Manfred Siebald (born 26 October 1948 at Alheim-Baumbach) is a German singer-songwriter and Lecturer in American Studies in Mainz. Siebald is best known as a Christian singer-song writer, who writes and speaks on Contemporary Worship music. His songs have gained a firm place in the song books of many different Christian denominations and are sung in fellowships and youth groups throughout Germany. Artistic and musical career As a child Manfred Siebald learned to play several musical instruments including the violin, the viola and the piano. Along with his studies at Marburg he also took instruction in harmonisation and singing. As early as 1970 he was conducting the Youth for Christ Choir and singing in the Christ Singers. He also brought out his first single - Meinst du wirklich, es genügt? at that time. In 1972 he published his first solo album entitled Da steh ich nun. Siebald gained an international following by his performances at Eurofest '75, the international youth conference and evangelistic crusade which was organized by the Billy Graham organisation in Brussels. Siebald has often been compared with the singer songwriter Reinhard Mey for his style and sometimes with Graham Kendrick for his influence on Christian Music in his country. Over time he has become the most well known German Christian singer songwriter, and has influenced many others. This is demonstrated, among other things, by the release of the album In deinem Haus - A Tribute to Manfred Siebald in 2003 consisting of reinterpretations of some of Manfred Siebald’s best loved songs by other well known Christian musicians (such as Michael Janzde from the group Beatbetriebde). The album was arranged by Florian Sitzmannde and produced by Arne Kopfermannde. Additionally Manfred Siebald translates English songs and writes lyrics for other singers. For example he wrote all the lyrics for Cae Gauntt'sde album Welt von 1000 Wegen. He is frequently asked to write a theme song for special meetings or conferences. This was the case when he wrote Von deinen Worten können wir leben — We can live off your words for The Year of the Bible in 1992. To date Siebald has penned about 350 songs, produced 19 albums and published seven poetry books. Manfred Siebald performs about thirty concerts annually, accompanying himself on various acoustic guitars. For this he travels all over Germany and abroad. For his concerts abroad, including the U.S., South Africa and Sri Lanka, he has produced English versions of his songs. Academic career After leaving school in Kassel (1967) he studied English and German Literature at Philipps University of Marburg. On conclusion of his junior lawyer training and the second state examination he began his academic career at the Johannes Gutenberg University of Mainz in 1977. His dissertation was on the theme of Auflehnung im Werk Herman Melvilles - Rebellion in Herman Melville's Works. He stayed on there after graduating from Mainz, producing the monograph Der verlorene Sohn in der amerikanischen Literatur - The Prodigal Son in American Literature in 1996 which was published in 2003. He was made Associate Professor in American Studies there in 2002. His work at Mainz was interrupted by sabbaticals taken at Wheaton College (Illinois) (1992) and at Georgia State University in Atlanta (1996 and 1997). Other activities Manfred Siebald is Curator of the Faith and Science Institute of the Studentenmission in Deutschland (SMD) the German equivalent of the UCCF. In 1979 he co-founded the Christian Arts Group DAS RAD (The Wheel) together with . He is married to a Doctor, Christine Siebald (née Stossberg) and they have a son, Benjamin, born in 1984. sometimes he is called "the christian reinhard mey", but most probably he don't like this..........:-);-))) Read more on Last.fm. User-contributed text is available under the Creative Commons By-SA License; additional terms may apply.