Happy Birthday, Udo Jürgens! Austrian singer and composer Udo Jürgens turns 80 today. He has written more than 800 songs and sold over 100 million records. In 1950, he won a composer contest organized by Austrias public broadcasting channel ORF with the song Je taime. 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. Jürgens song Sag ihr, ich lass sie grüßen came fourth in 1965s contest, and in 1966 he won the competition with Merci, Chérie, which became an English-language hit for Vince Hill, another cover by Monro, and one of Jürgens most recognized compositions. Jürgens version alone sold over one million copies, and he was awarded a gold disc by Deutsche Vogue in 1966. In the following years, he wrote some of his most famous songs, like Griechischer Wein, Aber bitte mit Sahne, Mit 66 Jahren, and – one of his biggest successes – Buenos Días, Argentina, which he performed together with the German national football team in 1978. In 1977, he invited The Supremes to appear as guests on his televised and recorded gala concert. The Supremes (Mary Wilson, Scherrie Payne, and Susaye Green), who were on a brief farewell tour of Europe at the time, performed two of their own current hits, You Are The Heart of Me and Youre My Driving Wheel, as well as a duet with Jürgens Walk Away in English. In 1979, he released a disco album entitled Udo 80. It produced a hit song Ich weiß was ich will. This song was also released as a 12 inch disco single in an extended remix for discotheques. On 2 December 2007, the musical Ich war noch niemals in New York (Ive never been to New York) opened in Hamburgs Operettenhaus. It weaves songs by Jürgens into a familial storyline, similar to the treatment of ABBA songs in Mamma Mia!, the musical it succeeded at the venue. https://youtube/watch?v=sGEccayF-SY
Posted on: Tue, 30 Sep 2014 14:08:07 +0000
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