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Drummer Klaus Scharfschwerdt on stage (2013)
Photo:
Luca Teuchmann/WireImage/Getty Images
In the 1980s he was considered one of the best drummers in East Germany.
And even after the fall of the Wall, Klaus Scharfschwertt celebrated success with his band, the Puhdys.
Now the longtime drummer of the East German rock band is dead. He died of cancer last Friday at the age of 68 in a Berlin clinic, as the manager of his band Neuland confirmed on Tuesday.
The family had previously announced the death via a Facebook post.
“He was always strong and full of hope.
We shared this hope and were firmly convinced: He can do it!
Unfortunately, it shouldn't be like that," his family wrote on Scharfschwert's Facebook profile.
Before Scharfschwertt became a professional musician, he worked as a carpenter.
He played in other bands before joining the Puhdys in 1979.
By 1989, the band had sold around 20 million records worldwide.
The Puhdys were allowed to perform in Western countries and received the "National Prize of the GDR" (for art and culture).
In 1989, shortly before the end of the GDR, the band broke up in the meantime.
Only three years later, however, they made a comeback with the ice hockey anthem »We want to see the polar bears!«
However, the band broke up in 2016.
However, Scharfschwerdt did not retire from the stage, he founded the band Scharfschwerts Neuland.
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