Farin Urlaub
Berlin cult doctor turns 60
Frontman of the Berlin band Die Ärzte for over 40 years: Farin Urlaub.
© imago/Becker&Bredel
Unbelievable but true – punk icon Farin Urlaub turns 60 today. He has a simple recipe for eternal youth.
Vacation as a philosophy of life
Fans of the Berlin musician know that this man’s name says it all. Back in 1982, when he had to come up with a stage name shortly after founding the Ärzte, his favorite hobby was going on vacation. Consequently, he resorted to a contracted form of “Go on vacation” with Farin Urlaub. The surprisingly long-lasting success of the funk punk band would actually allow him to spend a large part of his life on vacation or traveling. Depending on the source, Urlaub has now traveled to between 100 and 150 countries, and he is particularly fond of the African continent.
Awakening experience at the Swedish campfire
By Spotify podcast “Travel, Travel” He revealed to the presenters in 2020 that his passion for traveling and music was awakened at the same time. There he reported on a youth trip to Sweden on which his parents sent him at the age of nine to “finally get rid of him.” About his return from this three-week trip, he said: “I no longer had a voice because I basically sang for three weeks. There was a songbook that I memorized after four hours. And then we sat around the campfire every evening and sang and I knew that that was my life. Traveling and singing, that’s it now.”
Luckily for him, he has been able to seamlessly combine these two passions not only in his free time, but also in his job as the singer of the “Best Band in the World” for 41 years now. During this time he has gone on 24 tours with the Ärzte, as well as other tours with his solo project Farin Urlaub Racing Team, which has existed since 2002. The tour for the band’s fortieth anniversary in 2022 had the smallest radius and took the Berlin medical community through a total of twelve different clubs and concert arenas in the capital.
Wanderlust photographer Farin Urlaub
Over time, his extensive travel activities gave rise to another passion, which he now pursues at a professional level. For several years, Urlaub has been publishing the photographs he takes on his travels in opulent illustrated books, four of which have been published to date. In 2006 he traveled through India and Bhutan for six months in a converted off-road vehicle and published his impressions in the illustrated book “India & Bhutan. On the Road 1” in 2007. A photo book about Australia and East Timor followed in 2011, and in 2015 the two volumes “Unterwegs 3” and “Unterwegs 4” with photos of his trips to Africa were published.
Holiday reported to the station n-tv, that he even received words of appreciation for these works from the German star photographer Jim Rocket, 72, whom he admires, who commented on them with the words “What the Farin wrests from the landscapes is not that bad.” The doctor-singer donated all proceeds from these photo books, including to the organization “Doctors Without Borders”. “The trips were reward enough,” says Farin Urlaub. “And I’m a rock star and can afford it. Plus, I don’t want anyone to get the impression that I’m enriching myself off of people who are poorer than me. There are a lot of portraits in the books, too.”
Drug-free chief physician
It can be assumed that Doctor Without Borders will be able to pursue his tireless wanderlust for a long time to come. For a rock musician, he leads a surprisingly healthy life. He is a militant non-smoker, does not take drugs, eats a vegetarian diet and is considered the best-known alcohol abstainer in the German music scene. Even on his travels, he consistently avoids unhealthy smoke. In addition he once explained to the magazine “Falter”: “I prefer to go where there are no people at all, and then there’s usually no smoking there. At most, if there’s a forest fire there, but then I’m more likely to leave.”
May the best singer in the world be able to go away often – and then always come back with new ideas and songs in his head.