Life
Gilbert in one of his numerous publicity shots for 'Herr Awesome'
Gilbert Beilschmidt was born on January 18th, 1989, in East Berlin to Heinrich and Sophie Beilschmidt. Unfortunately his parents had suffered hard under Russia’s rule of East Berlin, and couldn’t afford to raise their son themselves; instead they sent him off to his maternal grandfather, Friederich Wagner, who lived in the country. Beilschmidt lived with his grandfather, who he affectionately nicknamed: ‘Old Fritz’, (in reference to the famous ‘Frederick the Great’, king of Prussia), for the first seven years of his life, and became fluent in both French and English, on top of his native tongue of German. He performed averagely in all his academic subjects, excelling only in performing arts. His teachers are often quoted as saying: ‘he was more of a drama queen than all the girls combined.’ However, three weeks before his eighth birthday, Friederich became seriously ill and was no longer able to look after his grandson. Gilbert was sent back to live with his parents, who by this time had emigrated to America in search of a better life for their younger son, Ludwig, born almost two years after Gilbert.
Friederich died a few months later, in the early summer of 1997. Gilbert was naturally devastated by both his grandfather’s death and his move to a whole new country, with no-one around whom he knew, other than parents he barely remembered and a younger brother he’d never met. Despite this, he settled in well and continued to progress at school, though he still showed no sign of excelling, unlike his younger brother. It was possibly around this time that Gilbert’s inferiority complex in relation to his ‘perfect’ brother developed, and he started insisting everyone refer to him as ‘Herr Awesome’ (which is also the title of his first (unsuccessful) album).
Beilschmidt’s rebellious attitude and obsession with being the most ‘awesome person ever’ continued to grow through out his late childhood and early teens, and at age sixteen he began to develop an interest in rock music. He had always been musical; his grandfather was well-known within the local area for his excellent skill as a flautist, and Gilbert had inherited his skills. After his grandfather’s death, however, he had given up playing the flute, declaring he would never touch it again. In subsequent years, his parents attempted to interest him in another instrument, but failed. Aged sixteen; Gilbert finally gave in and took up the guitar and drums. He learned quickly, his parents happily encouraging him. His father, Heinrich, decided to encourage him further by getting him signed up to Auswahl, at that time a small, family company owned by Heinrich’s father. Gilbert released three albums over the next four years, all of which were only mildly successful.
Despite the lack of interest at the time of their release, he gained quite a following, and the past two years, in which Gilbert has repeatedly claimed to be ‘on a break’, and therefore has produced no new songs or albums, and scheduled no concerts or interviews, the interest in his music has grown. This is only supported further by his ‘bad boy’ attitude – since his infamous twenty-first birthday party last year, Beilschmidt and his various friends, colleagues and fans have been seen stumbling out of countless bars and clubs in the early hours of the morning. Gilbert has also been arrested frequently for various misdemeanours, and is often seen sitting on the doorstep of the house he shares with his brother, reportedly after being kicked out by the far more respectable Ludwig.
Gilbert is well known for his bad behaviour and promiscuous ways, not to mention his ego, which as one anonymous colleague once put it, is: ‘bigger than most reasonably large countries’. There have recently been rumours of him finally making a comeback to the music world.
Career
Gilbert’s career in music began in March 2005, when he released his first album, ‘Herr Awesome’. It included tracks such as: ‘I am just so awesome’ and ‘Gilbert, the king of Awesome!’ There was also a bonus hidden track dedicated to his grandfather, entitled: ‘Old Fritz’.
His second album, released late the following year, was called: ‘Prussian Glory’. It was also dedicated to his grandfather; the Wagner men and their ancestors had been members of the Prussian Army since its conception, and Gilbert was fond of listening to the old war stories his grandfather had inherited from his own father and grandfather. ‘Prussian Glory’ was more serious than its predecessor – the tracks on it dealt with various issues that had affected Gilbert’s life and childhood, such as ‘Barrier of Darkness’, one of the few songs Beilschmidt sings entirely in German, which references the struggles of growing up in East Germany, and is supposedly about how Gilbert felt, growing up, about his parents sending him to be raised by his Grandfather.
Gilbert’s third album returned to his usual, self-centred style. Surprisingly, it was his best selling album, with over a million copies being sold across the US, Canada and Germany, his main markets. It was released in July 2008, and included his only hit: ‘Do you wanna touch my awesome?’, along with less well-known, but still popular: ‘My song that is written by me, for me.’ The bonus track for this album was dedicated to his brother, and is supposedly the last song he wrote before beginning his break.
He has not released anything since, and his last tour ended abruptly in September 2009 after he broke his collarbone and left arm and fractured his leg falling out of a third-storey window one evening whilst inebriated. There are several rumours claiming that the only reason he has not been expelled from the now-successful Auswahl is his relation to the CEO.