The Czech star Karel Gott, who died on October 1 at the age of 80 from leukemia, created a series of hits that won over not only people in his country, but also in the Soviet Union as well as in East and West Germany.
Known in Germany as "the Golden Voice from Prague," the Schlager singer is most famous for the title song to the German-Japanese anime TV series Maya the Bee from the 1970s.
Other hits include cover versions of Roy Orbison's "Pretty Woman" and Alphaville's "Forever Young," but most were written by Czech composers.
Over the course of his six-decade career, Gott released over 100 albums and 100 compilation albums, selling 23 million albums in Germany and up to 100 million copies worldwide.
He was voted the most popular singer 42 times in the annual Golden Nightingale poll of Czech music fans.
Born in Pilsen on July 14, 1939, Gott moved to Prague at the age of six. He trained as an electrician, but decided in 1960 to become a professional singer.
His first single was a Czech version of Henri Mancini's "Moon River." Following a performance at a music industry fair in Cannes, he signed a contract with German record company Polydor/Deutsche Grammophon Gesellschaft. Described as the "Sinatra of the East," Gott represented Austria at the Eurovision Song Contest in 1968.
Gott managed to retain his popularity following the 1968 invasion of Prague by Soviet-led armies, a time when many singers were banned from the stage for political reasons.
On Wednesday, Czech President Milos Zeman paid tribute to the star following news of his death: "Extremely sad news for our whole country. Karel Gott was a real artist who gave himself to others."
Through honey-voiced starlets like Helene Fischer, folksy Schlager standards continue to unite Germans in epic song. Here are 10 legends of Schlager whose uplifting melodies and schmaltzy lyrics will forever live on.
Image: picture-alliance/dpa/H. KaiserSince she emerged as a singer and variety TV star willing to revive a distinctly old-fashioned repertoire of uplifting Schlager ballads, Fischer has sold well over 10 million records in Germany alone. Songs like "Atemlos durch die Nacht" ("Breathless Through the Night") have dominated the charts, and the Russian-born pop princess is no stranger to kitschy TV shows like Schlagercountdown.
Having sold more than 50 million albums since his 1967 solo debut, Heino is a Schlager pioneer known for his trademark dark sunglasses, platinum mop top and rich baritone voice. His smash hits range from "Jenseits des Tales" ("Beyond the Valley") to covers of controversial folk tunes such as "Schwarzbraun ist die Haselnuss" ("Black-brown is the Hazelnut") that were sung by the Hitler Youth.
Jürgen Drews landed a mega hit with "Ein Bett im Kornfeld" ("A bed in a cornfield") in 1976. Today, Germans label the seemingly ageless singer "king of Mallorca" because he has for decades been a staple on the German party scene on the Spanish island. Drews actually started his career playing the banjo in a jazz band.
The 1969 "Mendocino" was Michael Holm's first big hit, and "Tränen lügen nicht" ("Tears don't lie") made it to first place in the charts in 1974. He helped orchestrate a mega Schlager revival in the late 1990s by producing Guildo Horn's hit album "Danke" in 1997.
She won the Eurovision Song Contest in 1980 and came in third twice, in 1970 and 1971 - Katja Ebstein is regarded as the competition's German grande dame. Ebstein's hit song "Wunder gibt es immer wieder" ("There will always be miracles") is an integral part of the German Schlager repertoire. Ebstein also acts in plays, is involved in social projects and politically active.
The Berlin-born singer and composer (and songwriter for Boney M. and others) rose from obscurity in 1965 with his immortal Schlager anthem, "Marmor, Stein, und Eisen bricht" ("Marble Breaks And Iron Bends") — an English version later charted in the US. The boy from working-class Wedding was a rebel who had issues with alcohol, but still released some 260 songs before his death in 2006.
Known for his blonde locks, casual hip swing and beaming smile, Marcus' 1972 release "A New Love is like a New Life" has become one of the best-known songs in Schlager history, a staple of any German record collection. "Music is wonderful because you can capture people's emotions," Marcus once said of the sing-along favorites he performed incessantly until his recent death in May at the age of 69.
Andrea Jürgens was a 10-year-old in 1977 when she sang what would become one of the all-time Schlager classics, "Und dabei liebe ich euch beide" ("And Yet I Love You Both"), which was composed by Schlager hit-maker Jack White. Child star Jürgens would peak young, but returned with a No. 1 in 2010 with "I Only Have a Heart." She died of kidney failure in 2017 after a 40-year career.
Schlager has had its fair share of miscreants and eccentrics who are not afraid to play with the genre's kitschy cliches. With his trademark high-energy hilarity (including climbing all over the stage during his 1998 Eurovision appearance), and gaudy velvet green suit, this Schlager provocateur hit the charts in the 1990s with songs like "I like Steffi Graf" and "Guildo loves you."
Berg was 26 when she went from being a nurse to a Schlager hit-maker with the album "Du bist frei" ("You Are Free") and smash singles like "Schau mir nochmal ins Gesicht" ("Look Me in the Face Again") and "Splitternackt" ("Stark Naked"). A 2001 greatest hits album went five-times platinum, selling 2 million copies. More recently, the singer won the Echo Award for best Schlager singer in 2017.
eg/als (dpa, KNA, AP, AFP)
