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Falco (musician)

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Falco

Johann (Hans) Hölzel (19 February 1957 – 6 February 1998), better known by his stage name Falco, was an Austrian, pop and rock musician and had six #1 Hits - "Der Kommissar", "Rock Me Amadeus", "Jeanny", "Coming Home (Jeanny Part 2)", "Vienna Calling", "Body next to Body (with Brigitte Nielsen) and "The Spirit never dies (Jeanny final)". With "Rock Me Amadeus" he is the first and so far only artist to score a #1 Hit in the U.S. with a German language song. His estate has sold 40 million albums and 20 million singles to date, which makes him one of the best selling Austrian singers ever.

Early years

Born in Vienna on February 19, 1957, Hans Hölzel was the sole survivor of triplets. He began to show signs of unusual musical talent very early. As a toddler, he was able to keep time with the drumbeat in songs he heard on the radio. He was given a baby grand piano for his fourth birthday; a year later, his birthday gift was a record player which he used to play music by Elvis Presley, Cliff Richard, and the Beatles. At age five, he auditioned for the Vienna Music Academy, where it was confirmed that he had perfect pitch.

In 1963, Hölzel began his schooling at a Roman Catholic private school; four years later, at age ten, he switched to the Rainer Gymnasium in Vienna. Shortly thereafter his father Alois Hölzel left the family. From then on, Hölzel was raised by his mother and grandmother and remained very close to them all his life.

He left school at sixteen in 1973 due to absenteeism. His mother then insisted he begin an apprenticeship with the Austrian employee pension insurance institute, but this only lasted a short time. At seventeen, he volunteered for eight months of military service with the Austrian army.

He entered the Vienna Music Conservatory in 1977, but left after one semester to "become a real musician". For a short time, he lived in West Berlin while singing in a jazz-rock band and exploring the club scene. When he returned to Vienna he was calling himself "Falco," reportedly in tribute to the East German ski jumper Falko Weißpflog (he changed one letter to make the name more international), and playing in the Austrian bands Spinning Wheel and Hallucination Company.[1]

En route to becoming an international rock star in his own right, he was bass player in the Austrian hard rock-punk rock band Drahdiwaberl (from 1978 until 1983). With Drahdiwaberl he wrote and performed the song "Ganz Wien" ("All Vienna"), which he would also include on his debut solo album, Einzelhaft. (Solitary Confinement ) He also played bass with the space disco band Ganymed in 1981.

Individual success

Falco's first hit was "Der Kommissar," ("The Commissioner") from the 1982 album Einzelhaft. A German language song about drug consumption that combines rap verses with a sung chorus, Falco's record was a number-one success in many countries but failed to break big in the U.S. The song, however, would prove to have a life of its own in two English-language versions. British Rock band After the Fire recorded an English cover version, loosely based on Falco's lyrics and also called "Der Kommissar" (with "uh-oh" and "alles klar Herr Kommissar" the only other lyrics held over from the original). This time, the song shot to number five in the United States (their only major hit there) in 1983, though it failed to crack the UK Top 40. The band—who had been together more than a decade—broke up almost immediately thereafter. That same year, American singer Laura Branigan recorded a version of the song with new English lyrics, under the title "Deep In The Dark," on her album Branigan 2.

After a second album, Junge Roemer, (Young Romans) failed to provide a repeat to his debut single's success (outside of Austria and Germany, where the album topped the charts), Falco began to experiment with English lyrics in an effort to broaden his appeal, and chose a new production team. The result would be the most popular album and single of his career.

Falco recorded "Rock Me Amadeus" inspired in part by the Oscar-winning film Amadeus, and the song became a worldwide hit in 1986. This time, his record reached #1 in the U.S. and UK, bringing him the success that had eluded him in that major market a few years earlier. The song remained in the top spot of the Billboard Hot 100 for three weeks and his album, Falco 3, fittingly peaked at the number three position on the Billboard album charts. The Austrian rapper's single climbed to the upper reaches of the Billboard Top R&B Singles Chart (then called the "Black Singles" chart), peaking at number 6, becoming the first major rap hit by a white artist since Blondie's chart-topping "Rapture" six years earlier. Falco 3 peaked at number 18 on the Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums charts. Ultimately, "Rock Me Amadeus" went to the #1 spot in over a dozen countries including the Soviet Union and Japan. Follow-up single "Vienna Calling" was another international pop hit, peaking at #18 of the Billboard Charts and #17 on the U.S. Cash Box Charts in 1986. A double A-side 12" single featuring remixes of those two hits peaked at #4 on the U.S. Dance/Disco charts.

