Roland Kaiser

This article deals with the pop singer Roland Kaiser. For the actor see Roland Kaiser (actor) .

Roland Kaiser (2016)

Roland Kaiser (* 10. May 1952 in West Berlin as Ronald Keiler ) is a German pop singer . He had his breakthrough in 1980 with the song Santa Maria , which has sold 1.2 million times to date. He achieved another sales success with the duet Why didn't you say no , which got the gold record in 2016 for over 200,000 units sold in Germany , making the song one of the best-selling German-language hits . In addition, he was a total of 67 times a guest on the ZDF hit parade and is therefore the interpreter with the most frequent appearances. In addition to his work as a singer, he is also a writer for other artists, including Peter Maffay , Milva , Nana Mouskouri and Karat . In 1985 ZDF produced the show Love is ... with Roland Kaiser as the presenter. He is also active as a screenwriter and children's book author ( Die Giblinge ). With over 90 million records sold, Kaiser is one of the most successful interpreters of his genre.

Private life

Roland Kaiser grew up from 1952 with a foster mother in post-war West Berlin in the Wedding district on Burgsdorfstrasse. His adoptive mother had sole custody. Roland Kaiser's biological mother became pregnant at the age of 16 and gave her son up for adoption after the birth. At the age of 15, Kaiser became an orphan because his adoptive mother died in 1967. He then dropped out of elementary school and began training as a retail salesman at the Meyer supermarket , which was followed by an apprenticeship as a car salesman in a car dealership, whose advertising department he later headed, until 1969 .

Kaiser was married to the current wife of the actor Michael Lesch in his first marriage . After this marriage he was married to Anja Schüte from 1990 to 1995 , with whom he has a son. He has been married for the third time since 1996 and from this marriage has a son (born 1996) and a daughter (born 1999). He lives (as of 2020) with his wife Silvia in Münster .

Career

1970–1989: early years and breakthrough with Santa Maria

In the early 1970s he worked as a telegram messenger at the Berliner Post during the day and sang in West Berlin pubs and at weddings in the evenings. It was at this time that the music producers Gerd Kampf and Thomas Meisel discovered his musical talent . In 1974 Kaiser released his very first single What happened to her? In 1976 he had his first sales success with the sung version of Ricky Kings Verde (Free, that is, alone) and reached number 14 in the German single charts. 1977 followed with Seven Barrels of Wine - a cover version of the Caribbean traditional Ba Moin En Ti Bo - another single. With this he reached seventh place in the German single charts and made his commercial breakthrough as a young artist. In June 1979, Schach Matt, another single from his third studio album, Something of Me, was released . In Germany, the song placed 32nd and stayed in the charts for a total of 11 weeks. In March 1980 he took part in the German qualifying for the Grand Prix Eurovision with the title Here everyone gets his fat ; he reached eighth place out of twelve participants.

On May 4th 1980 Kaiser released his most successful single Santa Maria to date . The song is a German version of the song originally sung in Italian by Oliver Onions . Kaiser wrote the German text together with Norbert Hammerschmidt , with whom he often worked in the following years. His version stayed at number one in the German single charts for five weeks ; Roland Kaiser’s version also reached number 1 in the Netherlands and Belgium in the winter of 1980/81. The single won two gold awards in Germany, Belgium and the Netherlands .

With the following singles, Lieb 'mich ein last Mal und Dich zu liebe , released in 1981, Kaiser placed third and fifth in the German charts. He was able to achieve another success in the following year with the LP In Thinking With You , on which he recorded the singles Wohinst du geht? and sometimes I would like to publish with you that placed 23rd and 7th in the German single charts. In the following years he brought out new LPs every year, on which he recorded individual single releases such as The feelings are free , Joana , Flieg mit mir zu den Sternen , Midnight Lady (lonely like me) and I think it starts again with their respective first releases presented in the ZDF hit parade and these developed into hits in pop music as a result.

