Alphaville is a German synth-pop band which gained popularity in the 1980s. The founding members were lead singer Marian Gold (real name: Hartwig Schierbaum, born 26 May 1954 in Herford), Bernhard Lloyd (real name: Bernhard Gössling, born 2 June 1960 in Enger), and Frank Mertens (real name: Frank Sorgatz, born 26 October 1961 in Enger). They achieved chart success with the singles "Forever Young", "Big in Japan", "Sounds Like a Melody", "The Jet Set" and "Dance with Me".^[1][2][3]

Alphaville was formed in early 1982, by lead singer Marian Gold and Bernhard Lloyd, when Gold and Lloyd met at the music project Nelson Community.^{[citation needed]} Many months later, Frank Mertens joined the project.^{[citation needed]} Gold had written "Big in Japan" in 1979 after hearing the music of Holly Johnson's band Big in Japan. They first named their band "Forever Young" and subsequently changed it to "Alphaville" after the 1965 science fiction film. Together the three wrote Forever Young and recorded their first demo of the same name. In 1984, the newly renamed Alphaville released their debut single, "Big in Japan".^[4]