"Jeanny", the third release from the album Falco 3, brought the performer back to the top of the charts across Europe. Highly controversial when it was released in Germany and the Netherlands, the story of "Jeanny" was told from the point of view of a rapist and possible murderer. Several DJs and radio stations refused to play the ballad, which was ignored in the U.S., although it became a huge hit in many European countries, and inspired two sequels on later albums.

In 1986, the album Emotional was released, produced by Rob and Ferdi Bolland (Bolland & Bolland). Songs on the album included "Coming Home (Jeanny Part 2)," "The Kiss of Kathleen Turner", and "Kamikaze Capa" which was written as a tribute to the late photojournalist Robert Capa. "The Sound of Musik" was another international success, and a Top 20 U.S. dance hit, though it failed to make the U.S. pop charts.

In 1987 he went on "Emotional" world tour ending in Japan. In the same year he sang a duet with Brigitte Nielsen, "Body Next to Body"; the single was a Top 10 hit in the Germanic countries. The album Wiener Blut (Viennese Blood ) was released in 1988 but it did not get much publicity outside Germany and Austria.

In 1990, he wrote a song about Cindy Crawford and Tatjana Patitz, "Tanja P. not Cindy C.," which appeared on the album Data de Groove.

After "Jeanny," there were a number of European hits, but Falco was rarely heard in the U.S. and the UK. His 1992 U.S. comeback attempt, the album Nachtflug (Night Flight ) with the song "Titanic," won a number of awards, but failed to chart in America.

Death

Falco's grave at Vienna Zentralfriedhof

Falco died of severe injuries received from a collision with a bus in his Mitsubishi Pajero near the city of Puerto Plata, in the Dominican Republic on 6 February 1998, just two weeks before his 41st birthday. It was initially reported that the autopsy showed high blood levels of alcohol and cocaine, however this was later dismissed. At the time of his death, he was planning a comeback. He was buried in the Zentralfriedhof (Central Cemetery) in Vienna, Austria.[2]

Tributes and Falco in popular culture

In the Album "Hooray for Boobies" of the group "The Bloodhound Gang" the song "Mope" is a tribute to Falco, and he is referred to as a "money making player that ain't with us no more" and a "gang banging thug that never seen it coming"

In 1998, Rob and Ferdi Bolland (Dutch producers and co-writers of about half of Falco's albums) released the EP Tribute to Falco under the name The Bolland Project feat. Alida. The title track featured samples of Falco's music; the other tracks were "We Say Goodbye" and "So Lonely".

The film Falco - Verdammt, wir leben noch! was released in Austria on 7 February 2008, ten years and one day after Falco's death. This title is also the name of a posthumously-released album by Falco which roughly translates to "Damn, we're still alive!" Written and directed by Thomas Roth, the movie features musician Manuel Rubey as adult Johann 'Falco' Hölzel.[3] The end credits include the line "With love, Ferdi & Rob", his frequent collaborators the Bollands.

Falco's good friend Niki Lauda named one of the Boeing airplanes in his Lauda Air fleet "Falco" after the singer.[4]

Though "Der Kommissar" saw nearly contemporaneous and fairly straightforward mainstream covers including the loose translation by After The Fire and the reinterpretation by Laura Branigan, both in 1982/1983, Falco's song "Rock Me Amadeus" has received a more enduring, if humorous, usage several decades after its release, in a number of films, television shows and commercials. The 2009 film Adventureland features "Rock Me Amadeus" multiple times as part of an amusement park's background music, to the eventual disdain of its denizens. The original track is featured in humorous situations in commercials for the Subaru Impreza sedan and E-Trade financial services (2008). The track has been sampled by groups including the Bloodhound Gang, who also refer to Falco, in their 1999 song "Mope", and by German rapper Fler in "NDW 2005" from Neue Deutsche Welle. In 2004, Mexican rock band Molotov released a tribute in their comedy style, called "Amateur (Rock Me Amadeus)".

