The Rattles

The Rattles
2006 live at the Maiwoche in Osnabrück, Germany
Background information
Origin	Hamburg, Germany
Genres	beat, rock
Years active	1960 (1960)–present
Labels	Edel Records (2011) Star-Club Records (1960s), Philips and others
Website	rattles.de
Members	Herbert Hildebrandt Dicky Tarrach Eggert Johannsen Manne Kraski
Past members	Achim Reichel Frank Dostal Edna Bejarano more: see below

The Rattles are a rock band (initially beat group) from Germany. Their biggest selling record was their 1970 recorded song, "The Witch", which sold over one million copies globally.^[1]

Career

2006 live at the Maiwoche in Osnabrück, Germany

The Rattles performed in Hamburg, and played at the same venues as The Beatles on several occasions in 1962.^[1] In 1964 the group recorded "Zip-A-Dee-Doo-Dah", which charted in the UK. In 1968 they recorded their first version of "The Witch", with vocals by Henner Hoier.^[1] The band's records sold well in Germany during the 1960s.

Their second version of "The Witch" in 1970, this time with vocals by Edna Bejarano, became their only international hit.^[1] "The Witch" appeared in the Top 10 on the UK Singles Chart, the top 20 in Austria, and reached the Billboard Hot 100 in the U.S., the first German record to reach that chart. It eventually sold over one million copies.^[1] Rosetta Stone released a gothic rock cover of "The Witch" in the 90s.

Members

• Achim Reichel - vocals, guitar
• Herbert Hildebrandt - bass
• Hajo (Hans Joachim) Kreutzfeld - guitar
• Reinhard "Dicky" Tarrach - drums

(This was the basic mid 1960s line-up.^[2] By the time of "The Witch" they had all left and successively been replaced by other musicians, with Edna Bejarano now being the lead singer.)

Past and present members:

• Achim Reichel (vocals, guitar, 1960–66, 1988–91)
• Bernd Schulz (keyboards, 1967–68)
• Dieter Sadlowsky (drums, 1960–63)
• Edna Bejarano (vocals, 1970–73)
• Eggert Johannsen [Martin Storm] (vocals, rhythm guitar, 1994–present)
• Franz "Piggy" Jarnach (keyboards, vocals, 1991–95)
• Frank Dostal (vocals, 1966–67)
• Frank Mille (guitar, vocals, 1970–77)
• Frank Seidel (keyboards, 1996–present)
• Georg "George" Meier (guitar, vocals, 1969–70, 1974–77)
• George Miller (drums, 1975–77)
• Hans Joachim "Hajo" Kreutzfeld (guitar, 1961–65)
• Henner Hoier (keyboards, vocals, 1968–70, 1988–93)
• Herbert Bornholdt (drums, 1973)
• Herbert Hildebrandt (bass, vocals, 1960–68, 1988–present)
• Hermann "Rugy" Rugenstein (guitar, vocals, 1965–68)
• Jochen "Lu Lafayette" Peters (keyboards, 1973–77)
• Kurt "Zappo" Lüngen (bass, 1968–73, 1974)
• Linda Fields (vocals, 1974–77)
• Manne Kraski (guitar, vocals, 1991–present)
• Peter "Peet" Becker (drums, 1968–70)
• Rainer Degner (guitar, vocals, 1967–69)
• Reinhard "Dicky" Tarrach (drums, 1963–67, 1988–present)
• Volker Reinhold (guitar, vocals, 1960–61)
• Wolfgang "Al" Brock (drums, 1974)

Discography

Singles

Albums

• Twist im Star-Club (1963)
• Twist-Time im Star-Club Hamburg (1964)
• Live im Star-Club Hamburg (1964)
• The Searchers meet the Rattles (1964)
• Rattles (1965)
• Star Club Show 1 (1966)
• Liverpool Beat (1966)
• Hurra, die Rattles kommen (Soundtrack to the film of the same name) (1966)
• Remember Finale Ligure (1967)
• The Witch (1971)
• Tonight Starring Edna (1972)
• Gin Mill (1974)
• Attention (1975)
• Hot Wheels (1988)
• Painted Warrior (1990)
• New Wonderland (1993)
• Live (1997)
• Say Yeah! (2007)

Compilations

• Die deutschen Singles A&B (1963–1965), Vol. 1 (2000)
• Die deutschen Singles A&B (1965–1969), Vol. 2 (2000)
• Come On And Sing - Best (2004)
• Goldene für die Rattles (1970)
• Greatest Hits (1997)

References

External links

• The Rattles discography at Discogs
• Richie Unterberger, The Rattles at Allmusic