Helmut Köllen

German vocalist, guitarist, bassist and former race driver (born March 2, 1950 in Cologne, Germany and died May 3, 1977 in Cologne, Germany from carbon monoxide poisoning).
Köllen was cousin of Triumvirat-keyboarder Jürgen Fritz. In 1973, Köllen joined his cousin's band as bass player. He also took part in the US-history of the band in 1974 and 1975. In 1975, he left the group in order to start his solo career. First, he joined Rock band Jail in 1976, and later that year, he started the work on his solo album.
On May 3, 1977 he returned from another recording day in studio. In his garage, he listened to new recordings of the day, but kept the engine of his car running. While doing so, he got intoxicated by the exhaust gases. It is not cleared, whether this was an accident or suicide. The circumstances of his death are topic of Birth Control's song "We All Thought We Knew You" from their album "Increase (opens in a new tab)", which was released later that year.