lit a candle 2h agoHad the Electric Blues Duo record on an hour ago. 75. Damn.
Their story
Frank Diez was a German blues and rock guitarist, composer, lyricist and producer whose playing helped define decades of German rock and blues. Born in Berlin on 2 November 1950, he died in the same city on 1 November 2026, one day before his 76th birthday, after a serious illness…
Frank Diez was a German blues and rock guitarist, composer, lyricist and producer whose playing helped define decades of German rock and blues. Born in Berlin on 2 November 1950, he died in the same city on 1 November 2026, one day before his 76th birthday, after a serious illness announced on his official website. German press and fellow musicians remembered him as one of Europe's most distinctive blues guitarists and as the long-time guitar partner of Peter Maffay.
Diez grew up in Berlin and, inspired by the American Folk Blues Festival recordings associated with promoters Horst Lippmann and Fritz Rau, began playing guitar at sixteen. By the late 1960s and early 1970s he was already moving through the formative German rock circuit as a live and studio player. His early band credits included pioneering or early-wave groups such as Ihre Kinder (including a period linked with Klaus Kinski as singer), Atlantis, Frumpy, Karthago, Emergency, Randy Pie and Snowball. He also worked with Eric Burdon's Fire Department and appeared on sessions and projects that connected German studios to international pop and rock, including work associated with Giorgio Moroder and Donna Summer.
From 1974 to 2004 Diez was a founding guitarist and later producer in the Peter Maffay Band. Across three decades he shaped Maffay's guitar sound on albums and tours and became especially identified with the extended solo in the song Eiszeit, a signature moment often singled out in German radio and press tributes. After leaving the full-time band he returned as a special guest on Maffay's 2009 tour, the 2018 Unplugged concert at Cologne's Lanxess Arena, the 2020 anniversary tour and the 2024 Farewell Tour, closing a nearly fifty-year musical friendship on stage.
Parallel to the Maffay years, Diez pursued blues-centred projects that he treated as a life's work rather than a side hobby. During a 1986 recording session with Konstantin Wecker he met British bass virtuoso Colin Hodgkinson. The encounter became the Electric Blues Duo, which from 1986 to 2019 played more than 1,500 concerts in Germany and abroad. Diez also recorded as the Diez Brothers with his younger brother, guitarist Stephan Diez (who died in 2017), releasing City Lights (1988) and Close Up (1990). In 2000 he co-led the Bärlin Blues Band with Alex Conti and keyboardist Ingo Bischof. From 2011 to 2013 he was a member of The British Blues Quintet around Maggie Bell and Zoot Money. Later collaborations included work with Stefan Stoppok, Siggi Schwarz, Pete York, Chris Thompson and Tina Tandler.
As a producer and solo artist Diez left a quieter but lasting catalogue. His melancholy solo album Stranded on Fantasy Island (2000) and production credits for artists such as Miller Anderson, Telecats and Blues Company showed the same narrative instinct his official biography summarised as telling more stories with the strings than others do with the voice. In 1998 he published the instructional book Perfect Bluesguitar (KDM Verlag, Berlin). He later placed a collection of guitars, original studio tapes, sketchbooks and career papers with the Lippmann+Rau-Stiftung, administered through the Lippmann+Rau music archive in Eisenach, preserving primary material from Germany's rock and blues history.
In 2025 the Lahnsteiner Bluesfestival awarded Diez the Blues-Louis for extraordinary services to blues music, a late-career honour that recognised a lifetime spent on stages from Berlin clubs to international blues bills. On his website he was remembered as a native Berliner who began with Folk Blues Festival records and became, in the site's own claim, the German guitarist who had played with Jimi Hendrix, Chuck Berry and Little Richard, a claim also reflected on his German Wikipedia page and in Rolling Stone Germany's obituary.
Peter Maffay published a farewell on 3 November 2026 calling Diez a friend, a guitar legend and a loyal companion whose sound, humour and wisdom would live on. Rolling Stone Germany, Merkur, t-online and other outlets marked the death of a musician who bridged Deutschrock stardom and deep blues craft. Diez is survived by family and by a body of recorded and live work that still carries the tone German audiences associated with Eiszeit, the Electric Blues Duo and half a century of German blues guitar.
Biography adapted from Official site frankdiez.de; German Wikipedia Frank Diez; Peter Maffay tribute maffay.de/trauer-um-frank-diez/; Rolling Stone Germany 3 Nov 2026; Merkur and t-online obituaries Nov 2026; Lahnsteiner Bl.
In their own words
“Unser lieber Frank hat seine letzte Reise angetreten. Wir trauern um einen Freund, um eine Gitarrenlegende, um einen treuen Wegbegleiter. Dein wunderbarer Sound, Dein Humor und Deine Weisheit lebt in uns weiter. Bis wir uns wiedersehen… Mach's gut, mein Freund. Unsere Wege werden sich kreuzen.”
Peter Maffay farewell published on maffay.de, 3 November 2026.
“Soundcheck streng verboten. Danke! Wer Musik lebt, braucht keinen Soundcheck. Das Leben ist keine Generalprobe.”
Rule Diez associated with John Mayall, reported via Merkur citing Schlagerprofis / RockTimes coverage.
“So lange es irgendwie geht.”
Diez's reported answer when asked how long he wanted to keep making music; Merkur citing Schlagerprofis.
“Unvergessen. Danke, Frank.”
Peter Maffay caption with Eiszeit solo video, reported by Rolling Stone Germany, November 2026.
“Er ist der wohl einzige deutsche Gitarrist, der mit Jimi Hendrix, Chuck Berry und Little Richard gespielt hat.”
Career claim on Diez's official website frankdiez.de.
Photos
1Frank Diez with Ray Cooper during a Peter Maffay concert in Koblenz, March 2009
Mar 2009 · by People Forever
From social media
7Posts by Frank, and posts about them, kept here so they are not lost.