Background
Bendzko grew up in the Köpenick region of Berlin.
Bendzko grew up in the Köpenick region of Berlin.
As a teenager, he attended a sport gymnasium and played at the first Football Club Union Berlin football.
His musical career began with guitar lessons, which he decided to start taking when he was 11 or 12 years old. At age 16, he wrote his first songs. He ended his studies after 5 semesters without getting a degree.
He then worked temporarily as an auctioneer in the car trade.
In 2009, he registered for the talent compeititon Söhne gesucht of Söhne Mannheims. Then he devoted himself entirely to his music
He received a recording contract with Sony Music and performed as an opening act for Silly on their 2010 tour. On 17 June 2011, he released his debut album Wenn Worte meine Sprache wären ("If words were my language"), from which the single Nur noch kurz die Welt retten ("Just quickly save the world") was released on 27 May 2011.
The album reached number four in the German charts and the single number two.
The single, written by Tim Bendzko, Mo Brandis and Simon Triebel, was certified 3x Gold in Germany for sales of more than 450,000 copies. The music video was produced by Hagen Decker in Los Los Angeles The album, which sold over 500,000 copies in Germany alone, was certified 5x Gold in Germany, Platinum in Switzerland and Gold in Austria.
Bendzko performed as the opening act in Cologne and Leipzig on Elton John"s tour of Germany, as well as being the support act for Joe Cocker during his Hard Knocks tour.