Life", written by the German songwriting/production team Klarmann/Weber, was Toni Braxton's first professional recording.Toni Braxton and her sisters signed...
". In 1992 Felix had his first #1 hit in the US with singer Chaka Khan
Chaka Khan
Chaka Khan , frequently known as the Queen of Funk, is a 10-time Grammy Award winning American singer-songwriter who gained fame in the 1970s as the frontwoman and focal point of the funk band Rufus. While still a member of the group in 1978, Khan embarked on a successful solo career...
("Love you all my lifetime"). Khan's album "The woman I am" received a Grammy and Felix' song was awarded with the ASCAP award. Billboard called Weber and his partner the "most successful German songwriters." Over the next years more songs were recorded by artists like La Toya Jackson
La Toya Jackson
La Toya Yvonne Jackson is an American singer-songwriter, musician, author, television personality, actress, businesswoman, philanthropist, activist and former model. She is the fifth child of the Jackson family...
, Leo Sayer
Leo Sayer
Leo Sayer is a British singer-songwriter, musician, and entertainer whose singing career has spanned four decades. Sayer became a naturalised Australian citizen in 2009. Sayer was a top singles and album act on both sides of the Atlantic in the 1970s...
, La Bouche
La Bouche
La Bouche was a Eurodance/Dance-pop duo formed by Frank Farian in Germany in 1994, originally consisting of Melanie Thornton and Lane McCray, scoring two major worldwide hits in the mid-1990s with "Be My Lover" and "Sweet Dreams"....
, Beverley Knight
Beverley Knight
Beverley Knight MBE is a British soul and R&B singer, songwriter, and record producer who released her debut album in 1995. Heavily influenced by soul greats such as Sam Cooke and Aretha Franklin, Knight has released six studio albums to date...
, Jennifer Rush
Jennifer Rush
Jennifer Rush is an American/German-based pop/rock singer, best known for the million-selling single "The Power of Love", which she co-wrote and which went on to be covered by Laura Branigan and Celine Dion.-Career:...
, Kathy Troccoli
Kathy Troccoli
Kathleen Colleen "Kathy" Troccoli is a contemporary Christian singer, author, and speaker.-Personal:Born in Brooklyn, New York, on June 24, 1958, Troccoli moved at age three and was raised in Islip Terrace, Long Island, New York, graduating from East Islip High School. At 15, she lost her father...
, Canadian singer Sheree Jeacocke
Sheree Jeacocke
Sheree Jeacocke is a Canadian singer-songwriter.-Biography:During the early 1980s Jeacocke starred in the CBC-TV musical The King Of Friday Night and worked as a backup singer for Gordon Lightfoot, Rita MacNeil, Glass Tiger and Kim Mitchell. In 1985 Jeacocke releases her first single "You Get To Me"...
, Lory Bianco
Lory Bianco
Lory Bianco is an American singer and actor from the United States. She started her career in humble surroundings at the age of 10 performing in musicals, fairs, convalescent homes, hospitals, conventions, and beauty pageants...
, Japanese singer/songwriter Seiko Matsuda
Seiko Matsuda
is a Japanese pop singer-songwriter. Due to her popularity in the 1980s and her long career, she has been dubbed the "Eternal idol" by the Japanese media.- Biography :...
, Randy Crawford
Randy Crawford
Randy Crawford is an American jazz and R&B singer. She has been more successful in Europe than in the United States, where she has not entered the Billboard Hot 100 as a solo artist...
, Exposé, Nancy Wilson
Nancy Wilson (singer)
Nancy Wilson is an American singer with more than 70 albums, and three Grammy Awards. She has been labeled a singer of blues, jazz, cabaret and pop; a "consummate actress"; and "the complete entertainer." The title she prefers, however, is song stylist...
(a collaboration with his late friend and mentor Skip Scarborough
Skip Scarborough
Skip Scarborough was a Grammy Award-winning songwriter, best known for romantic ballads.-Biography:Born Clarence Alexander Scarborough in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, he lived in Los Angeles most of his life....
(Earth, Wind & Fire
Earth, Wind & Fire
Earth, Wind & Fire is an American soul and R&B band formed in Chicago, Illinois, in 1969 by Verdine and Maurice White. Also known as EWF, the band has won six Grammy Awards and four American Music Awards. They have been inducted into both the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and the Vocal Group Hall of...
, Anita Baker
Anita Baker
Anita Baker is an American R&B/soul jazz singer-songwriter. To date, Baker has won eight Grammy Awards, and has four platinum albums and two gold albums to her credit....
), Penny Ford
Penny Ford
Penny Ford is an American singer. Also known as 'Pennye Ford', she is the daughter of veteran record company executive and producer Gene Redd, Sr., and evangelist/pastor Carolyn Ford-Griffith . She is also the younger half-sister of the late singer Sharon Redd...
(a co-production with American Idol
American Idol
American Idol, titled American Idol: The Search for a Superstar for the first season, is a reality television singing competition created by Simon Fuller and produced by FremantleMedia North America and 19 Entertainment...
judge Randy Jackson
Randy Jackson
Randall Darius "Randy" Jackson is an American bassist, singer, record producer, music manager, A&R executive, entrepreneur, and television personality. He is best known as a judge on American Idol and executive producer for MTV's America's Best Dance Crew...
), saxophonist Boney James
Boney James
Boney James, is a saxophonist, songwriter and producer who popularized urban jazz...
and Australian singer Vanessa Amorosi
Vanessa Amorosi
Vanessa Amorosi is an Australian singer-songwriter and recording artist. Her combined album and single sales have reached over 2 million worldwide.-Early life:...
.
Weber moved to the USA in 2000 where he started a production company.