Andi Deris

Birthday: August 18, 1964

Birthplace: Karlsruhe

Height: 178cm

Weight: 68kg

Former band: Pink Cream 69

Musical Influences: Sweet, Kiss, Deep Purple, Aerosmith

Andreas Deris was born on August 18th, 1964 in Karlsruhe, Germany. Andi Deris has always been devoted to music. As an adolescent, at the young age of 15, Andi started out playing guitar, but switched from playing guitar to singing. He then formed his first band, called Paranoid. Two years later, at the age of 17, Andi’s band changed its name to Nameless. The drummer of Nameless was none other than Ralph Maison, who also played with him on his solo albums, Come In From The Rain and Done By Mirrors. Ralph has always been a very close friend of AndI Deris, since they were young and in grade school. Andi and Ralph later formed the band Kymera.

When Ralph quit to go to college Kosta Zafiriou joined the band. A few years later in 1987 AndI and Kosta formed the band Pink Cream 69 with Andi Deris on Vocals, Kosta Zafiriou on drums, Alfred Koffler on Guitars and Dennis Ward on bass. The band earned their stripes and became famous by winning Metal Hammer’s “Best New Band” award at the Rockfabrik in Ludwigsburg Germany. The band then signed their first record deal with CBS/Sony Music.

In 1989 Andi Deris and Pink Cream 69 released their debut self titled album to stellar reviews in the press. They played their first tour opening for White Lion in Europe and they played in America for the first time in 1990.

In 1991 Pink Cream 69 released their next album entitled “One Size Fits All”. The album reached the number one spot in many European countries making the band one of the premier hard rock acts in Europe. The band played many sold out shows, including 5 concerts in Japan that would be used for their first live video “Size it Up! Live in Japan!”.

In 1993 the band then released the album “Games People Play” which would be Andi’s last album with Pink Cream 69.

Andi Deris then joined the band Helloween in late 1993/early 1994 to replace Michael Kiske.

Andi’s presence in Helloween brought the band new life and when Master of the Rings was released it quickly brought Helloween back as one of the premier power metal bands in the world. Andi has since released many albums with the band such as “The Time of The Oath”, “High Live“, “Better Than Raw”, “Metal Jukebox”, “The Dark Ride”, “Rabbit Don’t Come Easy”, “Keeper of The Seven Keys - The Legacy”, and most recently a live CD entitled “Live in Sao Paulo” and a DVD entitled “Live on 3 Continents”.

Andi has also released two solo albums, “Come in From The Rain” in 1997 and “Done By Mirrors” in 2000. Currently he is in his studio writing for the next upcoming Helloween album due out in the fall.

Tony Webster - 3-6-2007

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