Peter Plate (born 1 July 1967) is a German musician, singer, songwriter and record producer. Between 1991 and 2012, he was the keyboardist and occasional vocalist of Rosenstolz, a German pop music duo that had chart hits in Germany, Austria and Switzerland.
Early life
Peter Plate was born on 1 July 1967
[ "Rosenstolz Magazin - Steckbriefe" (in German). Official Rosenstolz website. Retrieved 12 January 2014.][ "laut.de-Biographie - Rosenstolz" (in German). laut.de. Retrieved 12 January 2014.] in New Delhi, where his grandfather was a diplomat, and came to Germany at the age of three, spending his childhood first in
Hamburg and then in
Goslar. He learnt to play the
electronic organ during his youth and wrote a musical with friends at the age of 17. As a young adult, he moved to
Braunschweig, where he did his
Zivildienst in a retirement home. While living in Braunschweig, he became a student of
social pedagogy, but did not complete his studies, and was also a member of a short-lived band. In December 1990, he moved with his partner Ulf Leo Sommer to
Berlin, where he found a job in a hair salon.
[Rosenstolz (1997). Lieb mich, wenn du kannst, nimm mich, nimm mich ganz (3rd ed., July 1998) (in German). Munich, Germany: dtv. .]
Music career
1991–2012: Rosenstolz
Plate met singer AnNa R. shortly after moving to Berlin.
They got together to write songs, performing them at local venues as pop duo Rosenstolz.
The duo were soon discovered by record producer Tom Müller,
after which they were able to work on studio albums and develop their fanbase.
Over Rosenstolz's two-decade history, the duo released 12 studio albums, 4 live albums and over 40 singles
[ "Peter Plate | Ich" (in German). Official Peter Plate website. Retrieved 12 January 2014.] and achieved chart success in Germany, Austria and Switzerland.
[ "Discographie - Rosenstolz" (in German). charts.de. GfK Entertainment. Retrieved 26 October 2014.] Five of Rosenstolz's studio albums went to No. 1 in the German albums chart.
[ "Chartverfolgung / Rosenstolz / Longplay" (in German). musicline.de. PHONONET GmbH. Retrieved 12 January 2014.] The duo split up at the end of 2012, but left open the possibility of a future reunion.
[ "Rosenstolz trennen sich nach mehr als 20 Jahren" (in German). stern.de. 20 December 2012.]
As the musician in Rosenstolz, Plate composed the music of the band's songs[CD insert notes (2000) (in German). Kassengift. Rosenstolz. Universal Music Group. 0653772.][Neumann, Olaf. "Peter Plate von Rosenstolz: „Wir mussten uns selbst reinlegen“" (in German). Westdeutsche Zeitung. 21 September 2011.] Plate was also involved in producing Rosenstolz's studio albums, Objekt der Begierde (1996) being the first album which he co-produced.
2012–present: Solo career
In April 2013, Plate released his debut solo album
Schüchtern ist mein Glück. Most of the songs of the album were co-written by Plate with Sommer and/or with Daniel Faust,
[Niederleuthner, Gerhard. "133 / Interview Peter Plate" (in German). PRIDE. 14 March 2013.] a producer and musician who was previously involved in recording Rosenstolz's albums.
The album reached No. 29 in the German albums chart.
[ "Discographie - Peter Plate" (in German). charts.de. GfK Entertainment. Retrieved 26 October 2014.]
The team of Plate, Sommer and Faust was also involved in other projects. They composed the songs and film music for (2014), a German children's film directed by Detlev Buck.[ "Die Musik zum Film" (in German). Official Bibi & Tina website. Retrieved 20 July 2014.] In addition, they composed the songs for Romeo & Julia (2014), a German musical based on a retranslation of William Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet by intendant Daniel Karasek and dramaturge Kerstin Daiber.[Schildbach, Tycho. "Rosenstolz-Team komponiert Songs für „Romeo & Julia“" (in German). Der Tagesspiegel. 19 March 2014.]
Collaborations
Plate has collaborated with various musical artists. They include French singer
Patricia Kaas, for whom he was involved in writing and producing the song "Herz eines Kämpfers" (2005).
[Gebauer, Jan. "Peter Plate macht es mit Patricia Kaas" (in German). queer.de. 19 April 2005.] Plate has also collaborated with German pop duo 2raumwohnung. Together with Sommer, he worked with the duo to write their singles "Besser geht's nicht" and "36 Grad" (both 2007)
[Fürst, Petra. "2raumwohnung - 36 Grad" (in German). WEB.DE. 8 February 2007.] and "Rette mich später" (2009).
[Kurtz, Andreas. "Noch ein bisschen Zeit" (in German). Berliner Zeitung. 30 October 2009.] A further collaboration was with English singer
Melanie C, who came to Berlin to record "Let There Be Love" (2011), a cover version of the Rosenstolz hit "Liebe ist alles" (2004).
[ "Melanie singt Rosenstolz-Hit “Let There Be Love”" (in German). Official Melanie C website. 23 September 2011.]
Activism
During their years with Rosenstolz, Plate and AnNa R. undertook various activities to raise money for AIDS charities.
For their efforts in the fight against HIV and AIDS, they were awarded the
Bundesverdienstkreuz (Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany) in 2011.
[ "Rosenstolz mit Bundesverdienstkreuz ausgezeichnet" (in German). queer.de. 1 September 2011.]
At Rosenstolz concerts, Plate regularly spoke out against the views of the Pope on homosexuality.[Kittel, Sören. ""Der Papst akzeptiert meine Art zu lieben nicht"" (in German). Die Welt. 26 September 2011.] In 1999, Rosenstolz released the single "Ja, ich will" in support of the introduction of same-sex marriage. A few years later, the duo wrote "Laut", an anti-war protest song.[Rosenstolz (2003). Live aus Berlin (DVD) (in German). Universal Music Group. 9800282. Plate makes a statement prior to the performance of "Laut".]
In December 2013, Plate, together with Carolina Bigge, initiated a campaign to highlight the situation of homosexuals in Russia following the passing of laws banning "homosexual propaganda". They released the charity single "Zehn (Für Natascha und Olga)", with proceeds going to support groups in Russia, and also headed a demonstration outside the Russian embassy in Berlin.[ "Offener Brief: Peter Plate von Rosenstolz kämpft für die Rechte von Homosexuellen in Russland" (in German). Rolling Stone. 3 December 2013.][ "Peter Plate vor Botschaft in Berlin: Protest gegen Homosexuellen-Diskriminierung in Russland" (in German). Rolling Stone. 13 December 2013.]
Personal life
Plate first met Sommer in 1990,
and they entered into a registered partnership in 2002.
[ "Peter Plate legt Pop auf" (in German). Berliner Zeitung. 11 October 2002.] The couple later separated around 2010, having been together for 20 years.
In an interview in 2011, Plate stated that he and Sommer remained on good terms with each other and were neighbours.
[Rüth, Steffen. "Rosenstolz ist wieder da - Interview" (in German). Main-Post. 20 September 2011.]
Discography
Studio albums
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| "—" denotes album that did not chart or was not released. |
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Singles
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| 2013
! scope="row" | "Wir beide sind Musik" | — | Schüchtern ist mein Glück |
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| "—" denotes single that did not chart or was not released. |
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External links
