Gotthard

Gotthard, a Swiss hard rock band that sings in English, are one of the most successful musical acts ever to arise from Switzerland. Gotthard sold over two million albums worldwide, one million of them sold in Switzerland alone (a country of less than eight million inhabitants, keep in mind), as practically all of the band's albums were Swiss chart-toppers. Gotthard were also popular in Germany, where the band's albums regularly charted. Formed in Lugano, a town in the Italian-speaking canton of Ticino in the far south of Switzerland, the band was initially named Krak and was comprised of vocalist Steve Lee, guitarist Leo Leoni, bassist Marc Lynn, and drummer Hena Habegger. Under the guidance of Krokus bassist/songwriter/founder Chris von Rohr, the band changed its name to Gotthard (a name derived from Saint Gotthard, a Roman Catholic saint after which the well-known St. Gotthard Pass in Switzerland was named) and signed a recording contract with BMG. With von Rohr at the helm as their producer and co-songwriter, the band went about recording its debut, Gotthard (1992). In addition to von Rohr, Lee and Leoni were the primary songwriters, and Def Leppard guitarist Vivian Campbell played on two songs ("Firedance," "Get Down"). Gotthard spawned a pair of MTV-aired videos ("Hush," "All I Care For") and spent 15 weeks on the Swiss chart, peaking at number five and ultimately earning platinum status. After some international touring, Gotthard returned to the studio with von Rohr once again at the helm as producer/co-songwriter, resulting in Dial Hard (1994), the band's second album. Even more successful than Gotthard, Dial Hard spent several weeks at number one in Switzerland, charted in Germany and Japan, and ultimately went platinum, thanks in part to MTV-aired videos for...