More frequently "Rock Me Amadeus" has been interpolated for comedic effect. In 1986, "Weird Al" Yankovic parodied the song in his song "Polka Party". In The Simpsons episode "A Fish Called Selma" (1996), an offbeat variation is featured in a musical presentation of Planet of the Apes with the repeated tag of "Amadeus, Amadeus" transferred to "Dr. Zaius, Dr. Zaius". A similar usage appears in another satirical U.S. cartoon series, Family Guy (season 4 episode 6, 2005). The Daily Show with Jon Stewart featured a parody, "Iraq Me Dave Petraeus", as a musical intro to a briefly recurring segment involving the U.S. General's doctrine regarding the war in 2007/2008.[5]

In 1985 parody version of Rock Me Amadeus entitled, 'Rock Me Jerry Lewis' was credited to [Bud Latour][1] and fellow Phoenix, Arizona disc jockey, Mike Elliott. To the dedicated parody community, LaTour is mostly only known as 'Bud LaTour. 'Rock Me Jerry Lewis' climbed to Number 1 on The Dr. Dememto's Funny Five chart and grew to a notoriety that prompted mentions and airplay on Casey Kasem's Top 40 Radio Show as well as a call from Jerry Lewis himself. Furthermore, Jerry Lewis would begin to use the song at his personal appearances and stage shows. While in Phoenix, Arizona for a muscular dystrophy benefit at a bowling alley, Jerry Lewis invited 'Bud' LaTour and Mike Elliott to bowl with him. He was kind enough to sign 500 copies of the 'Rock Me Jerry Lewis' 7" record.


A later episode of The Simpsons, "Behind the Laughter," features Willie Nelson saying, "Thank you, Taco, for that loving tribute to Falco," within another fictional tribute. Falco has been name-checked in the U.S. satirical cartoon series American Dad and The Tick.

Discography

Albums

Year Title Peak positions[6][7][8][9][10][11][12][13]
AUT GER CH UK U.S. CAN NOR NL SWE ITA EUR
1982 Einzelhaft 1 19 - - 64 31 - 1 45 21
1984 Junge Roemer 1 - - - - - - - - -
1985 Falco 3 1 2 1 32 3 7 3 15 - -
1986 Emotional 1 1 5 - - - 7 - - -
1988 Wiener Blut 2 9 12 - - - - - - -
1990 Data de Groove 11 - - - - - - - - -
1991 The Remix Hit Collection - 51 - - - - - - - -
1992 Nachtflug 1 73 - - - - - - - -
1996 Greatest Hits 2 - - - - - - - - -
1997 Greatest Hits Vol. II 8 - - - - - - - - -
1998 Best Of 7 - - - - - - - - -
1998 Out of the Dark (Into the Light) 1 3 4 - - - - - - -
1998 The Hit-Singles - 7 - - - - - - - -
1999 The Final Curtain - The Ultimate Best Of 1 2 6 - - - - - - -
1999 Verdammt wir leben noch 3 35 - - - - - - - -
1999 Live Forever (live album) 34 - - - - - - - - -
2007 Hoch wie nie (Best Of) 1 2 5 - - - 18 - - - 6
2007 Einzelhaft (25th Anniversary Edition) 22 - - - - - - - - - -
2008 Falco Symphonic (Wiener Neustadt 1994) 1 15 34 34
2009 The Spirit Never Dies 1 3 33 - - - - - - - -

Singles

Year Title Peak position
[14][15][16]

[17] [18][19][20][21][22][23][24][25][26][27][28][29]

