CD-Liner-Notes 
The Blizzards - Rock`n`Roll and Merseybeat from Stade, Germany
Star-Club Hamburg, those days the most famous Beat-Club of the world, existed, as everybody knows, from 1962 until 1969. About the same period the beat band THE BLIZZARDS from the little town of Stade near Hamburg were around. This group gained recognition far beyond Germany ’s borders. In the alphabetical list of “Treffpunkt der Welt-Elite” they rank between their musical models like CHUCK BERRY, FATS DOMINO or THE BEATLES. And they are listed in the large “Ultimus-Musiklexikon". The “All Music Guide” characterizes their music as Merseybeat. THE BLIZZARDS were officially formed as a trio in November 1961, but enlarged to a quartet in January 1962. From that summer on they became a sextet for a short spell of time. There had been only a few personal changes because of National Service. During their quite long existence the following musicians belonged to the band: JOACHIM BEUTLER on lead-guitar, bass-guitarists HORST GEORGE and GERNOT SCHAEFER, guitarists GERD”JERRY” DETHLEFS and JUERGEN NEHRKE and drummers DIETER MEYER and HORST KUPCZYK. These musiscians also were singers.
Exceptional stages of THE BLIZZARDS’ development was a live-performance at the SCANDINAVIAN BEAT FESTIVAL at the HITHOUSE, Copenhagen in 1965. Three titles had been recorded there: “Hang on Sloopy”, “Mr. Goofy” and “You really got me”, surprisingly released in 2000 and 2001. THE BLIZZARDS appeared in TV-Shows like “ Café Mo bei Hagenbeck”, “Aktuelle Schaubude”, “Drehscheibe” and “Beat-Special with The Blizzards and The Rattles”. For two days they performed at Star-Club in the same show like the WALKER BROTHERS, who just had become famous with their version of “The Sun Ain’t gonna shine anymore”.You could hear THE BLIZZARDS in live-interviews at Europawelle Saar, Radio Luxemburg or Deutschlandfunk, Cologne . And they accompanied singers like PETER KIRCHBERGER, DRAFI DEUTSCHER, SUZANNE DOUCET, DAVY JONES, TONY CAVANAUGH and HOWARD CARPENDALE.
In 1962 the band went to the DECCA-Studios in Hamburg for an audition, which turned out to be unsuccessful. The producing manager was not impressed by them. To him they sounded “too raw and too loud”, he insisted on a softer beat and lyrics in German language. Only two years later the band members decided to change their mind. In summer 1964 during their participation at a competition “We are looking for the Hamburg Beatles” iniciated by United Artists and held at the Star-Club, Hamburg , THE BLIZZARDS were discovered by producer SIEGFRIED E. LOCH. Loch took them under contract and so the first of all Star-Club-singles in German language was recorded.
Further singles were to follow, one LP and various samplers on PHILIPS-FONTANA and DECCA. Some of them were recorded with musicians like HOWIE CASEY (baritone-sax), JOHN PHILIPS (tenor-sax), both from THE STAR COMBO, KLAUS DOLDINGER (piano), INGFRIED HOFFMANN (organ) and JIMMY DOYLE (drums). The LP “I’m Your Guy” was highly rated in Scandinavia and in the UK . “Wie gewonnen, so zerronnen” could be heard all over Germany ’s radio stations but also over Radio Luxemburg. But their “smash hit” became the number “Hab' keine Lust, heut aufzustehn” (I’m not in the mood to get up today). It went straight to the top of the charts and stayed there for weeks. The DJs of the radio stations used this number as “Have a nice morning!” Co-band-founder JERRY DETHLEFS heard this song through his little transistor during a military exercise in northern Germany . After his National Service 1964 - 1966 he joined THE MINSTRELS, which also gained some fame through the Star Club. In April 1967 he rejoined THE BLIZZARDS.
Inspite of all these successes at live-perfomances between Copenhagen and Luxemburg, loads of fan mail and radio- and TV-performances, their producer was unable to convince the members to tour Germany and the neighbouring countries. That would have meant, that they had to interrupt their university studies and their safe daytime jobs. And that was the end of all recordings. Exactly on New Year’s eve 1969 THE BLIZZARDS said farewell to the music-scene. But there was no connection the final closing-down of the Star-Club on the same day. Months earlier HORST GEORGE and JUERGEN NEHRKE decided to move to Chile resp. Sardinia as teachers.
In 1983 the press celebrated the reunion of two of the original members DIETER MEYER and JERRY DETHLEFS with two regional still well-known musicians from the 60s, DITMAR RIESLING (THE MINSTRELS) and HORST WERNER (THE BEATNICS). The Group’s performance was praised as “Giant Comeback”. The new BLIZZARDS existed from 1983 till 1987 and had a lot of personnal changes. For a short spell of time singer FREDDY KOLOSSOW (MAMA BETTY’S BAND) joined. The repertoire was “back to the roots”, mainly songs from Buddy Holly, Chuck Berry, Little Richard, Eddie Cochran, Fats Domino and Jerry Lee Lewis.
GERNOT SCHAEFER, former public servant at German Railways, then owner of a flower-shop passed away in 2001. JOACHIM BEUTLER stopped working as a psychologist in 2005. HORST GEORGE retired as a school headmaster in Chile in 1997, since then he is director of an animal-protection-organisation in Puerto Montt. JUERGEN NEHRKE was a teacher in a village near Stade till he retired in 2004. HORST KUPCZYK retired as a car-mechanic in 2003. JERRY DETHLEFS had his last stage appearances in 1998 and 2004. He was a graduated fitness-trainer, which even brought him to Portugal and Spain . DIETER MEYER settled down for good in Kuala Lumpur , Malaysia , in 1997 after retiring as a manager in an international insurance brokery. He still is performing today with local jazz groups.
English translation and update 2007 by Dieter Meyer, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.
click "Liner-Notes CD 'The Blizzards - Best And Rarities', 2000", "Discography", “Pics Blizzards in the 60s", ”Pics 1st members of the Blizzards with new partners in the 80s"
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