Christian Bruhn

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Christian Bruhn (2005)
Christian Bruhn with Marie Reich and Constantin Ried at the presentation of the documentary "My world is music - The composer Christian Bruhn" 2018

Christian Bruhn (born October 17, 1934 in Wentorf near Hamburg ) is one of the most successful German composers and music producers in the hit industry in the post-war period . In addition, he is responsible for numerous film and television music compositions. He mostly worked with the lyricists Georg Buschor , Günter Loose , Hans Bradtke and Donato Plögert .

Life

Bruhn made his first attempts at composing on the piano at the age of four. As a five year old he had piano lessons from his mother. Bruhn spent the Second World War with his sister and mother between 1940 and 1945 in Carinthia , where musical impressions from Austrian folk music shaped him. The father, Max Bruhn , businessman and book publisher, had to do military service.

Back in Hamburg he took further piano lessons / harmony / counterpoint with Hans Bittner, later with Irma Homquist, completed secondary school and an apprenticeship as a painter, studied composition with Ernst Gernot Klussmann and clarinet with Gräfe at the Musikhochschule until 1955 and then played as a profession -Pianist in various jazz combos.

During his studies in 1953 he received his first order from the film producer Werner Grassmann for the score for the short film Ware on the Road . In 1956 he married Christa Mollweide in Munich, who got him a job as a sound assistant in the recording studio of the record company Spezial Record . He later worked there as a freelance arranger and producer . With its cheap label “Tempo” records , the company had specialized in so-called “Nachzieher”, that is, cheaper second versions of the current hits. Here Bruhn met the lyricist Georg Buschor. Charlotte Marian appeared as a singer at Tempo in 1959 , who became Bruhn's second wife in 1962. At Tempo, Bruhn learned the practical requirements for his later main job as a pop, film and television composer and music producer. In November 1959, at the first German Schlager Festival (organized by Radio Luxemburg ) in Wiesbaden, he met the Berlin publisher Peter Meisel , with whom he later founded the successful, independent producer company, the music publisher and the record label Hansa Musik Produktion . Bruhn orchestrated almost all of his records (and all of his television music) himself, with the few exceptions his demo arrangements were adopted .

The 1960s

Label of the single Zwei kleine Italiener by Conny Froboess, 1962

The collaboration with Georg Buschor achieved an early success with the first hit Midi-Midinette , published in July 1960 with Conny Froboess and a 4th place in the German charts, especially since Conny had not had a top 10 hit for a year. Conny sang this love song for a Parisian girl who is as beautiful as the city on the Seine in her carefree, youthful voice. With her and the title Zwei kleine Italiener (Text: Georg Buschor) Bruhn also won the German Schlager Festival on February 17, 1962. The title, recorded on November 28, 1961 in the Electrola studio in Cologne, also placed 6th at the Grand Prix d 'Eurovision . While the published single in Germany sold over 500,000 copies by December 1962, a total of 1,225,000 singles went over the counter in Europe.

Label of the single Lovesickness Isn't Worth It by Siw Malmkvist, 1964

Once again, the Bruhn / Buschor team of authors won first place at the German Schlager Festival on July 13, 1964. For the Swede Siw Malmkvist they wrote lovesickness is not worth it , which after its publication in June 1964 also achieved million seller status. After just 14 days, 100,000 units had been sold, 880,000 by mid-1965, and the million was exceeded at the end of 1965. The recording company Metronome only wanted to award a “three-quarter gold” for 750,000 copies sold.

Label of the single marble, stone and iron breaks by Drafi Deutscher, 1965

Bruhn and Meisel discovered the versatile Drafi Deutscher with his band Magics in a talent competition in 1963 . After Drafi had received a record deal with Decca, Bruhn wrote the German-language titles Teeny / Shu Bi Du Bi Du The Slop for him (November 1963), which reached number 26 on the German charts with 80,000 copies. This was followed by the singles Shake Hands (rank 16), composed by Bruhn's friend Heino Gaze, Keep Smiling / Once Upon a Time (October 1964; Rank 7) and Cinderella Baby / It's Better, You Go (December 1964; Rank 3), to on Shake Hands all from the Bruhn / Buschor / Loose cooperation. He was even more successful with the million seller Marmor, Stein und Eisen breaks , which became one of the most popular German hits and was to be celebrated as an evergreen . It emerged from the collaboration between Bruhn, Loose and Deutscher. The latter provided the basic idea for the first bars and worked on the text. The song with the distinctive guitar riff was published in October 1965 and sold 800,000 copies in Germany by April 1966. It became a million seller worldwide - also thanks to the English-language version Marble Breaks And Iron Bends . Bruhn / Loose wrote afterwards Take me as I am / I'll go through the fire for you (April 1966, rank 7). Apart from Drafi Deutscher's cover versions , all of the other 14 music compositions for single records up to 1969 came from Bruhn's pen. In total, Bruhn acted as composer and / or producer for at least 30 German titles.