1990–2009: Further music career and COPD illness

Setting for "Kaisermania" at the Dresden Film Nights on the banks of the Elbe (2013)

In December 1990 Kaiser's studio album HerzZeit was released , from which he extracted the single Viva l'amor . Later in May 1991 the single Wind auf der Haut and Lisa followed , which placed at number 58. Another album, Südlich von mir , came out in February 1992, but it did not make it into the charts. His following albums Crazy About You (1993) and Today and Here (1994) placed 87th and 80th respectively. From the latter album he coupled the single And who kisses me? from, which with the highest position 62 stayed in the German charts for ten weeks. In the song he alludes to the 1990 film Pretty Woman , in which he sings: “What is just special about a guy like Richard Gere ”. For Kaiser, this was initially the last single to make it into the charts before entering the single charts again in 2013 and 2014. Between 1995 and 2001, Kaiser’s song Alles, What Sie haben was used as the title song of the RTL doctor series Dr. Stefan Frank - The doctor that women used to trust . Since 1997 he has been playing live concerts every year under the name "Kaisermania" at the Dresden Film Nights on the banks of the Elbe .

At the turn of the millennium it became known that Roland Kaiser suffered from chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) . But he continued to perform, among other things, on his 50th birthday, he organized a benefit concert for the long-term unemployed and hard-to-place job seekers and produced the albums Alles auf Anfang (2001), Pure Lust (2003) and Sexy (2007). In March 2007, Kaiser's first children's book entitled Die Giblinge: Volume 1: The longest day of the year came out. On his studio album Sexy , he published the song of the giblings for his own children's book series. The album Wir sind Sehnsucht , released in January 2009, entered the German album charts at number 14 - the highest chart position for Roland Kaiser for almost 25 years. In November 2009, he published the first Christmas album of his career with Contemplative Christmas and then withdrew for health reasons.

Since 2010: stage combeback

As of January 2010 Kaiser no longer held concerts, but stated that he would continue to record and produce studio albums. On October 30, 2010 Kaiser made his stage comeback after his COPD illness on the ZDF show Willkommen bei Carmen Nebel with the title Das Fenster zum Hof . On July 16, 2011 his comeback tour began in Rostock. In the same year, Edition Koch published his autobiography Atempause - Everything is possible with the accompanying audio book he recorded.

On June 1, 2012, his most famous hits were released under the title Affären in new arrangements , which he recorded together with the Babelsberg Film Orchestra . He dedicated the first published title song Affair to the city of Dresden . In 2012 Kaiser appeared again as a star guest on the ZDF program Willkommen bei Carmen Nebel in aid of people with cancer. In 2013 he published his second Christmas album Schöne Weihnachtszeit with Roland Kaiser .

Roland Kaiser (2014)

On May 30, 2014, Kaiser's album Seelenbahnen was released, which could achieve gold status. In August 2015, Roland Kaiser was the first artist to play four concerts in one season at the Dresden Film Nights. With over 50,000 visitors, it set a visitor record, and the first concert was broadcast by MDR and reached 500,000 spectators.

In February 2016, Roland Kaiser released his studio album Upside Down , which entered the German album charts at number 2 in the first week. He first performed the titles The Best in Life and For a Lifetime at Andrea Berg's birthday show in the first .

Kaiser has been working with Alex Wende since 2019, including producing the advance single Stark from his album Alles oder Dich , which was released in March . In the same year he presented another duet with Maite Kelly after her successful title Why didn't you say no from 2014 with the Christmas carol Klinget hell her bells in the Advent festival of 100,000 lights . Kaiser and Kelly worked with Benny Andersson and Björn Ulvaeus from Abba together who wrote the text. During the Advent festival show, Ulvaeus followed and commented on the performance live via FaceTime .

