Brendel was the drummer for the band The Stripes, and he also composed and wrote most of their songs. Despite individual appearances on well-known shows such as Plattenküche and Disco, the band did not enjoy great commercial success, and the group finally split up in 1981.
Together with Nena, who had also sung with The Stripes since the end of 1977 and with whom he had been in a relationship since 1979, as well as keyboardist Uwe Fahrenkrog-Petersen, guitarist Carlo Karges and bassist Jürgen Dehmel, he formed the band Nena in 1982. Here, too, he played a major role as composer and lyricist on all of their albums until 1987.
Brendel split up with Nena in 1987 and moved to Los Angeles for two years to study drums at the Musicians Institute of Music in California. He then returned to Germany and played for various German bands as well as for Spliff drummer Herwig Mitteregger. In 2002 he took over the management of the young German artist Marlon and worked for several years in his studio in Tostedt.
The singer, songwriter and author of the biography ‘Nena Geschichte einer einer Band’ is currently releasing his second German-language album, ‘Elvis lebt!’
