is a German singer who first rose to fame with the heavy metal band Accept. After leaving the band in 1987, he formed the band U.D.O., in which he has also enjoyed commercial success.
Former Accept and current U.D.O. lead singer Udo Dirkschneider has a long career spanning almost five decades that helped to shape German heavy metal. His unique and raspy voice approach and his taste for huge choruses made big part of Accept's appeal and made him one of the most recognizable characters in heavy metal history.
In November 2011, Dirkschneider's son Sven supported U.D.O. on a date in Germany and became a permanent member of his father's band in February 2015. On the same year, the band was temporary renamed as "Dirkschneider" and embarked in a long tour called "Back To The Roots" where the band only performed Accept songs.
In 2021, Udo along with his former Accept bandmates, guitarist Stefan Kaufmann and bassist Peter Baltes released new music under the name of "Dirkschneider and the Old Gang" that also features former U.D.O guitarist Matthias Dieth, drummer Svein Dirkschneider and singer Manuela Bibert, with the video of the song "Where The Angels Fly" surpassing a million of views on YouTube.
On 22 April 2022, Udo released an album of cover versions, entitled 'My Way', to mark his 70th birthday.
Live in Bulgaria 2020: Pandemic Survival Show 18 September 2020, Plovdiv, Bulgaria, Roman theatre of Philippopolis.
On his long career, Dirkschneider shared his vocals with a few artists, as in the cover of Steppenwolf's "Born to Be Wild" released in 1983 as B-side of "Break the Chain" single on Raven's All for One album. Dirkschneider is also famous for his duet with his longtime friend Doro Pesch on the song "Dancing with an Angel". In 1999, Dirkschneider recorded the Helloween song "I Want Out" and a new version of Accept's "Head Over Heels" with HammerFall. And as guest on the song music "Shtil" by the Russian heavy metal band Aria on their 2001's album Chimera.
In 2006, Dirkschneider sang the song "They Only Come Out at Night" with Mr. Lordi on Lordi album The Arockalypse, as well as performing it live on stage at same year Wacken Open Air.
In 2013, Dirkschneider performed a duet with Marko Hietala on Finnish band Lazy Bonez's debut album Vol.1. They sang a song called "First to Go – Last to Know".
