G.G.T.H. : Grown-up Guide to Tokio Hotel

The band

Bill Kaulitz

Birthdate : September 1, 1989 - Leipzig
The band's youngest member - by 10 minutes... -, main songwriter, and frontman. Visually, a cross between Ziggy Stardust and a goth-ish manga character. Vocally, he went from a pre-puberty boyish voice to a stronger, raspy soprano (but he doesn't smoke at all, noooo...).
He started writing songs at 6, after watching a live show of Nena on TV and deciding to become a rock singer. She's still his idol now - he got to work with her to dub the German version of the animated movie "Arthur and the Minimoys". He started performing in public with his twin brother Tom at the guitar around age 10.
He never really took singing lessons, so he lacks a bit in technique for breathing etc. He also tends to strain his voice too much, which gives him a sexily coarse voice on occasion. Intensive touring in the past years makes up for that a bit.

Tom Kaulitz

Birthdate : September 1, 1989 - Leipzig
Born a little before Bill. He started playing guitar after their stepfather offered him one. Co-writes the music of some songs with his brother. They met Georg and Gustav soon after starting to perform together, and the 4 of them formed a band called Devilish. They released a 7-tracks CD around that time. He got into guitaring when his stepfather, himself a guitarist performing in a band, got him a guitar. By now he mostly listens to German hip-hop (... wait, does that actually exist?).
He's been wearing dreadlocks since at least the first known pictures of Devilish, circa 2000. It's not important in itself, just saying that no, their current look was not entirely modelled by Universal to reach the widest audience. The twins were attention whores before that.

Gustav Schäfer

Birthdate : September 8, 1988 - Magdeburg
Drummer. Unlike the twins, he actually learned his art at a music school. He's the most silent and discreet of all four, so there is little more known about him. He often looks bored in interviews, especially confronted with dumb questions and / or too much interest given to the twins. But watch out when he's behind his drums, that's when he gets quite loud.
He got into music through what his father listened to, like Genesis. He's theoretically enrolled at uni, AFAIK.

Georg Listing

Birthdate : March 31, 1987 - Halle
Bass player. He went to a music school to learn bass because friends of him wanted to form a rock band and needed a bass player. As it turned out, his friends never did form their band, but he kept playing. He befriended Gustav there, and the two eventually met the Kaulitz twins and figured they could form a band together.
Because as Tom said during an interview, bands always miss a bass player because everyone wants to play guitar or sing but bass is usually taken up as last choice, and they needed one.
As the older band member, Georg is ~~their porn provider~~ not the quieter, but he's often the butt of the other members' jokes, especially Tom.

Bill Kaulitz
	Birthdate : September 1, 1989 - Leipzig The band's youngest member - by 10 minutes... -, main songwriter, and frontman. Visually, a cross between Ziggy Stardust and a goth-ish manga character. Vocally, he went from a pre-puberty boyish voice to a stronger, raspy soprano (but he doesn't smoke at all, noooo...). He started writing songs at 6, after watching a live show of Nena on TV and deciding to become a rock singer. She's still his idol now - he got to work with her to dub the German version of the animated movie "Arthur and the Minimoys". He started performing in public with his twin brother Tom at the guitar around age 10. He never really took singing lessons, so he lacks a bit in technique for breathing etc. He also tends to strain his voice too much, which gives him a sexily coarse voice on occasion. Intensive touring in the past years makes up for that a bit.
Tom Kaulitz
	Birthdate : September 1, 1989 - Leipzig Born a little before Bill. He started playing guitar after their stepfather offered him one. Co-writes the music of some songs with his brother. They met Georg and Gustav soon after starting to perform together, and the 4 of them formed a band called Devilish. They released a 7-tracks CD around that time. He got into guitaring when his stepfather, himself a guitarist performing in a band, got him a guitar. By now he mostly listens to German hip-hop (... wait, does that actually exist?). He's been wearing dreadlocks since at least the first known pictures of Devilish, circa 2000. It's not important in itself, just saying that no, their current look was not entirely modelled by Universal to reach the widest audience. The twins were attention whores before that.
Gustav Schäfer
	Birthdate : September 8, 1988 - Magdeburg Drummer. Unlike the twins, he actually learned his art at a music school. He's the most silent and discreet of all four, so there is little more known about him. He often looks bored in interviews, especially confronted with dumb questions and / or too much interest given to the twins. But watch out when he's behind his drums, that's when he gets quite loud. He got into music through what his father listened to, like Genesis. He's theoretically enrolled at uni, AFAIK.
Georg Listing
	Birthdate : March 31, 1987 - Halle Bass player. He went to a music school to learn bass because friends of him wanted to form a rock band and needed a bass player. As it turned out, his friends never did form their band, but he kept playing. He befriended Gustav there, and the two eventually met the Kaulitz twins and figured they could form a band together. Because as Tom said during an interview, bands always miss a bass player because everyone wants to play guitar or sing but bass is usually taken up as last choice, and they needed one. As the older band member, Georg is ~~their porn provider~~ not the quieter, but he's often the butt of the other members' jokes, especially Tom.