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Malte Pittner, co-founder of Deichkind and later guitarist of the country band Texas Lightning, has died. Deichkind announced the death of her former band member on Monday, December 15th via Instagram.
Accordingly, Pittner died after a long illness. The Hamburg hip-hop formation expressed its condolences to the family and closest friends and asked for privacy.
Formative influence on Deichkind’s early years
Malte Pittner was one of the founding members of Deichkind in 1997 and remained part of the group until 2005. During this time he played a key role in the first two albums “Please pull through” and “Noch 5 Minutes Mutti”. He was also involved in the third album from 2006, including the party anthem “Remmidemmi (Yippie Yippie Yeah)”. The band paid tribute to him in detail in their statement.
Specifically, the band’s Instagram statement said: “Dear friends, we have received very sad news. Our former bandmate Malte Pittner recently died after a long illness. That shocked us quite a bit. Malte was one of the founding members of Deichkind in 1997 and stayed with us until 2005. Our first two albums “Please pull through” and “Noch 5 Minutes Mutti” were very much influenced by Malte, and we have performed together countless times on stage and spent many intense and inspiring days and nights in the studio. He was a brilliant musician, entertainer and an incredibly talented songwriter and lyricist – not only for Deichkind. Malte then continued his career with the band Texas Lightning and was also very successful in advertising to protect his family and friends.”
Here is the entire Instagram post:
Career with Texas Lightning and Eurovision Song Contest
After leaving Deichkind in 2006, Pittner continued his musical career in a different style. From autumn 2009 he played guitar and sang with the country band Texas Lightning, which was co-founded by comedian Olli Dittrich. The group had already represented Germany at the Eurovision Song Contest in Athens in 2006 with the song “No, No, Never”. With Texas Lightning, Pittner appeared as the opening act for Kenny Rogers, among others.
In addition to his work as a musician, he also worked in advertising.