Bio

Markus Häuptli began his musical career at a young age as a member of the school band "The Poison," with whom he caused a sensation at various school festivals in the 1970s, at least in the Aarau region. Even then, he wrote his own songs, some of which he and the band performed live. Later, he took courses in music theory and classical guitar at the Zurich Conservatory and, during his studies, gave guitar lessons in Aarau and played flamenco and Spanish guitar music in various bars with Rodiguez Oezok, as well as occasionally in blues and rock bands. In the early 1980s, he began home recording. The centerpiece of his studio was an Atari computer, which was later connected to a Tascam tape machine, allowing him to synchronize regular audio recordings with computer sounds. From that point on, Markus Häuptli consistently composed, recorded, and produced songs.

Markus Häuptli is from the Aarau region. On his first official album, "Rhynetel," released in 2005, he dedicated several songs to the region and its history. On this album, he already was supported by Tschändu Muhmenthaler on bass, Gogo Frei on guitar, and Christoph Bopp on keyboards.

For many years, however, he has drawn his musical inspiration primarily from representatives of the english and american songwriting tradition, such as Steve Earle, Townes Van Zandt, Willy DeVille, Bob Dylan, Ralph McTell, Tom Petty, and others. He has released five albums to date, one of which, "Road to Townes," is a tribute album to Townes Van Zandt. His latest album, "Brooklyn Bakery," explores, among other things, his family history: his great-grandfather emigrated to New York via Hamburg towards the end of the 19th century, where he ran a bakery in Brooklyn. Markus Häuptli's grandmother was born there, but she later moved to Switzerland in the 1920s.

Over the course of the past few months, Markus has been remastering his earlier works, re-recording and remastering guitars, voice and other instrumental parts. The results of this process are already partly available on online-platforms such as spotify, apple music and youtube and will be brought on tour in 2026.

Another album is also planned for 2026. His longtime musical collaborators, Beda Ehrensperger, Christoph Bopp, Rainer Sauser, Tschändu Muhmenthaler, and others, are expected to participate again.