{"id":1548,"date":"2018-04-25T02:55:56","date_gmt":"2018-04-25T00:55:56","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/oliverhartmann.com\/hartmann-bio\/"},"modified":"2026-03-22T15:58:59","modified_gmt":"2026-03-22T14:58:59","slug":"hartmann-bio","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/oliverhartmann.com\/en\/hartmann-bio\/","title":{"rendered":"bio"},"content":{"rendered":"

<\/div><\/div>

The story behind Hartmann<\/h4>\n<\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div>

\"\"<\/p>\n

The history of Hartmann began in summer 2004 when Oliver Hartmann decided to record his first solo album. During this time he was already well known as a highly respected singer on the international music scene since the late 90\u2019s due to four successful records with the power metal band At Vance, his participation in top sellers as Tobias Sammet\u2019s Avantasia and many other well known productions in the hard rock and metal scene. During the following months the band played their first single shows and festivals in Germany and luckily got the chance in summer 2006 to be touring over Europe for the first time as support for rock legend Toto. In autumn 2006 the band went back to the studio to record the second album \u2018Home\u2019 with a slightly rougher and modernized band sound. Released in spring 2007 the album again received great critics.<\/p>\n

This release was followed by two support tours for House Of Lords in early spring 2007 and for The Hooters in summer 2007. In September 2007 the band played two exclusive shows in the intimate atmosphere of the old German variet\u00e9 theater \u2018Pegasus\u2019 in Bensheim\/Germany. Supported by the three amazing background singers Ina Morgan, Kolinda Brozovic and Tiffany Kirkland as special guests both shows were filmed and recorded for the live DVD\/CD \u2018Handmade\u2019 which was released in spring 2008. It is uniting outstanding material like real \u201ehandmade\u201c versions of both studio albums, previously unreleased tracks and a cover version of John Miles\u2019 \u2018Music\u2019.<\/p>\n

After Oliver\u2019s world-wide tour in summer 2008 as guitarist and singer for Tobias Sammet\u2019s Avantasia and several European shows with Hartmann as special guest for Edguy in spring 2009, the third album \u20183\u2019 was released in late 2009 on the new founded and artist owned record label SONIC 11. During the following two years the band played numerous shows and festivals and was asked to be special guest on tours of bands such as Mother\u2019s Finest, Uriah Heep and Y&T.<\/p>\n

In mid of 2011 Oliver and the band started again to write songs for a new studio album of Hartmann and in April 2012, right after Oliver had been touring with the successful live project \u2018Rock Meets Classic\u2019 (feat. Ian Gillan, Jimi Jamison, Steve Lukather, Chris Thompson and Robin Beck), the recordings for \u2018Balance\u2019 were completed. This fourth album, released by Avenue of Allies Label in June 2012, was once again mixed by Sascha Paeth at Gate Studio and offered top-produced, melodic Rock music with a modern approach and international class.<\/p>\n

In summer 2012 Hartmann was again special guest on Toto\u2019s tour in Germany \u2013 the last concerts with the band for drummer and former member Dario Ciccioni who got married and decided to move to New York. After a few auditions searching for a new drummer Markus Kullmann (Voodoo Circle, Desperadoz, Glenn Hughes) joined the band in autumn to play his first gigs with Hartmann on a double headliner tour in November and December 2012 with German hard rock act Jaded Heart.<\/p>\n

In 2012 Oliver joined \u2018ROCK MEETS CLASSIC\u2018 feat. rock legends as Ian Gillan, Alice Cooper, Paul Rodgers, Steve Lukather and many others. Later the same year the HARTMANN album \u2018Balance\u2018 was released receiving great critics world wide, often rated as \u201ebest album of the band\u201c and accompanied by tours again with TOTO and JADED HEART. After the compilation \u2018The Best Is Yet To Come\u2018 in 2013, another two tours of Oliver with RMC, AVANTASIA\u2018s \u2018Ghostlights-Tour\u2018 and the production of the Live-DVD\/CD \u2019Barefoot To The Moon\u2019 with his Pink Floyd Tribute ECHOES, the studio album \u2018Shadows & Silhouettes\u2018 was released in 2016. With its numerous ballads and many acoustic elements this album is one of the band\u2019s calmer outputs.<\/p>\n

