Markus Grosskopf

Birthday: September 21, 1965

Birthplace: Hamburg

Height: 192cm

Weight: 85kg

Musical Influences: Deep Purple, Rainbow, Thin Lizzy, Kiss, UFO


arkus was born in Hamburg, Germany on the 21st of September 1965. At the age of 15 he spent a couple of weeks in a holyday camp, where he met two blokes that played guitar and drums in a punk rock group. Soon they became close friends and hung together all the time. As they needed a bass player in their band, Markus was offered the gig. So little Markus didn’t hesitate and agreed: “I can play the bass to save my live amigo”. He found himself playing bass in his first band.

They brought their gear (which wasn't much at the time) to the camp and started making noise. They covered songs from the The Sex Pistols, The Ramones, Sid Vicious, XTC, The Sranglers and others. Some time later, when their musical skills turned out to be a little better, they were offered their first gig at the holyday camp. But after 2 years of practicing and no further offers and appearances, Markus decided to leave the band to explore new horizons.

By that time his heart began to beat more for rock’n roll bands like AC/DC, Kiss, Ted Nugent, and Iron Maiden. His new aim now was to find a band playing hard rock or metal with an option and ability for more live performances. Markus was talking to a guy who knew Kai Hansen, who was looking for a bass player for his band Second Hell at the time. Soon he was invited to audition and guess what ? Yes, he got the job! Also members of Second Hell were Piet Sielk and Ingo Schwichtenberg.

With this line up they did a few club gigs on the Hamburg circuit. Piet left the band and after several name changes, they mutually split up. Once again it was time for Markus to pack his bags and watch out for another gig to climb higher in his career.

When he finished school he started an apprenticeship at a butcher. That was definitely a very good reason to find a band with future plans immediately. Joining the band Blast Furnace, Markus met the brilliant guitar player Michael Weikath, who formed along with Kai Hansen a new line up with former members of Michael’s old act Powerfool. But shortly after that, they replaced their rhythm section, by calling in Ingo and Markus.This completed the first Helloween line up!

It seemed like a very strong team, ‘cause it lasted longer than a couple of weeks! They had two very creative guitar players and songwriters and a wild, hungry and steaming rhythm section in the band.

From now on the dice started to roll for Helloween. Their first studio recording was published by Noise records on the legendary death metal sampler in 1983, followed by the even more legendary 5 track EP called “Helloween” and of course the LP ”Walls of Jericho”.

The following two master pieces “Keeper of the seven keys Part 1 and 2” with high pitch singer Michael Kiske, they lighted a new fire and gave Heavy Metal a new identity! They climbed the charts and reached gold in Germany and Asia.

Since then Markus recorded the bass on all the albums and toured around the globe with Helloween. For almost 20 years now, you can call him one of the grand members of Helloween.

Markus recorded his first solo album named Shockmachine create link on site in 1998. He also played bass on Ken Hensleys and John Lawtons (Uriah Heep) new arranged orchestral version of “Salisbury”, which was performed live at the “Hamburg Markthalle” and was released on video in 2001.

You also can hear his bass playing on Edguy singer Tobias Sammets album “Avantasia” Part 1 & 2. His latest activity besides Helloween is the band Kickhunter, on which he played the bass and produced their first album “Hearts and Bones” in 2002 and “Little Monsters” which was released in 2007.

The new side project of Markus called “Bassinvaders - Hellbassbeaters” was released Friday, 25th of January 2008. You'll find information on MySpace Markus Grosskopf or on www.frontiers.it.

Is that guy really busy? Yes he is.

 official website Helloween www.helloween.org