Purple Schulz, real name Karl Rüdiger Schulz (born September 25, 1956 in Cologne), is a German pop singer, songwriter, multi-instrumentalist and radio presenter. He grew up in Cologne, received piano lessons from the age of eight and organ lessons from the age of eleven and coined his stage name with cover versions of Deep Purple. His breakthrough came in 1984 with the band Purple Schulz und die Neue Heimat. The album Hautnah was released in 1983, followed by the single "Sehnsucht", which reached number 6 in the German charts in spring 1985 and was awarded the Goldene Europa as the most successful German-language single of the year. After the dissolution of the original band, he released the solo album Verliebte Jungs in 1985, from which the singles "Nur mit dir", "Kleine Seen" and "Verliebte Jungs" emerged - the latter entered the charts at number 15 and became a radio hit. A series of further studio albums were released in the following years, including Der Stand der Dinge (1987), 'tsvai (1988), Purple Schulz (1990), Haha (1992), Spass beiseite?(1994) and Pop (1997) - each characterized by dense, poetic songwriting. The ballad collection Sehnsucht (The Ballads 1984-1999) followed in 1999. After a long studio break, the solo album So und nicht anders was released in 2012, followed by the live albums So ist das live! (2013) and Der Sing des Lebens (2017) - he also co-produced all three albums, mostly together with his wife Eri Schulz. In March 2019, the anniversary album Nach wie vor was released with new arrangements and two new tracks. This was followed by a live double album Sehnsucht bleibt Live (March 2025), recorded during the 2024 tour - accompanied by Jördis Tielsch on violin, guitar, piano and accordion.
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