Jens Skwirblies

BIOGRAPHY - Jens was born in August, 1965 in a small town near Hamburg, Germany. He started playing the piano at the age of 5. When his parents (and even the neighbors) became too annoyed listening to his "how can my 10 fingers make real noise out of this damn huge furniture with black and white wooden stripes" experiments he began to take lessons from a professional.

He took lessons from three female piano teachers until the age of 13. He mainly focussed on classical pieces until he joined his first rock band, "Feedback," in 1978. During that time Jens was influenced by organist Jon Lord (Deep Purple) and keyboardist Manfred Mann (Manfred Mann`s Earth Band).

His first rig contained a Yamaha Keyboard, Moog Synthesizer and a Solina String Ensemble all played thru a Fender Twin Reverb amp (very loud). "Feedback" found most of its success in the northern parts of Germany. The mixture of hard rock and German lyrics eventually made its way onto a compilation album called "Ueberdruck" on the RCA label in 1982.

In 1983 Jens parted ways with "Feedback" and began to work together with guitarist and songwriter Claus Buchholz. The duo formed a new band called "Deno" and began a strong and lasting relationship. "Deno" played German language pop music ranging in the style from Ricky Lee Jones to James Taylor. The band signed a publishing contract and won many talent awards. They made appearances on t.v. and radio shows and played countless dates as a headlining act. In 1986 the band had the opportunity to include some of their tracks on the "NDR Hörfest,86" album which was put out by the biggest broadcasting company in the northern Germany. Unfortunately "Deno" split up just before they were to sign a record deal with Metronome Music.

During these years Jens never stopped striving for excellence. He took lessons from jazz pianist Rainer Schnelle (Eartha Kitt, Hildegard Knef), a former Berklee student, and studied jazz and pop music at the well known "Hochschule für Musik und darstellende Kunst" in Hamburg until 1989.

In 1989 Jens moved further up north to Kiel and began studying Music and English at the Christian Albrechts University. In 1989 Scottish singer and songwriter Ian Cussick needed a keyboard player for an upcoming tour. Jens auditioned and got the job which turned out to be a groundbreaking change in his career. The tour was followed by several recordings and subsequent tours with Cussick.

Jens began 1991 with a collaboration with Steinberg Media Technologies based in Hamburg, Germany. Steinberg is a world leader in the development of high end, professional recording software like Cubase SX, Nuendo, and Wavelab.

In 1993 Jens played some live German t.v. shows as keyboardist for American singer David Hasselhoff (Knight Rider, Baywatch).
Jens and his long-time partner Claus Buchholz opened their own music school, "Tonart," in 1994 in the small town of Eckernfoerde near the Baltic Sea.

In 1995 Jens and his family moved to their new house in a tiny little village north of Kiel between the river Schlei and the Baltic Sea. This was also the start of JPS Digital Media, his own post production and project studio facility. Numerous sessions have been recorded at Jens’ studio including commercials for BMW, fairs (Cebit, Frankfurt Music Fair), and Steinberg. JPS Digital Media has also recorded albums for artists such as Ian Cussick, Freeze Frame, the Natives, and the Remnants.

1999 saw Jens joining the successful "Joe Cocker Illusion" cover band which tours all over Germany. In 2002 Jens was asked to write a tribute song for the 700th Anniversary of the town Eckernfoerde which he happily did with his friend Claus Buchholz. A Maxi-CD was released and copies made have been shipped to Africa and Canada. Jens played together with Bobby Kimball (lead singer of Toto) on a couple of shows on the 2003 Frankfurt Music Fair at the Steinberg Media Technologies booth.