Doro Pesch Talks About Her Love Affair With New York City

In 2008, metal goddess Doro Pesch celebrated her 25th anniversary concert in front of 8,500 fans at the ISS Dome in her hometown of Dusseldorf, Germany. It was a homecoming of sorts for the solo and Warlock star as she explained to Noisecreep during a chat earlier this month. "When I started out in 1983 with Warlock, I remember everyone in the band wanted to go to America so badly. Every time we made a new record we waited to see if we could finally tour there. Finally for the third album [1986's 'True as Steel'] we went to America for the first time for a promotional tour. I'll never forget spending three days in New York City and I fell in love with the place. I didn't want to leave [laughs]. I tried everything in the book to stay there and eventually I did," says Pesch.

Doro and Warlock recorded their next album, 1987's 'Triumph and Agony,' in New York and Philadelphia. By that point, the singer was living in the Manhattan full time. "We met some fantastic people and wrote some great songs during that time. I think it's the best album of our career," says a still proud Pesch.

Watch 'A White Shade of Pale' from Doro

Still loving the creative atmosphere in New York City, Pesch decided to launch her solo career from there. "Things for my career just fell into place at that time. I made my debut album [1989's 'Force Majeure'] and had a hit with a cover of 'A White Shade of Pale.' For my next album [1990's 'Doro'] I got the chance to work with Gene Simmons. I grew up being a huge KISS fan so I was so excited to do it! He wrote many songs for the album along with Tommy Thayer who now plays in KISS too. At that point in my life, I never thought I would go back to Europe. Things were too much fun in the States," laughs the German rocker

Pesch hasn't looked back since. Although she's kept a busy touring schedule throughout the years, she's called America her home base. "I got my green card in 1991 and I was so happy. I stayed in New York City for the next ten years. It just got to be too expensive to live in Manhattan, so I moved to where I live now on Long Beach, Long Island. It's a nice community here and I'm not that far from the city. I have no complaints."

Watch '25 Years of Rock' from Doro

The aforementioned anniversary show is being issued in the States by the folks at Nuclear Blast as '25 Years in Rock.' The double-disc set also features guest appearances by Overkill's Bobby "Blitz" Ellsworth, Grave Digger's Chris Boltendahl, former Nightwish singer Tarja Turunen, Scorpions' Klaus Meine and Rudolf Schenker, Liv Kristine [Leaves' Eyes], Floor Jansen [After Forever], Axel Rudi Pell and many others. It will arrive in stores on September 13th.

Doro Pesch '25 Years in Rock' US Release Shows:

9/09/2011 Gramercy Theatre - New York, NY

9/11/2011 Reggie's Rock Club - Chicago, IL