Achim Reichel

Achim Reichel (born January 28, 1944) is a musician, producer and songwriter from Hamburg, Germany. He is known for his 1991 single "Aloha Heja He", as well as for having fronted British Invasion-influenced band The Rattles, who, among other achievements, were selected to open for The Beatles on the Fabs' last-ever tour of Europe in 1966. In 1968, he co-founded the psychedelic rock group Wonderland which also included English ex-patriate Les Humphries who would soon start his own Les Humphries Singers. In 1971, Reichel left the group for his own progressive Krautrock solo project, A. R. & Machines, of which the first album Die grüne Reise (The green journey) was critically acclaimed and likened to bands such as Kraftwerk and Tangerine Dream. Since 1975, Reichel has taken a keen interest in recording traditional German songs and classic poetry as modern-style music, which includes such albums as Dat Shanty Alb'm (1975), Klabautermann (1977), Regenballade (1978), Fledermaus (1988), Melancholie & Sturmflut (1991, including the hit Aloha Heja He), Wilder Wassermann (2002), and Volxlieder (2006).