Herman Rarebell began his life on the 18th of November 1949 in Saarbrucken, Germany, his zodiac sign being Scorpio. By the age of 12 his passion for drumming was so extreme that he would practice on anything available, including an old sloped chair. His song writing was influenced by the music of Led Zeppelin, a group which he still loves.
After qualifying in drums and piano at the Music School in Saarbrucken, and after he played with Mastermen (1965) and with Fuggs Blues (1968) he moved on to England from 1971 to 1977 where he was hoping to find the next great Heavy Metal Band and there Michael Schenker introduced him to the Scorpions and began his international career as drummer and songwriter for the Scorpions. He was a driving force for the band, leading it with the full sound of his drums and especially during the live appearances, making the band perform the songs in a spectacular way. He was an important composer in the history of the group, writing classic songs like "Another piece of meat", "Falling in Love" and the second single from Savage Amusement "Passion rules the game" and writing the lyrics for some of the most classic songs of the band like "Rock You Like a Hurricane", "Make It Real", "Dynamite", "Blackout", "Arizona", "Bad Boys Running Wild", "Don't Stop At the Top", "Tease Me Please Me" and other songs.
In 1982 he released his first solo album Nip In The Bud (which he re-recorded as Herman ze German & Friends with the help of some friends of his as guest such as members of Dokken, Great White, Ratt etc.) It is worth noting that he is and was the only musician of the Scorpions who did his own solo project while still a full member of the band.
In April of 1996 he left the band following their 1993 album Face the Heat and the third Scorpions' live album Live Bites. His career with the band has seen his name on an international reputation boasting 32 million album sales. Surely with his absence, the consistency of the group was lost and the change in the sound was obvious to all the fans.
Maybe the fatigue from the non stop touring, maybe the disagreements regarding the recordings and musical directions of the upcoming Scorpions album (Pure Instinct) and making the acquaintance with Prince Albert were some of the reasons he decided to leave the group and to get involved with a new challenge, to become a producer and to co-find the record company Monaco Records. He participated in many of the projects as a drummer and he released a second solo album under the label called Stings Like a Scorpion, while he had already released Nip in the bud and Herman Ze German and Friends while he was still with the Scorpions which were produced by Ric Browde. The two albums are essentially the same but the latter has re-recorded vocals and a re-mix courtesy of Michael Wagener. The track "I'll Say Goodbye" was co-written with Dokken main man Don Dokken. Artists on the album include bassist Juan Croucier of Ratt, vocalists Don Dokken, Jack Russell of Great White, Charlie Huhn of Victory, Steve Marriott and guitarists Chris Storey and David Cooper. His artistic restlessness lead him to a project with his wife Claudia Raab, former 7 Sins saxophonist and well known actress, and released a debut album The Rhythm of Art. Its musical direction was atmospheric dance music with saxophone, drums and electronic music. Herman also performed with some live appearances under the Art Meets Music project with shows which would become a lot more than regular Rock n' Roll events, also featuring dancers as well as featuring original paintings by Rolling Stones guitarist Ronnie Wood and Ronald Muri, founder of the "Pop-Expressionist Movement". He participated in the Drum Legends project with his friend Pete York (ex Spencer Davis Group) where they released a live CD & DVD with the contribution of Jazz drummer C.Antonini. He also released a great 'soft' album with the Monte Carlo Pop Orchestra (Let me take you to the moon) as well as a single with the singer of Unlimited Ray Slijngaard (a remake of the song "The Eye of The Tiger") showing his need to experiment.
The Scorpions put on a celebratory event including former members for their headline show at the Wacken Open Air festival on the 3rd of August 2006 billed "A night to remember: A journey in time". Herman was invited by his old friends to join them on stage as their guest and the band perform many archive songs featuring Uli Jon Roth, Herman Rarebell and Michael Schenker.
This inspired him to put together his own group and go on tour and led to Herman announcing the formation of the project Herman Rarebell And Band for a new album Take It As It Comes !
Herman lives since 2008 back in England again! It was in Brighton where he met Michael Schenker again, and they formed a Band together. Under the Name “Michael Schenker's Temple of Rock”, they be touring the World since 2011.
