Claudia Brücken (born 7 December 1963 in Berching, Bavaria) is a German singer and songwriter, best known for fronting synth-pop bands Propaganda and Act.
Brücken joined her first band Haarsträubend ("hair-raising") aged 14. Her second, the all-girl Topolinos lasted 2 years before she was invited to join a fledgling pre-ZTT Propaganda, which had been formed by former Die Krupps synthesist Ralf Dörper in 1982 - and which already included artist (also of Topolinos).
Propaganda moved from Düsseldorf to London when their demo of Throbbing Gristle's "Disziplin," caught the ear of Zang Tumb Tuum. Propaganda stayed for 3 singles, an album and a remix collection in their original line-up on ZTT (1984-85), before they parted company. Claudia married Paul Morley, ZTT A&R, and released "When Your Heart Runs Out Of Time," a duet with Glenn Gregory. Tensions within the group and with ZTT led inevitably to a split.
In 1986 Claudia formed Act with Thomas Leer. Three singles were taken from their sole album "Laughter, Tears And Rage," (a fourth "Chance," never made it to the shelves). During interviews for the Act album, Brücken mentioned her next project would be a solo album on ZTT, "Prima Donna." However this was never released, and little else is known of the project.
Much was expected of 1991s "Love: And A Million Other Things," Brücken's debut solo album proper. But once again events conspired against her, with a line-up change at her new label, Island Records, ousting all her A&R team and supporters. "Absolut[e]," and "Kiss Like Ether," missed the UK Top 40, and the planned 3rd single "Fanatic," only made it to promo in France.
During the 90s Claudia kept a low profile, but was still writing and recording. She appeared alongside Propaganda's Suzanne Freytag on Spirit Feel's 1994 album, and fronted releases by The Brain (2) and Oceanhead. In 1999, Claudia along with Michael Mertens and Suzanne Freytag, announced a reformed Propaganda. An album's worth of material was recorded but despite interest the project floundered in 2001 and the material remains unreleased.
In 2004 Claudia and her then-partner Paul Humphreys (Orchestral Manoeuvres In The Dark) formed a new group that remained nameless for some time, but eventually came to be known as Onetwo. Claudia also worked with fellow ZTT-luminary Andrew Poppy on the album "Another Language."
