Richard Kruspe (born June 24, 1967) is lead guitar player and background singer for Rammstein.
Name
Richard was born as Sven Richard Kruspe. But he changed it himself to Richard Zven Kruspe (where the short form RZK comes from). After marrying his ex-wife Caron Bernstein (who is a South African actress and model), his name was Richard Zven Kruspe-Bernstein. They split up and now he uses only Richard Kruspe.
His nickname is "Scholle". For unknown reasons.
Life
Richard Kruspe was born in Wittenberge]], East Germany. He has two older sisters and an older brother (Gordon Kruspe). His parents divorced when he was young. His mother remarried, but he did not get along with his stepfather. They moved to the village of Weisen when he was young. Because of the poor relationship with his step-father, Kruspe often ran away from home in his early teens and slept on park benches. He later got into wrestling as a way to channel his anger.
At the age of sixteen, Kruspe and some friends visited Czechoslovakia, where he bought a guitar. He had originally planned to sell it, because they were very expensive and thought he could make a nice profit. However, once he returned to East Germany, a girl at a campground he was staying at asked him to play. He told her that he couldn’t play, but she kept insisting, and Kruspe got mad and started strumming the strings. “The harder I played,” Richard said, “the more excited she got. Something clicked in my head and I realized girls like guys who play guitars.” This got him interested in playing the guitar, and as a result, he began playing every day and night for the next two years.
Previous Bands
Signature
Discography
Remix
- 1997: Faith No More - Last Cup Of Sorrow (Rammstein Remix)