Manuela was discovered by Peter Meisel in 1962 in the Berlin teenage bar "Ufer-Eck". For them, Bruhn wrote the melodies for the single Hula-Serenade / Candy (Bruhn / Buschor), which only sold 6,000 copies after publication in December 1962. When, in 1963, the Tahiti Tamourés (with Charlotte Marian, Bruhn's wife at the time), the first German girls' group was formed, Bruhn and Peter Meisel were their producers. The previous duo was expanded to include Manuela and, as a trio, recorded a single, albeit very successful hit, in which Bruhn was only involved as arranger / producer. Manuela, for whose cover version was only to blame for the Bossa Nova (sales: 3 million) only required a German text by the bus choir and music producer Bruhn, now, after the short interlude in the girls' troupe, took over the Bruhn title I'm going to school as a soloist (September 1963, rank 4) and kisses under the rainbow (May 1965, rank 7) with a text by Hans Bradtke . Bruhn composed and / or produced a total of at least 16 titles for Manuela.

For the western-oriented Peter Hinnen , Bruhn composed the successful title Seven Thousand Cattle , published in May 1963.

In December 1965 Marion Maerz wrote the song He is back with fortepiano - (change from loud to soft) and a concise bass figure. More than 500,000 of these were sold. In August 1968, Dorthe Kollo published the humorous If you had stayed in Düsseldorf , with a 10th place on the German charts, the Danish singer's second best success.

The 1970s

Label of the LP Das ist Katja Ebstein , 1970

With Katja Ebstein's title, Miracles always happen in third place , at the Eurovision Song Contest in 1970 there was a great international success, Bruhn personally conducted the orchestra in Amsterdam. Her international breakthrough came with her first single. In 1972 Katja Ebstein became his third wife. Bruhn set the Heine cycle, which was produced in many nuances, to music for her in 1975 . World premiere together with the Heinrich Heine Society in Düsseldorf. As a producer and / or composer, Bruhn was involved in over 100 music titles for Katja Ebstein. In April 1969 the French singer Mireille Mathieu achieved her first German top 5 hit with Behind the Scenes of Paris , produced and composed by Bruhn. A number of very commercial titles followed, which made Mathieu known and shaped her image. In September 1971 the hit series culminated with the Akropolis Adieu produced and composed by Bruhn , which brought in a gold record for more than a million record sales. That succeeded again in October 1973 with the number one hit La Paloma Ade . Bruhn composed a total of around 100 titles for them.

Michael Kunze produced some titles by and with Bruhn, including a Peter Maffay LP which contained the title You are different . Roberto Blanco owes his popular hit A Bit of Fun Must Be from December 1972 to the Bruhn / Loose team, it is a co-production with Ralph Siegel. He also composed and produced a total of twelve titles for Michael Schanze from 1968, and increasingly from 1972, of which only Oh how comfortable with me was able to reach the charts in October 1972.

In the 1970s, the folk music duo Gitti and Erika Goetz was discovered and produced by Bruhn , from December 1977 500,000 copies of the title Heidi were sold in Germany and probably 40 million copies (including cover versions) worldwide. Heidi was the title song of the German dubbed version of a Japanese TV anime series started in 1974 about the adventures of the orphan Heidi in the Alps . The duo had another success with the band hit Aus Böhmen comes the music , which Bruhn initially offered to Peter Alexander, who was only able to decide on a cover version much later. In 1976 Bruhn entered into his fourth marriage with Erika Goetz, which in 2001 - shortly after the silver wedding - was divorced with a severance payment of 11 million  DM . He married the doctor Irene Link in 2002.