On February 7, 2020, despite criticism of the award of the Order of St. George to the Egyptian President Abd al-Fattah as-Sisi , he moderated the Semper Opera Ball 2020 . On August 15, 2020, the ARD program Das Erste broadcasted the first edition of his own TV show “Liebe kann uns save”, for which he also took over the moderation.

Song lyrics

Roland Kaiser has written a large part of his texts on his own responsibility since the beginning of his career. However, he has always relied on creative impulses from outside and for this reason works with copywriters such as Norbert Hammerschmidt and Joachim Heider.

Kaiser's texts, according to his own statement, do not deal with the feeble clichés of the only true love, but the disturbing emotions of longing, sex and affairs. According to the artist, an erotic game of experiences and imagination can be found in his lyrics. In addition, Kaiser is always careful to always go one step further, as this is the aspect that man is working towards. According to his own understanding, the mischievous joy in the slightly ambiguous and frivolous, without being suggestive as such, is a constant companion during the writing process. In his book "Atempause" Kaiser emphasizes the comprehensive meaning of sexuality, since holding hands on the beach is not enough for him. As a result, Roland Kaiser calls his music pop erotic with touch and stroke texts.

The openly cultivated affinity for lyrical sensuality not only causes a stir on the production staff, but also in the features section. The lyrics to the title "Sometimes I want to go with you" made waves. Already in the first version of Joachim Heider as "love song of a summer night" this was rejected by the publishing director Thomas Meisel due to alleged monotony. The final version of the text, on the other hand, was defended by Kaiser, as supposedly explicit text passages always remained hints and would be resolved by turning points. In the course of this, the taz editor Jan Feddersen stated: "Kaiser is almost explicit and explores the limits with fine text work in order not to appear vulgar." Kaiser himself says that his texts not only suggest sex, but actively encourage it.

This attitude was summed up by the star author Anne Tönnern, whom Kaiser christened the “soft pornographer of German hits”.

Kaiser is currently criticizing the alleged lack of socio-critical components of the German hit, although he does not exclude himself. Based on Jean-Paul Sartre, Roland Kaiser announced that art is a reflected present. However, in contrast to post-war productions, the German hit does not succeed in capturing the zeitgeist. In response, Kaiser and Rosenstolz producer Peter Plate wrote the title “Love can save us”, which is intended to encourage tolerance. In doing so, Roland Kaiser would like to tie in with the tradition of Udo Jürgens, who emphasized the principle “entertainment with attitude” as the top priority. In general, it can be observed that Kaiser refrains from writing his own texts in the second half of his career. He justifies this with the attempt to make his contemporary and multi-faceted repertoire more innovative.

The taz commented on Kaiser's committed position years before the single was released with the headline “The philosopher caught in the body of a pop singer”. An example of Roland Kaiser’s range is the song “I know everything”, which appeared on the album “Seelenbahnen” in 2014 and was written by Rammstein frontman Till Lindemann.

Working as an actor

In the Tatort episode Summ, Summ, Summ from Münster (ARD), Roland Kaiser played the pop star Roman König in autumn 2012. As part of the episode, Kaiser presented his song Egoist , which was published on the Best of - Gold . The first broadcast took place in the spring of 2013. The radio broadcaster WDR 4 raffled 230 extras for a concert scene, which resulted in over 130,000 applications. At the end of August 2019, it was announced that Kaiser was standing in front of the camera in Hamburg with Axel Prahl for the ARD tragicomedy Eisland . He himself commented on his second guest role in the film with the following words: "Without giving anything away: The script demands that Roland Kaiser play a role here."

engagement

Roland Kaiser at an election event of the SPD on Munich's Marienplatz on September 10, 2005

social commitment

Kaiser is a board member of the Solidarity Fund Foundation NRW. In 2011 he received the honorary award of the Solidarfonds Stiftung NRW for his social commitment. In 2012 he was also awarded the BZ Culture Prize in Berlin and the Order of Merit of the State of North Rhine-Westphalia . Kaiser is also the ambassador of the Children's Hospice Mitteldeutschland e. V. in Tambach-Dietharz as well as the Albert Schweitzer Children's Villages and Family Works, "Step Maker " of the Tom Wahlig Foundation, Ambassador of the DSO - German Foundation for Organ Transplantation , the Rudolf Pichlmayr Foundation and the Breathway Foundation. Roland Kaiser has also been an ambassador for Kinderlachen e. V.

