Echt (band)
Echt was a German pop band from Flensburg, active from 1997 to 2002. The five members were Gunnar Astrup, Kai Fischer, Kim Frank, Andreas Puffpaff and Florian Sump. They started as a school band at Kurt-Tucholsky-Schule in Flensburg in 1994, and from 1996 they were managed by Jonas Schäfer, who helped them get a record deal.
Their debut album, Echt, came out in 1998 and reached number 5 on the German charts. The second album, Freischwimmer, released in 1999, topped the charts for two weeks and stayed on them for 47 weeks. The singles Du trägst keine Liebe in dir and Weinst du reached the Top Ten. In 2000 they recorded a cover of Rio Reiser’s Junimond for the Crazy soundtrack, which reached number 12.
Echt were often seen as a boy band with many teenage fans, but they stressed they were a real school band with organic roots. For their third album, Recorder (2001), they wrote all the songs themselves. Although it received good reviews, sales were disappointing and it alienated parts of their teen fanbase. They disbanded in 2002.
In 2011 Echt reunited briefly for a memorial concert for Walter Welke. In 2023, former singer Kim Frank sang a medley of Echt hits on ZDF Magazin Royale. A three-part documentary, ECHT – Unsere Jugend, directed by Kim Frank, used around 250 hours of footage. Frank said the band members are still friends, but there are no plans for a reunion.
This page was last edited on 2 February 2026, at 10:08 (CET).