Bernd Weidung (born 1 March 1963), known by his stage name Thomas Anders, is a German singer, songwriter and record producer.

After forming the Eurodisco duo Modern Talking with Dieter Bohlen in 1983, they became a worldwide sensation with their hit "You're My Heart, You're My Soul".

During the first Modern Talking split, he released six studio albums, none of which managed to chart, whereas some singles such as "Love of My Own" achieved mediocre success.

Only his Spanish language album Barcos de Cristal (1994) proved successful in Argentina, where its eponymous title track climbed to number 1.

While being unable to match his success with Modern Talking with his solo career, Anders is considered a musical icon in Eastern Europe, where he is more revered than in his native country and regularly performs stadium tours and on New Year's Eve in Poland.

In 2006, the Taras Shevchenko National University of Kyiv made him an honorary professor for "shaping the musical taste of a generation", and he holds the distinction for being the best-selling foreign artist of all time in Russia.

[4] Anders was born in Koblenz, West Germany and grew up in the small village of Mörz, a suburb of Münstermaifeld, with an older brother and a younger sister.

He signed his first record contract with CBS while still in school and took up the stage name of Thomas Anders, performing in the then-popular German Schlager genre.

From late 1983 to the mid of 1984 Bohlen produced other tracks for Anders including "Wovon träumst du denn", "Endstation Sehnsucht" and "Es geht mir gut heut' Nacht", which he performed at German TV shows such as Night Club.

To capitalize on the popularity of the genre, they sang in easily accessible English lyrics, simple and catchy rhythms, and sported then-popular outfits.

Modern Talking became an overnight sensation in 1985 when their video for "You're My Heart, You're My Soul", originally released in October of the previous year, was shown in popular German music show Formel Eins [de].

[8][9][10] The single eventually went on to sell eight million copies worldwide,[11] reaching number one in Austria, Belgium, Switzerland, as well as the European Hot 100.

[20] Furthermore, Modern Talking and Anders were especially successful in the Soviet Union, where they were one of the first Western bands allowed to sell their records and perform.

Produced by Gus Dudgeon and Alan Tarney, the pop album abandoned his previous Schlager and Eurodisco attempts, but failed to chart.

"Can't Give You Anything (But My Love)", a cover of the eponymous song by The Stylistics, managed to reach number 73 on the German singles charts.

The release was helmed by a cover of the song of the same name, which also featured original artists The Three Degrees, and "I'll Love You Forever", which charted at numbers 31 and 79 in Germany, respectively.

The same year, he portrayed the pop star Ypsilon in the episode "Stockholm Marathon" of the police procedural series Kommissar Beck.

In late 1997, Bohlen suggested the recording of a new album instead and contacted Anders, who had signed a contract with Ariola for an eventual comeback several years prior.

The rerecording switched their style from Euro disco to the 1990s Eurodance, incorporating techno and additional rap vocals by Eric Singleton.

[40] Back for Good was also successful outside of Germany, topping the album charts of many other countries including Sweden, Finland, Norway, Switzerland and Austria.

[41] Back for Good eventually went on to sell over three million copies in Europe alone,[42] and received various certifications in countries such as Spain,[43] Norway,[44] Latvia,[45] Italy,[46] or Belgium.

[50] Their 2001 effort, America, failed to achieve a certification, but produced the hit single "Win the Race", which became the anthem for Formula One in Germany for the 2001 series.

For German Big Brother candidates Jürgen Milski and Zlatko Trpkovski [de], he co-wrote "Großer Bruder", which managed to stay at number 1 in Germany for 8 weeks and achieve platinum by selling 800.000 records.

After a serious altercation before a concert in Rostock, Bohlen announced the end of the band live on stage, to the shock of Anders and the public.

Anders' third attempt at a solo career proved to be more successful, albeit unable to match the popularity of his Modern Talking periods.

Shortly after the break-up of Modern Talking, Anders started recording his eighth solo album, pop effort This Time, which was released in February 2004.

Furthermore, the three singles from the album, "Independent Girl", "King of Love", and "Tonight Is the Night" charted at 17, 37, and 60 respectively, making This Time his biggest success as a solo artist in his native country.

He took part as a jury member in Stefan Raab's casting show SSDSGPS (Stefan sucht den Super Grand Prix Star), which searched for the German entrant for the 2003 Eurovision Song Contest and was a competing event to Dieter Bohlen's Deutschland sucht den Superstar.

He returned to success with electronic and pop oriented Two, a 2011 collaboration album with German producer Jörn-Uwe Fahrenkrog-Petersen, performing under the moniker Anders|Fahrenkrog.

It includes seasonal hits such as "I'll Be Home for Christmas" and "It's the Most Wonderful Time of the Year" as well as covers of well-known classics such as "Silent Night" and Wham!