Musician Udo Lindenberg (76) has to cope with the loss of a band member: Carola Kretschmer, guitarist in Lindenberg’s panic orchestra for many years, died at the age of 74. Lindenberg announced this in an Instagram post and dedicated emotional words to the guitarist.

“Really a shocker – very sad …” wrote the 76-year-old to a black and white photo of Kretschmer. “Our beloved tigress of Eschnapur, Carola Kretschmer, our pioneer on the guitar and in life, went ahead last night and checked the other side of the river.”

Lindenberg and Kretschmer have known each other for over 50 years, as the musician writes. He dedicates emotional words to the deceased guitarist: She was “the tough consequence without compromise”. Lindenberg also writes that Carola Kretschmer was “born in the ‘wrong body’ as ‘Thomas'” and “then went through with it, from the initial difficulties to full and proud sovereignty”.

Kretschmer was part of the Panikorchester from the start and “revolutionized” the sound. “With her deep soul and her magic fingers on the guitar … when she played the solo from ‘Das Leben’ in our live shows, 50,000 people in the stadium held their breath,” enthuses Udo Lindenberg. She was an “absolute highlight”: “On stage and as a friend.”

“Hey Carola, nothing knocks out a sailor. Strong as two, strong as the panic orchestra,” he continues. “Your power is now fully on us… we miss you like crazy. Forever: Your Udo and the whole panic clan.”

Carola Kretschmer first played on Lindenberg’s LP “Daumen im Wind” in 1972 and was later part of the band Frumpy. In the mid-1970s she succeeded Karl Allaut in Lindenberg’s panic orchestra. She later toured with Stefan Waggershausen and York von Wittern before she was back on stage and in the studio with Udo Lindenberg from 2001.