The 1980s and after

In 1981 Bruhn became a member of GEMA's supervisory board . From 1991 to 2009 Bruhn was its chairman of the supervisory board. In addition, Bruhn has been honorary professor at the Nuremberg / Augsburg University of Music since 2002 and was president of CISAC (umbrella organization of copyright societies) until 2007 .

From 1970 to 1985 Bruhn also composed advertising jingles, e.g. B. Shamtu Shampoo brings resilience to hair (1978) and the cuddly wool sung by Vicky Leandros - that's what makes Perwoll out of wool (1974).

His jingle hits, however, are Milka, the most tender temptation since there was chocolate - sung by Erika Bruhn and We give your future a home - LBS .

In the 1980s and 1990s, Bruhn's hit productivity decreased significantly while he increasingly composed for television series. In 2010 actor Mario Adorf spoke lyric poetry by Claire Din to the music of Bruhn, who used contemporary semi-classical music.

Christian Bruhn has been working with Berlin entertainer Donato Plögert since 2012 , for whom he produced the albums Dufte (2013), Schnauze mit Schuss (2016) and the double album Banane (2018), which went straight to number 30 in the German i-Tunes -Charts reached.

On January 10, 2019, Marie Reich's documentary film about Christian Bruhn My World is Music - The Composer Christian Bruhn started in German cinemas.

statistics

Bruhn composed for almost all known German pop artists. He published a total of around 2000 songs (GEMA has over 2500 work registrations), wrote the music for more than 100 radio and TV commercials (including Milka, McDonald’s and LBS) and is responsible for at least eight million-seller. Bruhn received his first gold record for the title Two Little Italians . Drafi Deutscher's hits followed; Mireille Mathieu earned him two gold records. After that, the success of the theme song Heidi was gilded; also the Gitti - & - Erika LP From Böhmen comes the music (1978) was rewarded with gold.

Works (selection)

