Daniela Mühleis & Band

Daniela Mühleis & Band

Biography

The band's story begins back in 1979 when Daniela first got together with the Swiss group "Cargo". First live successes were followed by a series of appearances on Swiss TV in 1981, which led to an engagement for a live performance at the Zurich premiere of the film "A Coal Miner's Daughter".

1981 was to be a great year: the band was one of seven local groups chosen (from 48 hopefuls) to appear in the National Country and Western Festival in Zurich. A good program and strong performance led to their finishing third, with two tracks on the joint album cut live at the festival. More TV dates followed, and the summer of 1981 found the band playing to a crowd of 16 000 at Switzerland's largest open-air festival in St. Gallen. They were chosen as one of the ten best upcoming acts of the year by a jury from press and TV and presented with this award in December 1981. An experimental foray into pop met with some success when the song "Life", written specially for the European Song Contest, made the Swiss finals of the competition. A first single "Point of Living", written and arranged by the group, appeared in March 1982 and was followed by a constant round of live gigs and TV dates.

The band's debut album "Stage Fright" appeared in Spring 1983. 1984 saw the band with a new line-up and the name "Daniela Mühleis & Band" along with an expanded repertoire and a shift of style into the "Country Rock" category. Successful concerts in Switzerland and Italy were to prove this a good move. Another single "Broken Dreams/Wake Up" was released in spring 1985 and ran very well following its introduction on a Swiss TV show. A round of country festivals followed; amongst others the first Swiss Country Open Air - where the band won first prize in the "Modern Country Music" section. This award led to the taping of an album (along with the winners of the traditional section) in fall 1985. The success of the album was helped by invitations to appear on many local radio stations in Switzerland, and new appearances on Swiss TV.

The popularity of the band and the special position they occupy in the Swiss music scene can be judged by the 15 000 Swiss Francs (US$ 10 000) they raised from sponsors (including the Cultural Ministry of their home town and state) towards the production of the LP "Far away". This is the first time ever a Swiss country group has received such support.

1989 was a special year for the band: they celebrated their 10th anniversary! To mark the occasion, Swiss TV taped four songs which were shown during the year in the program "Sonntagsmagazin". In the summer of 1989 the Czechoslovakian Ministry of Culture invited Daniela Mühleis & Band to head-line at the Holansky kapr Country Music Festival. This honor led to Swissair sponsoring the band's travel to and from Prague. Their appearance at the festival was an enormous success.

In the spring of 1990 the band released their first CD "Animals". It includes two anti-vivisection songs and one against wearing fur: a testament to Daniela's strong commitment to the protection of animals. The album was introduced on a radio promotion tour in May in Switzerland as well as abroad and has been enthusiastically received by press and public alike. "Animals" was officially launched on June 5th with the Swiss downhill ski-champion Peter Müller standing in as

In November 1990 Daniela Mühleis & Band were invited to play at the renowned Int. Country-Festival in Geiselwind - their first appearance in Germany. This was followed up by the showing of the "Original Owner" video clip in the program "Keep it Country" on the German Cable TV network "Offener Kanal Dortmund" in February 1991.

In July 1992 Daniela Mühleis & Band were invited to represent Switzerland at the huge international PORTA Country Festival in Czechoslovakia. The airline Swissair again sponsored the flight to Prague and back for the whole band.

At the beginning of 1993 the band released a new album. Like the previous CD, "Better Life" contains three songs about the protection of animals and also of the environment. Along with these titles, the album brings love songs, ballads, country-rock and a western swing number. "Better Life" was also christened in traditional Swiss fashion: on February 12th the famous Swiss TV presenter and musician Raymond Fein stood in as godfather for the new album. An extended radio promotion tour followed this official release and the album received good reviews throughout.

