On April 28th, German rockers Fair Warning shared the sad news that guitarist Helge Engelke has passed away at age 61:
"It is with great sadness and a heavy heart that we have to inform you that our dear friend and guitarist, Helge Engelke, has passed away unexpectedly yesterday, on April 28, 2023. He died in hospital after complications occurred with a colon tumor which only had been discovered two days before.
Speaking for all of us, this is a tremendous loss, both as a friend and colleague, as well as a gifted artist, always full of great new ideas and concepts. He will be deeply missed. Our thoughts and love go out his beloved wife Olatz and daughter Maialen.
May God bless Helge's soul."
Guitar legend Uli Jon Roth paid tribute to Engelke via social media with the following message:
"Dear all - unbelievably, one of my best long-time friends, Helge Engelke, passed away very suddenly yesterday. It was completely out the blue and unexpected for all of us and it is an immense loss beyond description. He was unique and there will never be another Helge.
He was a true multi-talent and master of many very diverse things. Not only a great guitarist, but also a producer, song-writer for both Fair Warning and Dreamtide - and on top of that he was an excellent photographer with a superb eye for visual magic. Whatever he did, Helge did to perfection.
Above all, he was a true friend - not just to myself - but to a large circle. He was also close to my brother Zeno and worked with him a lot back then. Apart from that, he was an invaluable help to myself over all the years, ever since 1987, and he assisted me in many things in the studio. Helge also mixed my two Scorpions Revisited projects beautifully.
Helge Engelke knew many things, and had a clearly defined opinion about just everything under the sun, and most of the time I think he was right because he had very good natural instincts and was very level-headed. Above all, he was a truly good hearted human being. One of the best I ever had the honour to meet and one of the most generally helpful persons imaginable. I am not exaggerating - on the contrary - words are not enough to really describe his natural desire to be helpful whenever he saw a need. And his input was always totally constructive and of the finest quality.
Helge delivered excellence as a basic standard whatever he did. This was a normal rule of life for him, although he never bragged about it. It was just his natural way of being. It came as a natural desire to do things right and to do them justice and it came from deep within. Whenever a helping hand was needed, Helge was there with active advice and more. His work ethic was second to none. An incredibly hard worker, he tackled every single technical problem in the studio that arose and would not stop until he solved it. It was amazing and impressive. I don't know how many hours we spent over the phone in all these years when I needed technical assistance in the studio environment, which was often the case. He never complained, although I'm sure my questions about the minefield that is Pro-Tools and other programs - many of which he had mastered completely - would have driven most people insane. Not so with Helge - his patience was practically endless. He never gave up before a solution was found. Helge was most generous with his time and his patience was that of a saint.
The most tragic loss was the fact that he was also a PERFECT father and husband to his to his dear wife Olaz and their beautiful young daughter, Maiallen. It is so sad, because they were the perfect family. Which is a rare thing to see.
My heart goes out to them, and I wish my dear friend a great new journey in the vast sky of Spirit Land where he dwell.
Thank you for everything, Helge! We all love you!"
Engelke recorded eight studio albums with Fair Warning between 1992 and 2016. He formed Dreamtide in 2001 following the break-up of Fair Warning in 2000, and kept the band running when Fair Warning reunited in 2005. Dreamtide's final album, and possibly Engelke's last recorded work, was the 2022 album, Drama Dust Dream.
