Rio Reiser was born as Ralph Christian Möbius in Berlin on January 9, 1950. After spending his youth in several German cities, he began an apprenticeship as a photographer in Offenbach. He didn"t finish his training, but instead travelled to Liverpool and finally arrived in Berlin in 1967. Reiser had already played in several bands when the group "Ton Steine Scherben" was founded in 1970, and quickly rose to underground stardom as the ultimate political protest band in Germany. In 1977, Reiser made his screen debut: For his performance as "Johnny West", the title character of Roald Koller"s film about a young man"s rock star ambitions, Reiser received the German Film Award as Best Actor.

Other parts followed, for example in "Die Nacht mit Chandler" (1978) and "Total vereist" (1980), both directed by Hans Noever. Apart from acting, Reiser also worked as a composer for several feature films. In 1985, "Ton Steine Scherben" finally disbanded and Reiser started a successful career as a solo artist. In 1995, he made one last appearance as an actor in "Im Herzen Eiszeit", a TV-feature of the popular "Tatort"-series, which was again directed by Hans Noever. Rio Reiser died in Fresenhagen on August 20, 1996.