Bat

  • 99.9 percent (for Graham Bonney ), 1968, text: Günther Loose
  • All adventures of this earth (for Freddy Quinn ), 1969, text: Georg Buschor
  • On a Sunday in Avignon (for Mireille Mathieu ), 1970, text: Georg Buschor
  • Even the best day comes to an end (for Caterina Valente ), 1967, text: Georg Buschor
  • Music comes from Bohemia (for Gitti and Erika ), 1978, text: Robert Jung
  • Bene bene bene (for Rita Pavone ), 1968, text: Georg Buschor
  • Cinderella Baby (for Drafi Deutscher ), 1964, text: Günther Loose
  • The fifth wheel on the wagon (for Siw Malmkvist ), 1965, text: Hans Bradtke
  • Computer No. 3 (for France Gall ), 1968, text: Georg Buschor
  • The love dream as a twist (CB himself as “Charly Cotton and his Twist-Makers”), 1961
  • The Star from Mykonos (for Katja Ebstein ), text: Georg Buschor, 1973
  • The golden age (for Manuela and Drafi Deutscher ), 1966, text: Georg Buschor
  • Half of his life (for Katja Ebstein ) 1974, text by Georg Buschor
  • Three Musketeers (for Conny Froboess ), 1963, text by Georg Buschor
  • You're different (for Peter Maffay ), 1970, text: Michael Kunze
  • A little Goethe, a little Bonaparte (for France Gall ), 1969, text: Hans Bradtke
  • There has to be a bit of fun (for Roberto Blanco ), 1972, text: Günther Loose
  • An Indian boy from Peru (for Katja Ebstein ), 1973, text: Georg Buschor
  • He is a treasure (for Elfi Graf ), 1975, text: Georg Buschor
  • He's back (for Marion Maerz ) 1965, text: Günther Loose
  • I'm fine, Cheri (for Mireille Mathieu ), text: Georg Buschor
  • Once upon a time there was a hunter (for Katja Ebstein ), 1974, text: Georg Buschor
  • Flower-Power-Dress (for Wencke Myhre ), 1968, text: Georg Buschor
  • Gartenzwerg-March (Adelheid, Adelheid) (for Billy Sanders ), 1962, text: Hans Bradtke
  • Heidi (for Gitti and Erika ), 1978, text: Andrea Wagner / Erika Bruhn
  • Heart deceiver (for Alexa Tal), 2018, text: Donato Plögert
  • Hey Little Lady (for Graham Bonney ), 1970, (Bruhn / Bonney / Blum)
  • Behind the scenes in Paris (for Mireille Mathieu ), 1969, text: Georg Buschor
  • I want to be the button on your blouse (for Bata Illic ), 1976, text: Günther Behrle
  • There is a horse market in Petersburg (for Katja Ebstein ) in 1976, text: Michael Kunze
  • Somebody loves you too (for Roy Black ), 1966, text: Michael Holm
  • No love without tears (for Connie Francis ), 1967, text: Fini Busch
  • Cuddle with me (for Marie-Luise Nikuta & Donato Plögert), 2014, text: Donato Plögert
  • Never kiss after midnight (for Siw Malmkvist ), 1965, text: Georg Buschor
  • La Paloma, ade (for Mireille Mathieu , arrangement), 1973, text: Georg Buschor
  • Let off steam (for Gert Fröbe ), 1980, text: Fred Weyrich
  • Love cannot be forbidden (for Donato Plögert & DIK), 2014, text: Donato Plögert
  • Lovesickness is not worth it (for Siw Malmkvist ), 1964, text: Georg Buschor
  • Lord Leicester from Manchester (for Manuela ), 1966, text: Georg Buschor
  • Marble, stone and iron breaks (for Drafi Deutscher ), 1965, text: Günther Loose
  • My world is music (for Mireille Mathieu ), 1970, text: Georg Buschor
  • Midi-Midinette (for Conny Froboess ), 1960, text: Georg Buschor
  • Mille Colombes / Give the children a world (for Mireille Mathieu , Dana Winner ), text: Michael Kunze / E. Marney
  • Mitsou (for Jacqueline Boyer ), 1963, text: Georg Buschor
  • Monsieur Dupont (for Manuela ), 1967, text: Georg Buschor
  • My, My, My (for Waterloo & Robinson ), 1976, text: together with Patti Unwin
  • Paris Tango (for Mireille Mathieu ), 1971, text: Georg Buschor
  • Sankt Elisabeth (for Angela Wiedl ), 2006, text: Rose Nabinger
  • Santa Maria (for Mireille Mathieu ), 1978, text: Günther Behrle
  • Snowman (for Manuela), 1964, text: Georg Buschor
  • Seven thousand cattle (for Peter Hinnen ), 1962, text: Ulrich Blecher
  • She keeps looking at me (for Peter Orloff ), 1968
  • You are looking for tomorrow (for Five 4 Refugees), 2015, text: Donato Plögert
  • Tanz mit mir (for Peter Alexander ), 1961, text: Georg Buschor
  • And when a new day awakens (for Katja Ebstein ), 1970, text: Günther Loose
  • If only you had stayed in Düsseldorf (for Dorthe Kollo ), 1968, text: Georg Buschor
  • There are always miracles (for Katja Ebstein ), 1970, text: Günther Loose
  • Winter in Canada (for Elisa Gabbai ), 1966, text: Georg Buschor
  • Skyscraper (for Donato Plögert), 2015, text: Donato Plögert
  • Two little Italians (for Conny Froboess ), 1962, text: Georg Buschor

Music for film and television

Stage music and musicals

Song cycles

  • James' Animal Life ( James Krüss )
  • Heinrich Heine songs
  • Wilhelm Busch cycle
  • The Rhine (bus choir)
  • The Song of the Elbe (Krüss)
  • Helga Feddersen speaks and sings (Feddersen)

Awards

literature

Films about Christian Bruhn

  • My world is music - the composer Christian Bruhn , Germany 2017, director: Marie Reich

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ http://www.badische-zeitung.de/rock-pop/ich-bin-der-macher-im- Background-- 92985876.html
  2. ^ Joseph Murrells: Million Selling Records . 1985, p. 163
  3. ^ Joseph Murrells: Million Selling Records . 1985, p. 194
  4. ^ Joseph Murrells: Million Selling Records . 1985, p. 205
  5. ↑ http://www.badische-zeitung.de/rock-pop/ich-bin-der-macher-im- Background-- 92985876.html
  6. ↑ Michael Pilz: "My world is music": Christian Bruhn and his hits. Film start and trailer . In: THE WORLD . January 10, 2019 ( welt.de [accessed January 11, 2019]).
  7. ↑ My world is music - The composer Christian Bruhn (2017) on www.kino-zeit.de
personal data
SURNAME Bruhn, Christian
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German composer, arranger and songwriter
DATE OF BIRTH October 17, 1934
PLACE OF BIRTH Wentorf near Hamburg