In early 2018 the heavier follow up \u2019Hands On The Wheel\u2019 was released, which contains the duet \u2019Simple man\u2019 featuring MR. BIG\u2019s vocalist Eric Martin and received again great critics world wide. Besides many concerts and festivals in Germany, Austria and Switzerland the tour also included 4 headliner shows in Spain for the first time.<\/p>\n

After touring in Europe with \u2018Hands on the wheel\u2019 in 2018\/2019 and Oliver\u2019s participation on AVANTASIA\u2019s world wide \u2018Moonglow-Tour\u2019 his band HARTMANN celebrated their 15th anniversary in 2020 with the latest album \u201915 Pearls And Gems\u2019. Released in April 2020 the album contains brand new songs as \u2018Walking on a thin line\u2019 , well chosen cover tracks as the duet \u2018When the rain begins to fall\u2018 featuring Ina Morgan, member of AVANTASIA and one of Germany\u2019s greatest female rock vocalists and live versions of the band\u2019s songs that have been recorded on their concerts during the past 15 years. These live recordings also include the outstanding duet \u2018Brothers\u2019 feat. Avantasia\u2019s mastermind Tobias Sammet on vocals, originally recorded as studio version for the album \u20183\u2019 in 2009, which has been re-released contemporaneous with the new album.<\/p>\n

After postponing and cancelling all planned and confirmed anniversary touring dates due to the pandemic, the good bye from guitarist and former member Mario Reck, the band around Oliver Hartmann decided to replace the release concert at Colossaal Aschaffenburg \/ Germany with a special live stream on YouTube and Facebook in June 2020. Besides the participation of former members and guest musicians the band got reinforcement on board for this show with the long-time colleague, vocalist and guitarist Ina Morgan (Avantasia, ex-Udo Lindenberg, Tony Carey). Due to demand of many fans this concert is also available in the band\u2019s online shop named \u201915th Anniversary Concert\u2019.<\/p>\n

With a special \u2018handmade\u2019 acoustic format, a modified line-up again including Ina Morgan on vocals and guitar the band caught up the postponed tour dates with 15 open air shows during their \u201915th Anniversary Acoustic Tour\u2019 in summer and autumn 2021.<\/p>\n

With a special \u2018handmade\u2019 acoustic format and a modified line-up again including Ina Morgan on vocals and guitar the band caught up their postponed tour dates with 15 open air shows during their \u201915th Anniversary Acoustic Tour\u2019 in summer and autumn 2021. In the same as well as the following year the work on new song material continued constantly, whereupon in July 2022 with \u201cThe Gun\u201d the first of four singles of the current album \u201cGet Over It\u201d has been released. Even though HARTMANN has continued the unique excellent mix between traditional rock \/ hard rock and modernity, a special focus was placed on the guitar work during the whole production which was enthusiastically taken up by fans and press worldwide. After a few summer festivals in 2022 the band played the extended \u201cGet Over It-Tour\u201d between September 2022 and March 2023, which included shows in Germany, Switzerland, Spain and Belgium.<\/p>\n

After a break of almost two years, the band has now celebrated their 20th anniversary in 2025 with a new album and their \u201cTwenty Times Colder-Tour\u201d in autumn last year, with eleven shows in Germany and Switzerland.<\/p>\n

Following the departure of longtime drummer Markus Kullmann and keyboardist Markus Nanz, the current lineup includes bassist and founding member Armin Donderer (formerly of FREEDOM CALL and the SPENCER DAVIS GROUP), drummer Oliver Schulte, who has already supported the band on two tours in Spain, as well as the fantastic keyboardist Lisa Mueller, known for her work with ROCK MEETS CLASSIC and tours with Peter Maffay, Glenn Hughes, and many others.<\/p>\n

The first live shows with this lineup will take place in October 2026, where the band will tour and play three shows in Sweden for the first time.<\/p>\n<\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"","protected":false},"author":6,"featured_media":0,"parent":0,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"100-width.php","meta":{"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-1548","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"yoast_head":"\nbio - HARTMANN<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/oliverhartmann.com\/en\/hartmann-bio\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"bio - HARTMANN\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/oliverhartmann.com\/en\/hartmann-bio\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"HARTMANN\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"http:\/\/www.facebook.com\/HartmannBand\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2026-03-22T14:58:59+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/oliverhartmann.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/04\/hartmann2-2-e1649262913789.png\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1850\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"1490\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/png\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"7 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/oliverhartmann.com\\\/en\\\/hartmann-bio\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/oliverhartmann.com\\\/en\\\/hartmann-bio\\\/\",\"name\":\"bio - 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