JÜRGEN ZÖLLER

Jürgen Zöller was born in Cologne, Germany, and grew up in the little village of Hillscheid, near Koblenz and the Rhine River. After moving to Frankfurt in 1962, Jürgen thoroughly immersed himself in music. He saved his money and bought his first record, Kai Winding’s Comin’ Home. He also saw The Shaking Twisters in concert covering the Shadows, the Ventures, Joey Dee, and Chubby Checker.

After another British concert, Johnny and Mike and the Shades, Jürgen started a band of his own, The Gears. In 1965 Jürgen started playing semi-professionally with The King-Beats. The band won a recording contract in a contest and recorded their first single, a cover of Archibald the 2nd by American band Dipsy & The Doodles. Jürgen played with The King-Beats at clubs, schools, and town halls throughout Frankfurt and recorded two more singles. He also recorded a pseudo-live album with The Ad-Libs (the band recorded in a studio and added applause from a live gig to create the live album).

In 1968, The King-Beats disbanded and Jürgen, unsuccessfully, tried his hand at stardom in London. His attempt was interrupted by a six month stint in the army. After that, he sat in for the drummer of an all-girl band for a few months. In the early 1970s, Jürgen played with a handful of jazz-rock bands that didn’t make it very far. Then he got a gig with a professional band playing clubs and hotels around St. Moritz. They performed every variety of music imaginable and, after two years of playing every day, Jürgen finally considered himself a drummer.

In 1976 Jürgen did his first recording as a studio drummer with Wolfgang Ambros, which began a long career as a studio musician. In the late 1970s Jürgen toured with international band Supermax around the world. In the 1980s Jürgen began working as a producer as well, and his first credit was with The Rodgau Monotones.

In 1987 Jürgen joined BAP and concluded, "and that’s where I still am, and probably will be, until my bones and/or muscles force me to stop." While touring and recording with BAP, Jürgen continued performing with other musicians, such as Tony Carey, Gerd Kister, All Colours, and The Seán Treacy Band.