Jan Ulrich Max Vetter, better known as Farin Urlaub (like German “Fahr in’ Urlaub!”, which means “Go on vacation!”, for his love of traveling) was born on October 27, 1963 in what was then West Berlin, Germany. He is best known as the guitarist/vocalist for the German band Die Ärzte.
Urlaub is pescetarian (which means he eats fish but no meat), a teetotaler, a non-smoker and a pacifist. He speaks seven languages: German, English, French, Portuguese, Spanish, Italian and Japanese, and donates money to Greenpeace and “Menschen gegen Minen” (People against mines). For the last few years he has been living in a village near Hamburg, where he has his own recording studio.
In 1980 he joined Bela B.’s band Soilent Green as guitarist. When the band broke up in 1982, Urlaub, Bela B. and Hans Runge (better known as Sahnie) formed Die Ärzte, one of the most successful German pop punk rock bands of the 1980s. In 1988, at the height of their popularity, Die Ärzte disbanded.
Urlaub then formed King Køng, which remained unsuccessful, even for an indie band. Die Ärzte reunited in 1993 and have had continued success ever since. Urlaub still writes most songs for Die Ärzte which has the consequence that not all of them can be used for the band. Therefore, in 2001, Urlaub started his solo career with the album Endlich Urlaub! (“Vacation at Last!”, which can also be read as pun on his name, “Urlaub” meaning “vacation”, as in, “Urlaub at Last!”). Am Ende der Sonne (“At the End of the Sun”) was released in 2005 and his latest album Livealbum Of Death was released on February 3rd, 2006. This live album was released under the name Farin Urlaub Racing Team which is Urlaub’s live band. However, Urlaub announced that his next studio album “Die Wahrheit übers Lügen” (“The Truth About Lying”) will as well be released as Farin Urlaub Racing Team.
