The Baseballs
The Baseballs are a German rock and roll band founded in Berlin in 2007. They became popular with 1950s and 1960s style rock cover versions of modern hits such as "Umbrella" by Rihanna, "Crazy in Love" by Beyoncé, "Hot n Cold" by Katy Perry and "Call Me Maybe" by Carly Rae Jepsen.[1] The band members are only credited by their nicknames (Sam, Digger and Basti).[2] Their version of "Umbrella" was a hit in Germany, Spain, the Netherlands, Belgium, Finland, Iceland, Austria, Switzerland, Sweden and Norway.[3][4][5][6][7]
The Baseballs | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Background information | |
| Origin | Berlin, Germany |
| Genres | Rock and roll, rockabilly |
| Years active | 2007–present |
| Labels | JMC Music and Warner Music |
| Members | Sam (Sven Budja) Basti (Sebastian Raetzel) Back-up band Lars Vegas (guitar) Klaas Wendling (upright bass) Jan Miserre (piano) Tomas Svensson (drums) |
| Past members | Digger (Rüdiger Brans) |
| Website | www.thebaseballs.com |
Musical career
Their debut album, Strike!, was produced by JMC Music[8] and released in May 2009 in Germany, Switzerland and Austria,[9] in October 2009 in Finland,[10] in December 2009 in Sweden,[11] in February in Norway[12] and in March 2010 in The Netherlands. It reached No. 15 in Austria, No. 6 in Germany, No. 2 in Switzerland and the Netherlands, No. 1 in Finland, No. 1 in Sweden and No. 1 in the Norwegian album charts. In the UK it was released on Rhino Records UK on 17 May 2010.[3][4][13][14][15]
The band re-released the album in 2010 as Strike! Back! The lead single is a rockabilly version of Snow Patrol's "Chasing Cars." The video features the band rocking a 1950s prom.[16]
In the UK, The Baseballs have appeared on ITV1's The David Dickinson Show, Magic Numbers and This Morning. In Ireland, The Baseballs have appeared on RTÉ's The Late Late Show.[17] In Australia the group appeared on Channel 9's Hey Hey It's Saturday[18] In New Zealand they appeared on TVNZ's Good Morning[19]
In 2010 the band supported guitarist Jeff Beck on his "Emotion and Commotion" tour as his opening act.[20]
On 6 June 2011, the Baseballs released their second album titled Strings 'n' Stripes. It included new singles tracks such as "Candy Shop", "Hello" and "Paparazzi".
On 1 August 2011, the Baseballs released together with General Mills – the producer of the ice cream Häagen-Dazs – within an advertising campaign with Cosma Shiva Hagen a free download of the song "Wha Wha" – which was written especially for the campaign. The track is freely available and can be downloaded from the German site of the brand Häagen-Dazs.[21]
On 25 May 2012, The Baseballs released their first live CD/DVD, "Strings 'n' Stripes Live".
On 17 July 2023, The Baseballs announced that Digger had left the band.[22]
Discography
Studio albums
| Title | Album details | Peak chart positions | Certifications | ||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| GER [23] |
AUT [24] |
BEL (FL) [25] |
DEN [26] |
ESP [27] |
FIN [28] |
NL [29] |
NOR [30] |
SWE [31] |
SWI [32] |
UK [33] | |||
| Strike! |
|
6 | 5 | 1 | 5 | 29 | 1 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 4 | |
| Strings 'n' Stripes |
|
5 | 3 | 10 | — | 29 | 2 | 4 | — | 4 | 1 | 74 | |
| Good Ol' Christmas |
|
25 | 22 | — | — | — | 36 | — | — | — | 10 | — | |
| Game Day |
|
22 | 17 | — | — | — | — | 88 | — | — | 5 | — | |
| Hit Me Baby... |
|
9 | 8 | 54 | — | — | — | 62 | — | — | 4 | — | |
| The Sun Sessions |
|
43 | 38 | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | 36 | — | |
| Hot Shots |
|
13 | — | 151 | — | — | — | — | — | — | 7 | — | |
| "—" denotes a recording that did not chart or was not released in that territory. | |||||||||||||
Singles
| Year | Single | Peak chart positions | Certifications (sales thresholds) |
Album | |||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| GER [41] |
AUT [42] |
ESP [43] |
FIN [28] |
ICE [44] |
NL [29] |
NOR [45] |
SWE [31] |
SWI [46] |
UK [47] | ||||
| 2009 | |||||||||||||
| "Umbrella" | 43 | 58 | 38 | 1 | 22 | 3 | 6 | 19 | 9 | 124 | FIN: Platinum[48] | Strike! | |
| "Hot n Cold" | 68 | 65 | — | 7 | — | 99 | — | — | 52 | — | |||
| 2010 | "Last in Line" | — | — | — | 13 | — | — | — | — | — | — | Strike! Back! | |
| "Chasing Cars" | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | |||
| 2011 | "Candy Shop" | — | 69 | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | Strings 'N' Stripes | |
| "Hello" | 100 | 41 | — | — | — | — | — | — | 68 | — | |||
| "This is a Night (Het is een Nacht)" (feat. Guus Meeuwis) | — | — | — | — | — | 69 | — | — | — | — | |||
- Various releases
- 2011: "Wha Wha" (Promotional)[21]
- 2016: "...Baby One More Time"
- 2019: Cadillac Maniac ft. Kissin Dynamite
- 2020: "Don't Worry, Be Happy"[49]
- 2020: "Take On Me"
- 2020: Wake Me Up Before You Go-Go
- 2021: Rock Me Amadeus[50]
Awards
| Year | Ceremony | Award | Result |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2010 | EMMA Awards | Best selling Album | Won |
| ECHO Awards | Best National Newcomer[51] | Won | |
| 2011 | EBBA Awards | European Border Breakers Award | Won |
| EBBA Awards | Public Choice Award | Won | |
| ECHO Awards | Most successful Act on foreign country, national[52] | Won |
References
- "The Baseballs by Uncovering the Cover • A podcast on Anchor". Anchor. Retrieved 10 April 2020.