Thanks to continued sponsorship from Swissair and Austrian Airlines, in August 1993 DM&B were able to take up the invitation to represent Switzerland at the International Visagino Country-Festival in Lithuania (ex-USSR). The concert was attended by 10 000 enthusiastic country fans in the sport stadium in Visaginas and was also broadcast live by Lithuanian television. On November 4th, the band presented a number from their "Better Life" album on the Swiss TV show "Country Roads".

In April 1994 the band traveled to Malta together with the "Swissair-Video-Team" in order to produce their first country video clip. This clip was shown on Swiss Television, Maltese Television as well as on the German TV network "Offener Kanal Dortmund" in 1994. In 1994 the band also celebrated their 15th anniversary: 15 years Daniela Mühleis & Band! In addition, Daniela has been accepted as a member of the CMA (Country Music Association U.S.A.).

In 1995 Swiss Television, on behalf of "Swiss Radio International", taped several songs with DM&B at the MUBA (Mustermesse) in Basel, to be broadcast at a later date. The same year the band was invited to represent Switzerland at two international country festivals: In June they had their first appearance in Holland at the international Country Festival in Zevenbergen and in July they played four times in front of approximately 100 000 fans at the gigantic four-day Mirande-Festival in the South of France. DM&B were the first Swiss country band to be invited to this gigantic spectacle where renowned musicians, such as for example Carl Perkins, also appeared.

On November 25, 1995, DM&B took part as musical guest in Albania's largest television- and media-event, the "Miss Albania Contest 95". This prestigious event, which also hosted French fashion designer Pierre Cardin as well as "Miss Europe 95", Monika Zidkova, was broadcast throughout Europe via satellite.

In March 1997 DM&B were invited to appear on Swiss Television's Saturday evening show "Top of Switzerland". The same year, the band's latest CD "Open Minds" was released. This Album was reviewed by a panel of experts of "Swiss Radio International" and received the "SRI Selection" seal of quality. Since spring 1997 DM&B are also on the Internet.

One of Daniela Mühleis & Band's songs is represented on a country-sampler which has been launched in France in spring 1997. The same year, the American record company "Comstock Records" also released a promotion compilation which contains DM&B's song "Fairytales". This song appeared on position 3 in December 1997 in the New York Independent Charts. This resulted from reports from over 200 Country-Stations. The song "Honky Tonk Baby" was among the "Top 50 Country Music Radio Charts" of the "European Country Music Association" and was presented in the TV-Show "Record Row Review" from the "Entertainer Network Nashville". Not only in Europe, but also in the U.S.A. and even in Japan the CD got an excellent airplay.
The same year, the band had several appearances in Spain during a "Country-Holiday-Week" and were also invited to play at the Festival Int. Country de la Cote d'Azur, South of France. Also present were Charlie Mc.Coy, Dough Kershaw (U.S.A.) and many others.
In September 1997 "America's Premier Country Music Cyberzine" awarded DM&B their "No Bull Award" for outstanding Internet website of the month.

In early 1998 Daniela Mühleis was nominated (as the only Swiss) from the ECMA ("European Country Music Association") as "European Female Vocalist". This year DM&B participated again with great success at the Country-Music-Beach-Holidays in Spain. In October 1998 the Swiss television DRS recorded, on the occation of the OLMA in St. Gallen, a 45-minute live-concert of DM&B for later presentation in the TV-Show "Weekend Music".

On the 14th January 1999 Daniela was guest in the TV Late Night Show "Moor" from DRS2 and on the 29th January 1999 the 20-year anniversary of DM&B took place. In February 1999 Daniela Mühleis has been informed that she is the 1999 winner of the coveted "International Rising Star Award", given by the NACMAI ("North America Country Music Association International"). Daniela is the first Swiss artist to receive the award. The recognition came for her song "Point of living" for which she wrote both music and lyrics.

Daniela's involvement in the Swiss Country scene is not limited to personal appearances and performances - she was the first (and so far only) woman in the executive committee of the CMFS (Country Music Federation Switzerland). Between 1984 and 1997 Daniela had her own country music show on St. Gallen's local radio station "Radio aktuell".