Zeus B Held?

[JussiK]

Who or what was Zeus B Held? A produceer apparently or a songwriter. Every item he was connected with seems to be interesting, most of all the early 80's track A Cha Cha At The Opera, a bizarre mid tempo semi-rap euro chugger with a camp male or possibly female voice that enthuses and rants about Maria Callas and Kid Creole while violins screech.

[ladyboygrimsby]

Zeus B. Held was a German musician-turned-producer so far as I can tell. The earliest thing I have by him is a Krautrock LP by a group called Birthcontrol, in which he plays keyboards (mellotron, and synths). That's from 1974.

The first time I ever heard of him, though, was when he produced the Birmingham new romantic group Fashion, but I'm assuming they already knew about him hence the hook-up. That was in 1981. I've no idea what he did inbetween, but I like his production work with Fashion, especially Move On.

[BrunoRepublic]

http://www.discogs.com/artist/Zeus_B-_Held

I once came across the site for his production company, but I can't seem to find it now.

[BrunoRepublic]

For Gina X Performance, he co-wrote and produced:

Nice Mover (1978) -- Fascinating production, but songs are rather one-dimensional and almost always focus on Gina's gender identity issues. Some have decent, if simplistic, melodies and arrangements. Quite enjoyable in a bizarre sort of way.
Xtra-Ordinaire (1980) -- As above, and includes lyrics so this time you can understand what is being said. Unfortunately, the songs are simply not as good. Often tuneless, aimless, and the lyrics seem designed to shock but don't actually say anything.
Voyeur (1981 or 82) -- Another step down, with thoroughly forgettable songs. I think this one was released only in Germany. I can't imagine any North American record label that would distribute an album with a peephole cover that shows the naughty bits of a gay art-porn inner sleeve.

A further album, "Yinglish" was released as Gina X (no "Performance") in 1983. This one is absolutely dreadful. Even a cover of The Beatles' "Drive My Car" cannot save it.

The "Performance" in Gina X Performance appears to be three of the gayest-looking men I've ever seen (and believe me, I've seen quite a few). But I'm not sure what they contributed. All the instrumentation and backing vocals appear to be credited to Zeus or other studio musicians. One of them (Ralph Morgenstern, which Babelfish amusingly translates as "Morning asterisk") went to to become a German TV actor.

When Erasure covered "No G.D.M." for one of the b-sides to their "Blue Savannah" single, they got Zeus himself to remix it (this version can be found on the US CD single). It's quite bizarre hearing Andy Bell sing "...being but a lesbian"...

[Sami M]

Yes, Zeus seem to have worked with less mainstream projects. I also like the Fashion track. Besides he did the 1984 remix of Alphaville's Big in Japan and produced Nina Hagen at the early nineties.

[SandraDee]

His most commercially successful production in the UK must surely be his work with Dead Or Alive such as the cover version of 'That's The Way I Like It' & the 'Sophisticated Boom Boom' LP before they hooked up with Stock Aitken Waterman in '84.