Hansi Kürsch

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Hansi Kürsch

Hansi Kürsch (born August 10, 1966 in Lank-Latum, Germany) is the lead vocalist of Power Metal band Blind Guardian. He was also the bassist in Blind Guardian until the 1998 album Nightfall in Middle-Earth. He is considered by many to be one of the best vocalists in heavy metal. On some of Blind Guardian's earlier recordings, Kürsch's German accent may sound like a lisp to English speakers.^{[citation needed]}

One of the things that is perhaps most impressive about Kürsch's singing is his practice of layering his own voice innumerable times in complex, overlapping harmonies on his recordings, effectively creating the atmosphere of a huge choir. His vocal range is formidable - for example, the track "Chant" on the first Demons & Wizards album is comprised of vocals only, in the style of a traditional Gregorian Chant. Hansi's is the only voice on the song.

Over the years, Hansi has developed his harmonizing and layering techniques more and more, to the point that some fans of Blind Guardian admitted the vocals could be a bit overwhelming at times (particularly on the 2002 release A Night At The Opera, although that album featured several guest vocalists). However, Blind Guardian's newest release, A Twist In The Myth, has toned the complexity down a bit for the sake of making the songs more suitable for playing live (As stated by the band in the audio interview bonus track on the album).

He is married and has a son named Jonas.

Hansi has done guest vocals on the following albums, in the following songs (listed chronologically):