Udo Jürgens (born Udo Jürgen Bockelmann, 30 September 1934, Klagenfurt, Carinthia, Austria) is an Austrian composer and singer of popular music whose career spans over fifty years. He has written more than 800 songs and sold over 100 million records.
He is credited with broadening German-language pop music beyond the traditional postwar schlager in the 1960s by infusing it with a modern pop appeal; his exceptionally tuneful compositions and sophisticated arrangements attract fans of all ages, and even in his 70s he continues to fill the largest concert venues in Germany, Austria, and Switzerland.[citation needed]
In 1950, he won a composer contest organized by Austria's public broadcasting channel ORF with the song "Je t'aime". He wrote the 1961 worldwide hit "Reach for the Stars", sung by Shirley Bassey.
In 1964, he represented Austria for the first time at the Eurovision Song Contest with the song "Warum nur warum?", finishing sixth. The UK participant, Matt Monro, was impressed with the melody and covered the song (with English lyrics by his manager Don Black) as "Walk Away", which reached number four in the UK Singles Chart and number 23 in the US Billboard Hot 100 chart.
Alfred Biolek (Alfred Franz Maria Biolek) (born 10 July 1934, in Fryštát, then Czechoslovakia, now Czech Republic) is a well-known German entertainer and television producer. Biolek holds a PhD in law and is an honorary professor at the Academy of Media Arts Cologne.
After expulsion from Czechoslovakia in 1946, the Biolek family moved to Waiblingen near Stuttgart, where Biolek's father practiced law again. Biolek was raised a Catholic and was an altar boy. He temporarily joined later the German conservative party CDU.
He attended the Gymnasium (high school/grammar school) in Waiblingen and graduated in 1954. He then studied law in Freiburg im Breisgau, Munich und Vienna. In 1958 he took a first state exam of law (third-best exam in Baden-Württemberg) and graduated with honors. Biolek worked as a lawyer in his father's office and passed the second state exam. In 1970 Biolek moved to Munich and worked for a larger office. Living in the city, Biolek underwent a radical change and distanced himself from his conservative mindset. He actively participated in the Munich bohemian lifestyle and was part of the film maker Rainer Werner Fassbinder's circle of friends.
Otto Gerhard Waalkes (born 22 July 1948 in Emden, Germany) is a Frisian comedian and actor. He became famous in the 1970s and 1980s in Germany with his shows, books and movies. His perhaps most famous trademark are the 'Ottifanten' ('Ottiphants'), elephant-like comic characters of his own design. They featured on the cover of his first album release.
He shares a close friendship with tennis player Steffi Graf, who also makes an appearance in the movie Otto - Der Außerfriesische. He has one child ("Benjamin Karl Otto Grigori Waalkes") with his first wife Manuela Ebelt, and was later married to actress Eva Hassmann until November 2011, who co-starred with him in Otto - Der Katastrophenfilm.
Helene Fischer (Russian: Елена Петровна Фишер (Jelena Petrowna Fischer); born August 5, 1984 in the Soviet Union) is a German singer and entertainer. Since her debut in 2005 she has won several awards, including four Echo awards and three "Krone der Volksmusik" awards. According to record certifications she sold at least 2,905,000 albums.
Helene Fischer was born in the Siberian town of Krasnoyarsk, Russia, where she spent her early childhood. In 1988 her ethnic German family emigrated to Germany. In Germany, the family settled in the State of Rhineland-Palatinate.
After graduating from school, Helene Fischer attended the Frankfurt Stage & Musical School for three years, where she studied singing and acting. During this time, Helene performed on stage at the State Theatre of Darmstadt, as well as on the stage of National Theatre in Frankfurt.
During her time at the Stage & Musical School, her mother secretly copied a demo CD with six songs of Helene and sent it to different recording studios to gauge the reaction of professionals.
Harald Franz Schmidt (born August 18, 1957 in Neu-Ulm, Bavaria) is a German actor, writer, comedian and television entertainer best known as host of two popular German late-night shows.
As son of refugees who fled from South Moravia (now Czech Republic) in 1945, Schmidt spent his youth in Swabian Nürtingen, where he went to grammar school. Due to his strict Catholic upbringing he devoted time to the Roman Catholic church, serving as choirmaster and playing the organ.
At the age of 21, Schmidt went to Stuttgart to attend drama school for three years. After that, he gained on-stage experience at Städtische Bühne (Municipal Stage) in Augsburg. His first role was that of the 2nd Mamaluke in Lessing's Nathan the Wise. In 1984, Harald Schmidt became a text writer for the cabaret Kom(m)ödchen in Düsseldorf and in 1986, was honoured as "Best Newcomer cabaret artist" and toured through Germany with his own show.
Before long, TV noticed the talented young comedian and in 1988 Schmidt began to host his first TV show, MAZ ab. This was followed by shows like Psst! and Schmidteinander, but the biggest boost to his career occurred in 1992, when he started hosting the popular Saturday night show, Verstehen Sie Spaß? (a variation of Candid Camera). Schmidt was awarded Germany's most important TV award, "Adolf-Grimme-Preis", which would be followed by many others. Just one year later, he was honoured as the "Entertainer of the year" and awarded the famous Bambi award and the Golden Camera.