date

event


august 30th, 1959

Roland Grapow was born in Hamburg


august 7th, 1962

Michael Weikath was born in Hamburg


january 17th, 1963

Kai Hansen was born in Hamburg


august 18th, 1964

Andi Deris was born in Karlsruhe


may 18th, 1965

Ingo Schwichtenberg was born in Hamburg


september 21st, 1965

Markus Grosskopf was born in Hamburg


november 11th, 1965

Stefan Schwarzmann was born in Erlangen


march 11th, 1967

Uli Kusch was born in Aachen


january 24th, 1968

Michael Kiske was born in Hamburg


february 22nd, 1973

Daniel Loeble was born


1976

Kai Hansen, then 13-years-old schoolboy, founded his first "real" rock band [band name unknown]


april 2nd, 1977

Sascha Gerstner was born in Stuttgart


somewhere between 1976 and 1978

Kai Hansen founded a band called Gentry. Lineup: Frank - vocals, Kai Hansen - guitar, Peter "Piet" Sielck - guitar, Christian - bass guitar, Johannes - drums


1978

Gentry won the first prize on a local rock festival


somewhere between 1978 and 1980

Gentry was left without vocalist, bass guitarist and drummer. Hansen and Sielck were searching for replacements


1980

Markus Grosskopf and Ingo Schwichtenberg became the new bandmembers, Piet Sielck took the vocals


1980

The band was renamed to Second Hell


approximately 1982

The band was renamed to Iron Fist


1983

Piet Sielck went to USA to study sound engineering


end of 1983

The band got a new guitarist, Michael Weikath


1984

The band was renamed to Helloween


1984

Helloween undertook a small tour of Hamburg clubs


march 1984

"Death Metal" compilation


end of 1984

Helloween signed a contract with Noise


march 1985

"Helloween", the first mini-LP


november 18th, 1985

"Walls Of Jericho", the first album


february 1986

Helloween toured Europe for the first time [together with Grave Digger]


spring 1986

Helloween toured North America for the first time [together with Exodus]


july 1986

"Judas" single


autumn 1986

The band got a new singer, Michael Kiske


november 25th, 1986

Studio work on the new album began


february 16th, 1987

"Keeper Of The Seven Keys, Part 1"


april 3rd, 1987

A big European tour started [together with Overkill]


september 1st, 1987

"Future World" single [as a picture disc]


end of 1987

"Halloween" video single


beginning of 1988

"Dr. Stein" single


june 1988

"Keeper Of The Seven Keys, Part 2"


summer 1988

Helloween played at "Monsters Of Rock" festival


autumn 1988

"Pumpkins Fly Free" European tour began


september 21st, 1988

"Dr. Stein" single was released in Japan


autumn 1988

"I Want Out" video single


january 1st, 1989

Kai Hansen left Helloween


january 1989

Roland Grapow became the new guitarist


january 1989

Helloween left Noise and signed with EMI


january 21st, 1989

"Keeper Of The Seven keys, Part 2" went gold


march 1st, 1989

"I Want Out" single


april 1st, 1989

"Live In The U.K." live album


april 14th, 1989

"Live In The U.K." was released in USA named as "I Want Out Live". Its presentation took place in Dallas, Texas


1990

"Pumpkin Tracks" compilation


december 20th, 1990

Court decided that Helloween's contract with Noise was still valid


1991

"The Best, The Rest, The Rare" compilation


april 12th, 1991

"Pink Bubbles Go Ape" was released in United Kingdom and Japan


april 20th, 1992

Helloween, EMI and Noise reached an agreement. "Pink Bubbles Go Ape" was released in Germany and thoughout Europe


july 1st, 1992

"Number One" single


august 26th, 1992

"Number One" single was released in Japan


spring 1993

"Chameleon"


winter 1993

Ingo Schwichtenberg was fired from the band and sent to hospital due to drug addition and schizophrenia. Richie Abdel Nabi was hired as a session drummer to finish the Japanese tour


december 16th, 1993

"Step Out Of Hell" single was released in Japan


end of 1993

Michael Kiske left Helloween


1993

"Keeper Of The Seven Keys Parts 1 & 2" (2 CD edition)