For his commitment to the benefit of socially disadvantaged people, Roland Kaiser was awarded the Albert Schweitzer Prize of the Children's Villages and Family Organizations in 2016. At the echo award ceremony of the German Phono Academy on April 7, 2016, he received the echo from the ruling mayor of Berlin Michael Müller as an appreciation for social commitment.

Political commitment

He has been a member of the SPD since 2002, and in the 2005 election campaign he appeared with then Federal Chancellor Gerhard Schröder . In 2013 he also supported the SPD in the election campaign. In 2014, Frank-Walter Steinmeier gave the laudation at the awarding of the Golden Hen for his life's work .

On January 10, 2015, he appeared at the anti- Pegida demonstration in Dresden and spoke out against the Pegida demonstrations in a speech. Kaiser reaffirmed this criticism of the Pegida movement in 2018. However, he could still identify with the city of Dresden.

On September 2, 2016, he supported the SPD Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania with a concert as part of the end of the election campaign for the 2016 state elections in Warnemünde .

Roland Kaiser took part in the Federal Assembly on February 12, 2017 for the election of the German Federal President .

Discography

→ Main article : Roland Kaiser / discography  and list of author participations and productions by Roland Kaiser

Studio albums

year	title	Top ranking, total weeks, awardChart placementsChart placements (Year, title, rankings, weeks, awards, notes)			Remarks
		DE	AT	CH
1976	Free - That means alone	-	-	-	First published: November 1976
1977	I don't feel sorry for an hour	-	-	-	First published: 1977
1979	Something from me	-	-	-	First published: December 1979
1981	Loving You	DE1 platinum (36 weeks)DE	-	-	First published: July 1981 Sales: + 500,000
1982	With you in mind	DE11 (22 weeks) DE	-	-	First published: July 1982
1983	Feelings are free	DE13 gold (20 weeks)DE	-	CH10 (10 weeks) CH	First published: July 1983 Sales: + 250,000
1984	I feel good in your life	DE10 (21 weeks) DE	-	CH21 (6 weeks) CH	First published: August 27, 1984
1985	Heart over head	DE43 (13 weeks) DE	-	-	First published: November 1985
1986	I want you	DE53 (5 weeks) DE	-	-	First published: November 1986
1987	On the way to you	DE37 (11 weeks) DE	-	-	First published: August 1987
1988	Sideways glances	DE33 (11 weeks) DE	-	-	First published: October 1988
1989	Women	-	-	-	First published: September 14, 1989
1990	HerzZeit	-	-	-	First published: December 1990
1992	South of me	-	-	-	First published: February 17, 1992
1993	Crazy about you	DE87 (4 weeks) DE	-	-	First published: January 11, 1993
1994	Today and here	DE80 (5 weeks) DE	-	-	First published: July 11, 1994
1996	Limitless	DE69 (6 weeks) DE	-	-	First published: August 12, 1996
1998	Limitless II	DE71 (1 week) DE	-	-	First published: February 16, 1998
1999	In the middle of life	-	-	-	First published: November 22, 1999
2001	Everything at the beginning	DE73 (1 week) DE	-	-	First published: September 10, 2001
2003	Pure pleasure	DE68 (1 week) DE	-	-	First published: September 22, 2003
2007	Sexy	DE35 (4 weeks) DE	-	-	First published: September 14, 2007
2009	We are longing	DE14 (7 weeks) DE	-	-	First published: January 30, 2009
2011	Everything is possible	DE16 (12 weeks) DE	-	-	First published: June 3, 2011
2014	Soul trajectories	DE10 platinum (45 weeks)DE	AT33 gold (18 weeks)AT	CH67 (1 week) CH	First published: May 30, 2014 Sales: + 207,500
2016	Upside down	DE2 gold (27 weeks)DE	AT5 (19 weeks) AT	CH48 (6 weeks) CH	First published: February 12, 2016 Sales: + 100,000
2019	Everything or you	DE2 gold (… Where.)DE	AT2 (... weeks) AT	CH4 (... weeks) CH	First published: March 15, 2019 Sales: + 100,000

