Richard DeBastion

Those whose memories stretch back to the golden days of the Berlin acoustic club scene during the 1970’s may recall the English singer-songwriter with the “upside down” guitar. There were great evenings, first with the notorious quartet – Style, Henn, Merklin and de Bastion; the LP, produced by Jack White and released on Hansa International: “To our friends in prison” (1974). There was the trio “Ginger”, with Hansi Behrend (Ideal) and Erwin Brün, (1975-6) followed by the revived quartet, with Wölli Rhode (Toten Hosen) replacing Bob Style (1976-7).

In 1978 Richard joined the Edgar Broughton Band, recorded the LP’s “Parlez Vouz English?” (1978), “Live Hits Harder” (1979) and “The Legendary Edgar Broughton Band” (1980) but returned to Berlin in 1981 to play keyboards with prominent local rock and pop bands such as “Bel Ami” and “The Twins”. Back in Berlin, the emphasis began to shift from performance to composition. By the end of the 80’s international releases (Sally Oldfield, Justin Haywood, Peter Maffay) included Richard’s music and lyrics. More recently, he has written original scores for a number of UK and German theatre productions and has become a specialist in the field of contemporary composition and lyrics for educational purposes.

In 1987 Richard, backed by some of Berlin’s finest musicians, recorded the album “That’s Life” which includes the acclaimed ballad’s “That’s Life” and “Don’t end the Song” The album is now available on CD. Richard continues to perform as a soloist song-writer but is also currently enjoying the musical company of a number of old Hagelberger friends, as the pianist with John Vaughan and the “Gone Cats”.