Lake is a German rock music band that formed in the early 1970s under the name Tornados, changing their name to Lake in 1973. They mostly covered material by other bands in their early years, but released three singles, Come Down/We're Gonna Rock, King Of The Rock'n Roll Party, and Sailor. In 1975 they were joined by lead singer James Hopkins-Harrison, who gave them their signature sound for the remainder of their recording career.
They achieved modest success in much of Europe from the mid-1970s through the early 1980s, particularly in Germany where they were named artist of the year by the German Phono Academy in 1977. That same year, their self-titled debut album reached #92 in the US and the single Time Bomb reached #83, which would prove to be their greatest success in the US. They toured the US in the late 1970s as the opening act for various headline acts, including Lynyrd Skynyrd, Black Oak Arkansas, and Neil Young. After their contract with CBS was discontinued the label released previously unavailable live material from stage appearances between May 1979 and October 1980, introducing the Lake 1 (incl. Detlef Petersen) and the Lake 2 (incl. Achim Oppermann) formations on the double live album Live - On the Run. The band was able to sign another contract with the German Polydor label and in 1984 they released album #6, No Time for Heroes.
In 1985 Lake released Voices and in 1986 Lake's last album was recorded, the Polydor release So What. Long time drummer Dieter Ahrendt left in the meantime and was replaced by Udo Dahmen. Jo Kappl also left, leaving the job on the bass guitar to Benjamin Hüllenkrämer. So What included "Inside To Outside", written by Achim Oppermann which had already performed by former Kajagoogoo lead singer Limahl, Apparently Lake ceased to exist by 1986/87. In 1991 James Hopkins-Harrison died from an overdose of heroin.
At the beginning of the new millennium Lake was revived by Alex Conti, including Mike Starrs, Adrian Askew, Mickie Stickdorn and Michael "Bexi" Becker. In March 2005 the first Lake studio recording for 20 years was released: The Blast of Silence.
Personnel
The lineup during their period of peak success (1976-1980) consisted of: Martin Tiefensee - bass (1970-1980) Detlef Petersen - keyboards (1970-1980) Geoffrey "Jeff" Peacey - keyboards (1973-1980) James Hopkins-Harrison - lead vocals (1974-1986?) Alex Conti - guitars (1975-1981) Dieter Ahrendt - drums (1975-1981?)
Additional personnel during their early years: Spencer Mallinson - Guitars (1974-1975) Fritz "Freddy" Graack - drums (1970-1975) Ian Cussick - bass, vocals (1973-1974) Oreste "Lilio" Malagia - guitars (1973-1975) Bernard "Benny" Whelan - trumpet (1973-1975) Gerd Beliaeff - saxophone, trombone (1973-1975)
Additional personnel during their later years: Heiko Efferts - bass (1980-1981) Frank Hieber - keyboards (1980-1981?) Achim Oppermann - keyboards, guitar (1980-1986?) Jo Kappl - bass (1981-1985) Erlend Krauser - guitars (1981-1981?) Bernd Gärtig - guitars (1984-1986?) Benjamin Hüllenkrämer - bass (1984-1986?) Thomas Bauer - keyboards (1984-1986?) Udo Dahmen - drums (1984-1986?)
Discography Come Down/We're Gonna Rock (1973) (single) King Of The Rock'n Roll Party/She's Alright (1973) (single) Sailor (1974) (single) Lake (1976) Lake II (1978) Paradise Island (1979) Ouch! (1980) Hot Day (1981) Lake Live ... On The Run (1982) No Time For Heroes (1984) Voices (1985) In The Midnight (1986) So What (1986) Greatest Hits (1990) Definitive Collection (1997) Paradise Way - The Very Best of Lake (2004) The Blast Of Silence (2005) Live (DVD) (2007)