gray hatching : no chart data available for this year

Filmography

• 2013: Tatort: ​​Summ, Summ, Summ (as Roman König)

literature

• Autobiography: breathing space - anything is possible . Edition Koch, Höfen 2011, ISBN 978-3-7081-0519-2
• Audiobook on the autobiography (spoken by Roland Kaiser): Breath - Everything is possible . Edition Koch, Höfen 2011, ISBN 978-3-7081-0515-4

Awards

• echo
  • 2016 (social engagement)
• Albert Schweitzer Prize of the Children's Villages
  • 2016 (long-term social commitment)
• The one of the best
  • 2015, 2016, 2017
• Golden tuning fork
  • 1981, 1982, 1983, 1987
• Golden Europe
  • 1982
• Honorary award from the Solidarfonds Foundation NRW
  • 2011
• Berlin Bear (BZ Culture Prize)
  • 2012 (Category: 'Comeback of the Year')
• Order of Merit of the State of North Rhine-Westphalia
  • 2012
• Golden hen
  • 2014 (life's work)
• Federal Cross of Merit on ribbon
  • 2016 (work for disadvantaged children)
• Medal of Honor of the State Capital Dresden
  • 2017

Web links

Commons : Roland Kaiser  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

• Website of Roland Kaiser
• Discography Roland Kaiser
• Roland Kaiser on MusicBrainz (English)
• Roland Kaiser in the Internet Movie Database (English)
• Jan Feddersen : "Hate is ugly" . In: The daily newspaper (taz) . February 29, 2020 (Interview with Roland Kaiser). 