january 1994

Andi Deris became the new singer


winter 1994

Band's contract with EMI expired, Helloween started to search for a new label


spring 1994

A new contract was signed with Castle


spring 1994

Uli Kusch was hired as a session drummer to record the new album


1994

"Keeper Of The Seven Keys Parts 1 & 2" (2 CD edition) was released in Japan


september 1994

"Master Of The Rings"


november 1994

"The Pumpkin Video", a compilation of 6 band videos was released in Japan on VHS and LD


march 8th, 1995

Tragic death of Ingo Schwichtenberg


march 1996

"The Time Of The Oath"


october 1996

"High Live" (2 CD), the second live album


october 1996

"High Live" video (VHS)


october 23rd, 1996

"High Live" video was released in Japan on VHS and LD


february 11th, 1998

"I Can" single was released in Japan


1998

"Better Than Raw"


1998

"The Pumpkin Box" (4 CD) compilation was released in Japan


september 9th, 1998

"Karaoke Remix" (parts 1 & 2) were released in Japan


december 20th, 1998

Helloween came back to USA for the first time in many years. The band's only show took place at Coney Island High club, Manhattan, New York


1999

"Metal Jukebox"


december 27-е, 2000

"The Pumpkin Video", a compilation of 12 band videos was released in Japan on DVD


september 2000

"Mr. Torture" single was released in Japan, "If I Could Fly" in Europe, "Mirror, Mirror" in USA


october 21st, 2000

"The Dark Ride" was released in Japan


october 30th, 2000

"The Dark Ride"


may 23rd, 2001

Helloween's first ever show in Russia: may 23rd, St. Petersburg, "Yubileyni" Sport Hall


may 25th, 2001

Helloween's second show in Russia: may 25th, Moscow, CSKA Sport Hall


august 22nd, 2001

Roland Grapow and Uli Kusch left Helloween


september 5th, 2001

Mark Cross (ex-Metallium) was officially announced as a new drummer of the band


spring 2002

The band considered several candidates for guitarist position, including Henjo Richter from Gamma Ray


march 2002

"Treasure Chest" (2 CD; first limited print - 3 CD) compilation


june 25th, 2002

"The Dark Ride" was released in USA


june 26th, 2002

"High Live" video was released on DVD


september 1th, 2002

Sacha Gerstner (ex-Freedom Call) was hired as a second guitarist of Helloween


autumn 2002

The recording of the new album started


autumn 2002

After recording two songs, Mark Cross was stricken down by mononucleosis


november 2002

Mikkey Dee (Motörhead) recorded the rest of the drums as a guest musician


february 2003

It became obvious that Mark Cross's recovery from mononucleosis would take years, so he left Helloween


february 14th, 2003

Mark Cross's replacement was found. It was Stefan Schwarzmann (ex-Accept, ex-Running Wild), he recorded drums for single b-sides and bonus tracks in Hamburg


april 5th, 2003

Michael Weikath and Andi Deris visited Brazil for a promo-tour and participated in a big show of Shaman band (guest appearance, "Eagle Fly Free")


april 7th, 2003

"Just a Little Sign" single was released in Europe


May 2003

"Rabbit Don't Come Easy"


Summer 2003

The band rehearsed for the world tour


september 11th, 2003

"Rabbits on the Run" world tour started. It included Brazil, USA and other North and South American countries, Russia, most of Eastern and Western Europe, Japan, Indonesia...


october 17th, 2003

Second show of Helloween in Moscow at Rokfest festival, Luzhniki Sport Hall


august 10th, 2004

It became known that Helloween left Nuclear blast and signed a new record deal with SPV. They also changed their management to Bottom Row Promotion


september 2004

The work on the new album (which might as well be called "Keeper of the Seven Keys, part 3", as the musicians hinted) began


november 19th, 2004

Michael Weikath told in an interview that the band no longer collaborates with Jorn Ellerbrock, their long-time session keyboardist. The keyboards for the new album will be recorded by Friedl Amon (ex-Revolver)


february 11th, 2005

The band officially announced Stefan Schwarzmann's departure. His position behind the drums was taken by Daniel Loeble (ex-Rawhead Rexx, ex-Blaze)







Last update:

11/02/05 06:50:00 PM


Information collected by:

BACR, Helloween, Pied Piper