In the early 80s THE ACE CATS brought back the fashion and music of the 50s and 60s. Markus Fräger (g, voc), Thomas Szalaga (g, voc), Petra Humfeld (voc), Anne (voc, later substituted by Tina Schudde), Luitger Fräger (b, voc) and Christian Schudde (dr, voc) stired up gutsy the music scene with Rockabilly. First sung in English, later in German. Luitger Fräger and Thomas "Szali" Szalaga were the core of the band. They met each other already in the 70s, when they went to school together and discovered their affectation for this kind of music. In the year 1980 Luitger and Thomas founded the ALLEY CATS, which was renamed into ACE CATS in 1982. Between the foundation of the band and the release of their first album two years gone by. The album "Cat Talk" was published in 1982 and included 12 songs sung in English. Beside coverversions there were also some self-written songs, made by Thomas Szalaga. The songs were made in typical Rockabilly-Sound, mixed with Swing-Elements. The later successful soloist and entertainer Götz Alsmann was also involved in the recordings of this album (even if he was only a guest on this album).
The real breakthrough for the band came as they started to sing their songs in German. The second album from 1983 "Katzen tanzen durch die Nacht" was a blockbuster. The single "Linda" became a hit and is often played also even today. Produced by Armand Volker (Juliane Werding, Münchener Freiheit, Hubert Kah) and Barny Murphy (Spider Murphy Gang), this record brought the boys and girls on top. Numerous TV- and Live-Shows followed.
The last album "Stundenlang im Fieber" was published in 1985. It contained the singles "Gina" and "Du liebst mich" but could not reach the success of the previous album. In the same year the group separated. Three years later, in the year 1988, there was a try of a comeback. The singles "Süsse 17" and "Sheila" were published. The musically style has changed so much that both records flopped.
Exactly 10 years later after the last album release the band had their reunion. Nearly with the original line-up (singer Markus Fräger was substituted by Jürgen Weber) they worked on a comeback. For the rerelease of their albums on CD the band recorded three brandnew songs, incl. "Immer wieder solo". This single brought a successful comeback and a reuion with the fans for the ACE CATS. Unfortunately it lasted only a short time. A complete new album wasn't made. Without much noise the ACE CATS disappeared again.
What are the members of the ACE CATS doing today? Will there be another comback 10 years after the last single? We got answers to our questions in a conversation with the foundation member and guitar player Thomas Szalaga on January, 19th. You can read this interview if you

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