Individual evidence

1. ↑ ^{a b} "It would be terrible if everyone had to hear my hits". Interview with Amrai Coen . In: Die Zeit , No. 1 of December 27, 2019, pp. 17–19, here p. 17.
2. ↑ “What remained of the wild life” by Dirk Krampitz, accessed on www.welt.de on January 7, 2014
3. ↑ Everyone loves emperors! - Music broadcasts on Erste - ARD | The first. Retrieved July 17, 2019 . 
4. ↑ ^{a b c} Holger Gertz: Courageous citizens . In: Süddeutsche Zeitung . 4th December 2015.
5. ↑ ^{a b} "It would be terrible if everyone had to hear my hits". Interview with Amrai Coen . In: Die Zeit , No. 1 of December 27, 2019, pp. 17–19, here p. 18.
6. ↑ https://rp-online.de/nrw/staedte/hueckelhoven/roland-kaiser-und-greor-meyle-begeistern-bei-sommermusik-an-schacht-3_aid-45048993
7. ↑ https://www.t-online.de/unterhaltung/stars/id_85431060/roland-kaiser-so-sehen-seine-kinder-jan-und-annalena-aus.html
8. ↑ Roland Kaiser - Santa Maria accessed on www.hitparade.ch on January 7, 2014
9. ↑ 16. Kaisermania in Dresden: tens of thousands celebrated Roland Kaiser. mdr.de, January 1, 2019.
10. ↑ Die Welt : The Emperor's New Life, September 22, 2002.
11. ↑ German pop star - Roland Kaiser's last appearance . ( Memento of February 11, 2010 in the Internet Archive ) RP Online
12. ↑ Die Welt : Roland Kaiser with a new lung in Carmen Nebel's October 17, 2010.
13. ↑ Win free tickets for Roland Kaiser ( Memento from February 23, 2016 in the Internet Archive ) on mopo 24.de on July 29, 2015
14. ↑ End of Kaisermania . on schlagerplanet.com on August 9, 2015
15. ↑ Interview with Roland Kaiser about the album "Upside Down". Schlagerportal, July 13, 2016, accessed on May 28, 2017 . 
16. ↑ Semmel Concerts: Single "STARK". (PDF) Semmel-Concerts Entertainment GmbH, accessed on January 18, 2019 . 
17. ^ Bread Concerts: Roland Kaiser and Maite Kelly: Lyric Video for "Klinget hell ihr Glocken". In: schlagerplanet.com. Retrieved November 22, 2019 . 
18. ↑ Semmel Concerts: Clear words and wonderful music at the Semperopernball 2020. In: mdr.de. Retrieved February 8, 2020 . 
19. ↑ Roland Kaiser Show: "Love can save us" - the most beautiful pictures in advance. In: schlagerplanet.com. Retrieved August 14, 2020 . 
20. ↑ Roland Kaiser - from foundling to superstar. October 29, 2018, accessed July 19, 2019 . 
21. ↑ Ina Müller: 96th Ina's night with Roland Kaiser and Micky Beisenherz - ARD, July 9, 2016. July 10, 2016, accessed July 19, 2019 . 
22. ↑ Roland Kaiser, Dagmar Ambach: respite . German First edition. Ed. Koch, Innsbruck 2009, ISBN 978-3-7081-0507-9 .
23. ↑ Roland Kaiser - from foundling to superstar. October 29, 2018, accessed July 19, 2019 . 
24. ↑ Roland Kaiser - from foundling to superstar. October 29, 2018, accessed July 19, 2019 . 
25. ↑ Roland Kaiser as a guest on radio B2 - a matter for the boss, talkers about makers. radio B2 Germany's Schlager-Radio, October 22, 2017, accessed on July 19, 2019 . 
26. ↑ Roland Kaiser as a guest on radio B2 - a matter for the boss, talkers about makers. radio B2 Germany's Schlager-Radio, October 22, 2017, accessed on July 19, 2019 . 
27. ↑ Christiane Rösinger: Love me one last time . In: The daily newspaper: taz . January 10, 2007, ISSN  0931-9085 , p. 25 ( Online [accessed July 19, 2019]).
28. ↑ Cornelius Pollmer: Sometimes I want to go with you . In: sueddeutsche.de . April 17, 2014, ISSN  0174-4917 ( online [accessed July 19, 2019]).
29. ↑ wdr.de: New crime scene from Münster: Shooting started on September 25, 2012 - Inspector Thiel, Prof. Boerne and the Schlagerkönig , accessed on October 6, 2012.
30. ↑ Crime scene stage! Here Roland Kaiser sings himself into the TV crime thriller . Saxon Newspaper; Retrieved October 6, 2012.
31. ↑ Roland Kaiser is shooting a comedy with Axel Prahl on September 3, 2019 on the Mitteldeutscher Rundfunk website
32. ↑ Roland Kaiser receives the Albert Schweitzer Prize from the Children's Villages in bild.de on January 26, 2016
33. ↑ Roland Kaiser receives an echo . Schlager.de , April 6, 2016.
34. ↑ Text of the speech by Roland Kaiser ( memento of October 17, 2015 in the Internet Archive ) at the demonstration in front of the Frauenkirche on January 10, 2015, mopo24.de on January 11, 2015
35. ↑ Roland Kaiser continues to criticize Pegida. www.mdr.de, August 5, 2018
36. ↑ Awarded the State Order of Merit on August 24, 2012. (No longer available online.) State Chancellery of North Rhine-Westphalia, August 24, 2012, archived from the original on August 12, 2016 ; accessed on March 8, 2017 . 
37. ↑ Roland Kaiser receives the Federal Cross of Merit , accessed on December 5, 2016.