- Official biography
- The Baseballs in the German charts
- The Baseballs in the Swiss charts
- The Baseballs in the Austrian charts
- The Baseballs in the Finnish single chart
- "Umbrella" in the Swedish charts
- Switzerland charts
- Official discography (German)
- Warner Music News Archived 20 May 2009 at the Wayback Machine (Finnish, retrieved 17 November 2009)
- Swedish release.
- Norwegian release.
- Strike! on the Finnish album chart
- "Strike!" on the Swedish album chart
- "Strike!" on the Dutch album chart
- "The Baseballs Invite You to Rock and Roll Prom with Snow Patrol's "Chasing Cars"". 12 August 2010.
- "Hector to join Tubridy on Late Late Show". RTÉ News. 15 October 2010.
- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E45n-JTnZHw The Baseballs - Umbrella "Hey Hey It's Saturday"
- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EarOOyF6-jU The Baseballs interview - TVNZ's "Good Morning"
- "On Tour with guitar legend Jeff Beck in October | The Baseballs". thebaseballs.com. Archived from the original on 26 March 2012. Retrieved 24 June 2011.
- Häagen-Dazs.de Häagen-Dazs-Song Archived 10 October 2011 at the Wayback Machine
- https://www.facebook.com/thebaseballs/posts/pfbid0ANBNZiJr7Yjpe4vcH2Q9QtF6C13y85HLCZKrf2CdDtuCrvppjgsN67uDYtHpphXbl
- "Discographie The Baseballs". offiziellecharts.de (in German). Retrieved 6 June 2021.
- "austriancharts.at - Austria Top 40 - Hitparade Österreich". austriancharts.at. Retrieved 28 April 2011.
- "ultratop.be - ULTRATOP BELGIAN CHARTS". ultratop.be. Retrieved 16 October 2014.
- "danishcharts.dk". Retrieved 24 September 2011.
- "spanishcharts.com". spanishchars.com. Retrieved 24 September 2011.
- "Musiikkituottajat - Tilastot - Suomen virallinen lista - Artistit". ifpi.fi. Retrieved 29 April 2011.
- "dutchcharts.nl - Discografie The Baseballs". dutchcharts.nl. Retrieved 17 May 2011.
- "norwegiancharts.com - VG-LISTA". norwegiancharts.com. Retrieved 24 September 2011.
- "swedishcharts.com - Discography The Baseballs". swedishcharts.com. Retrieved 21 May 2011.
- "The Official Swiss Charts and Music Community". swisscharts.com. Retrieved 28 April 2011.
- "Artist: Baseballs". Official Charts Company. Retrieved 16 October 2014.
- "Gold-/Platin-Datenbank (The Baseballs; 'Strike')" (in German). Bundesverband Musikindustrie.
- "British album certifications – The Baseballs – Strike". British Phonographic Industry. Select albums in the Format field. Type Strike in the "Search BPI Awards" field and then press Enter.
- "Guld- och Platinacertifikat − År 2010" (PDF) (in Swedish). IFPI Sweden. Archived from the original (PDF) on 17 May 2011.
- "Baseballs" (in Finnish). Musiikkituottajat – IFPI Finland.
- "Norwegian album certifications – The Baseballs – Strike" (in Norwegian). IFPI Norway.
- "The Official Swiss Charts and Music Community: Awards (The Baseballs; 'Strike!')". IFPI Switzerland. Hung Medien.
- "Warner Music Germany - News - The Baseballs". warnermusic.de. 12 December 2010. Retrieved 12 March 2011.
- "Chartverfolgung / Baseballs,The". musicline.de. Retrieved 8 May 2011.
- "austriancharts.at - Austria Top 40 - Hitparade Österreich". austriancharts.at. Retrieved 28 April 2011.
- "spanishcharts.com - Spanish charts portal". spanishcharts.com. Retrieved 24 September 2011.
- Icelandic Singles Chart Archived 6 June 2011 at the Wayback Machine
- "norwegiancharts.com - Norwegian charts portal". norwegiancharts.com. Retrieved 2 May 2011.
- "The Official Swiss Charts and Music Community". swisscharts.com. Retrieved 28 April 2011.
- Chart Log UK 2010 Weekly Updates (scroll down to Baseballs - artists in alphabetical order)
- "Baseballs" (in Finnish). Musiikkituottajat – IFPI Finland.
- "The Baseballs: Das neue Album "Hot Shots" nimmt sich die 80er Jahre vor". rtl.de (in German). Retrieved 18 March 2021.
- "The Baseballs bringen den Kultsong "Rock Me Amadeus" in einer Rockabilly-Version neu heraus". rtl.de (in German). Retrieved 27 March 2021.
- "ECHOPop.de". ECHO Awards. Archived from the original on 1 October 2011. Retrieved 31 August 2011.
- "ECHOPop.de". ECHO Awards. Archived from the original on 3 September 2011. Retrieved 31 August 2011.