Who was/is Big Göff And The Tigers ? - CDs, Vinyl LPs, DVD and more
BIG GÖFF AND THE TIGERS
After the guitarist Bernd von Mahren and the bass guitarist Heiner Dahl had first made music, they were joined in 1960 by the singer and lead guitarist Wolfgang 'Big Göff' Gronau.
Peter Hesslein, guitar (The Giants): "That was a long, blond guy. I sold him a Burns guitar back in the day."
Gronau: "We started out like a lot of others, as a skiffle group with tea chest bass and washboard. We rehearsed once a week at the Haus der Jugend at Neuer Pferdemarkt. After a while, we had quite a crowd."
In Dieter Wendt, the three found the right drummer for the group in 1961.
Herbert Bornholdt, drums (The Four Renders): "They also practiced at the Hansischer Jugendbund and were the house band in this youth club at the Stintfang for a few years."
Gronau: "When the director of the Haus der Jugend am Stintfang took over the Haus der Jugend at the Farmsen trotting track, he hired us for a few marks to play there, too."
When Big Göff And The Tigers entered the second Star Club competition at the end of 1963, they could already look back on a very active past. They had performed at the Kaisersaal, the Klaubautermann, the Hotel Reichshof and the Kaiserkeller. In the Kaiserkeller they had even emerged as winners of a talent competition.
On December 1, 1963, they performed at the Star Club in second place in the performance order, right after the Bats, and still came in sixth place overall, which was certainly due to Gronau's outstanding vocal performance. This position allowed them to take part in the recording that was supposed to document the competition, but was made up for at another date at the Star Club (see German Bonds).
At that time, a record release was considered a ticket to the big, if not the very big, business. So this recording was also highlighted in and on all available advertising material.
A weekend performance on May 2 and 3, 1964 in the Colibri-American-Club Bünde was announced accordingly: Big Göff & The Tiger (sic) - records on Ariola and Philips - long-playing record 'Twist Time in the Star-Club' - Just Fallin' In Love - I'll Never Get Over You - Mean Woman Blues.
Gronau: "This was a Star Club event. We were startled ourselves when we saw the big sign on the back wall of the stage."
The Star Club, in fact, held numerous special or even sensational guest shows in the province, featuring a main attraction such as King Size Taylor And The Dominoes, with one or two up-and-coming groups on the side. Big Göff And TheTigers participated in a few of these events, performing at several venues in one evening.
"However, we stood out visually from the other groups a lot because of our more middle-class appearance. We were also occasionally asked about the fact that we didn't even wear (Beatles) boots, for example." (Wolfgang Gronau)
With changing drummers, Big Göff And The Tigers mixed in the North German beat scene until the beginning of 1966. Although they didn't belong to the first guard of the Rattles, Rivets, Bonds, Giants and Four Renders, they played everywhere in Hamburg where the more popular groups also performed, such as Tabaris, Tina Lou, Hit Club and Top Ten.
In December 1965, they competed once again in the Star Club competition. However, they did not make it to the top group and certainly not to one of the first places.
Says Gronau, "We were pretty quiet guys, and we didn't plan on being stars."
At the beginning of 1966, Big Göff And The Tigers disbanded.
Heiner Dahl worked as a locksmith for Lufthansa, Bernd von Mahren as a banker and Wolfgang Gronau as a master chimney sweep. Nothing is known about the whereabouts of the numerous drummers.© Bear Family Records®.
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