AUT GER CH UK 1NL FRA ITA SPA NOR SWE DK FIN SU U.S. CAN JPN NZ AUS ZA
1981 "That Scene" (English version of "Ganz Wien") 11
1981 "Der Kommissar" 1 1 2 - 18 3 1 1 3 4 - 1 1 72 11 1 4 7
1982 "Maschine brennt" 4 10 49 34 4 7 - -
1982 "Auf der Flucht" - - 18
1982 "Zuviel Hitze" (Promo only) -
1984 "Junge Roemer" 8 - 24 - 2 - -
1984 "Nur mit Dir" 18 -
1984 "Kann es Liebe sein?" (with Désirée Nosbusch) -
1985 "Rock Me Amadeus" 1 1 2 1 2 3 2 1 6 1 4 1 1 1 1 1 1 2 1
1985 "Vienna Calling" 1 4 7 10 40 - - 5 - 3 10 5 - 18 11 14 - 75 -
1985 "Jeanny" 1 1 1 68 1 24 14 1 1 - - - - - 5 - - -
1986 "The Sound of Musik" 4 4 11 61 67 - 42 4 13 13 6 11
1986 "Coming Home (Jeanny Part 2)" 4 1 3 - 4 1
1987 "Emotional" 8 50 - 85 - 11 13 - -
1987 "Body Next to Body" (with Brigitte Nielsen) 6 22 - - 35 37 9 - - 1 44
1988 "Wiener Blut" 4 9 24 - - 13 - -
1988 "Satellite to Satellite" - - 11 7
1988 "Garbo" -
1988 "Do It Again" -
1990 "Data de Groove" 12 - -
1990 "Charisma Kommando" - - -
1991 "Rock Me Amadeus" (Remix 1991) - -
1991 "Der Kommissar" (Remix 1991) -
1992 "Nachtflug" (Netherland only single) -
1992 "Titanic" 3 47 -
1992 "Dance Mephisto" 17 - - 2
1993 "Monarchy Now" (Austrian Promo only) -
1995 "Mutter, der Mann mit dem Koks ist da" (as T>>MA) 3 11 30 - 3
1996 "Naked" (as Falco featuring T>>MB) 4 50 -
1998 "Out of the Dark" 2 2 3
1998 "Egoist" 6 4 19
1998 "Der Kommissar" (Jason Nevins and Club 69 Remixes) 39 - - - - - - - - 49 - - - - - - - - -
1999 "Push! Push!" 9 50
1999 "Verdammt wir leben noch" 26 -
2000 "Europa" - -
2007 "Männer des Westens" (T. Börger Version 2007) 14 55
2007 "FALCOs 1. (Chance To Dance / Summer)" -
2008 "Der Kommissar (Falco Symphonic Version)" (download only) 49
2008 "Die Königin von Eschnapur" (Austria only single) -
2009 "The Spirit Never Dies (Jeanny Final)" 1 3 33
2010 "Kissing In The Kremlin"
  • **#19 in U.S. Hot Dance Club Play
  • 1 The Sound of Musik was placed #17 on the Dutch Tipparade (Bubbling under Top 50)
  • - indicates the song did not chart.
  • a blank box indicates that the song was not released.

References

  1. ^ The preceding four paragraphs include translated material from the German version of this article.
  2. ^ findagrave.com - Falco
  3. ^ Falco - Verdammt, wir leben noch! IMDb Page
  4. ^ Lauda Air - Our Fleet
  5. ^ The Daily Show: Iraq Me Dave Petraeus
  6. ^ Falco in the Austrian charts (A)
  7. ^ Falco in the Swiss charts (A)
  8. ^ Falco in the UK Charts (A)
  9. ^ Falco in the US-Charts (A)
  10. ^ Falco in the Canadian charts (A)
  11. ^ Falco-Alben in the Norwegian charts (A)
  12. ^ Falco-Alben in the Swedish charts (A)
  13. ^ Falco in the Italian charts (A)
  14. ^ Falco in the Austrian charts(S)
  15. ^ Falco-Singles in the Swiss charts (S)
  16. ^ Falco in the UK Single-Charts
  17. ^ Falco in the Netherland "Nationale Hitparade Top 50" (S)
  18. ^ Falco-Singles in the French charts I (S)
  19. ^ Falco in the French charts II (S)
  20. ^ Falco in the italian Single-Charts(S) "Der Kommissar" #1 in Italy(S)
  21. ^ Falco in the Spanish Single-Charts(S) "Rock me Amadeus" 1986 number one in Spain(S)
  22. ^ Falco in the Norwegian charts (S)
  23. ^ Falco-Singles in the Sweden Charts(S) Number 1 hits of Falco in Sweden(S)
  24. ^ Falco in the Billboard charts I (S)
  25. ^ Falco in the Billboard charts II (S) (in German)
  26. ^ Falco in the Canadian charts (S)
  27. ^ Japanese Charts
  28. ^ Falco's #1 in New Zealand (S)
  29. ^ Rock me Amadeus #1 in South Africa(S)

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Falco (musician).

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