The Count (singer)

The Graf at the preliminary decision for the Eurovision Song Contest in March 2014

The Graf (* in the 1970s in Aachen or Würselen ) is the stage name of a German singer . The Graf was the front man and songwriter for the band Unheilig .

Life

The count reveals little information about his private life . His birth name and date are not publicly known. In press reports, the real name of Bernd Heinrich Graf is occasionally given since this name was brought into play by the tabloid Bild . In the trademark register , the Unheilig trademark is registered among others for Bernd Graf . In addition, other assumptions are also circulating.

Before he went to school, the count attended a Catholic kindergarten and sang in the church choir. In his childhood he stuttered badly and was teased by the other children. Before starting his music career, the count completed an apprenticeship as a dental technician , which he broke off, however, in order to commit himself for four years as a temporary soldier . Then he trained as a hearing aid acoustician . Together with Grant Stevens and the producer Jose Alvarez-Brill he founded the band Unheilig in 1999. The band's first single, titled Sage Ja! was released in 2000, became an instant hit and entered the alternative rock charts. In 2001 the debut album Phosphor came on the market, which further expanded the path between electronic sounds and dark rock music, followed in April 2003 by Das 2. Gebot .

However, in the meantime the count had decided to tread the musical path of Unheilig alone in order not to have to compromise any more. He only worked with guest musicians during live performances. In Zelluloid (2004), Unheilig showed himself to be a bit rockier, but without turning away from her roots, which he sees in the " black Gothic scene ". With Moderne Zeiten , Unheilig was a guest at many festivals on the alternative and black scene . In 2008 the album Puppenspiel was released and in 2010 the album Große Freiheit . This album received 7-fold platinum status in Germany, 3-fold platinum in Austria and 2-fold platinum in Switzerland. In August 2010 it replaced Herbert Grönemeyer's Ö as the longest album by a German artist that had been at number one in the German album charts since the beginning of the weekly chart determination: with interruptions it was at the top of the charts for 23 weeks. Große Freiheit finally became the most successful album of 2010 in Germany. It has sold over 2 million times to date. In 2012 the album Lights of the City was released . On October 5, 2014, the count announced the end of his career at Unheilig in an open letter . Between May and September 2016, the Count went on tour once again under the title One last time , which ended on September 10, 2016 in the Rheinenergiestadion in Cologne.

From 2016 the count wrote songs for the singer Sotiria .

The Count with Barbara Schöneberger at Our Song for Denmark 2014

social commitment

Since 2010, supported the count with his action , the county the Herzenswünsche e. V. (Münster) for seriously ill children. In 2012 he received the honorary echo for social commitment . Since May 2012 he has been an ambassador for the Hear the World Foundation , a worldwide initiative of the Sonova brand Phonak, which is dedicated to the topic of hearing and educates people about hearing loss . On December 7, 2013, Der Graf was awarded the KIND National Award by the Kinderlachen association for his voluntary work at Herzenswünsch e. V. as well as for its commitment within the framework of Die Grafschaft .

Discography

As The Graf

• 1994: Dreams and Illusions

With Unheilig

→ Main article : Unheilig / Discography

With other bands

• 2007: Hold You (Imatem feat. Der Graf from the album Home )
• 2011: Hol die Sterne (with In Extremo from the album Sterneneisen )

Voice actor

• 2012: Sammy's Adventure 2 - Little Heroes on a Big Mission as Big D.

Awards

• ECHO Pop
  • 2011: in the category Producer (National) (Unheilig)
  • 2012: in the special price category (for the Die Grafschaft campaign in favor of the Herzenswünsch e.V. association)

• KIND Award
  • 2013 (for his voluntary work for children and young people)

literature

• Der Graf: When music became my language. The official autobiography . Riva Verlag , Munich 2013, ISBN 978-3-86883-210-5 .
• Corinna Siebert: Unholy. The Count - Born to Sing. The unofficial biography . Heel Verlag , Königswinter 2011, ISBN 978-3-86852-393-5 .
• Michael Fuchs-Gamböck , Thorsten Schatz : Unheilig: The Count and his world . Bastei Lübbe Verlag , Cologne 2011, ISBN 978-3-404-60664-1 .

Web links

Commons : The Graf  - Collection of pictures, videos and audio files

• Literature by and about Der Graf in the catalog of the German National Library

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Thorsten Karbach: Der Graf: "That has nothing in common with hell" . Aachener Zeitung , March 6, 2010, accessed on June 7, 2017.
2. ↑ "Der Graf", founder and singer of the band Unheilig . In: Focus . No. 14, March 31, 2012, accessed on April 22, 2012.
   MUNZINGER Pop: Unheilig
3. ↑ ^{a b c} Corinna Siebert: Unheilig. The Count - Born to Sing. 2011.
4. ↑ Thomas Groß: The lights are still on in the Gespensterstadl . In: Die Zeit , No. 13, March 22, 2012, accessed on June 7, 2017.
5. ↑ Melanie Steck: Unheilig: The Count after work . In: Bild .de , June 6, 2012, accessed on March 8, 2013.
6. ^ Register information from the German Patent and Trademark Office , December 28, 2012.
7. ↑ ^{a b} Interview with Focus magazine on March 19, 2012.
8. ↑ Official webpage of the band: Biography "des Grafen" ( Memento of the original from July 14, 2011 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was automatically inserted and not yet checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. . Retrieved June 15, 2011. 
9. ↑ ^{a b c} laut.de biography. Unholy. laut.de , accessed on July 16, 2012.
10. ↑ Tonia Simone Pöppler: "I am a completely normal guy": "The Count" from "Unheilig" in the GZ interview. giessener-zeitung.de , March 24, 2010, accessed on July 3, 2012.
11. ↑ Unheilig - Gothic Graf thinks "Kitsch is good". ( Memento of the original from July 7, 2011 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was automatically inserted and not yet checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. relevant.at, April 19, 2010, accessed on July 13, 2012. 
12. ↑ [1]
13. ↑ www.abendblatt.de: 15th place first: Unheilig set a record , accessed August 20, 2010.
14. ↑ http://www.einslive.de/musik/charts/2011/jahresalbumcharts.jsp
15. ↑ Der Graf // Biography ( Memento of the original from July 14, 2011 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. 
16. ↑ unheilig.com: Count's open letter ( memento of October 20, 2014 in the Internet Archive )
17. ↑ Unheilig comeback: Tour and new album in 2018 . In: SchlagerPlanet.com . ( schlagerplanet.com [accessed October 26, 2018]).
18. ↑ The Graf (Unheilig) is an ambassador for Hear the World. ( Memento of the original from October 19, 2012 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. Hear-the-world.com, accessed October 24, 2012. 
19. ↑ The ninth children's laughter gala. (No longer available online.) Archived from the original on December 11, 2013 ; Retrieved December 8, 2013 . Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.  
20. ↑ The Graf as voice actor ( memento of the original from September 25, 2012 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. . unheilig.com, September 17, 2012, accessed December 29, 2012.  
21. ↑ The Graf, Herman van Veen and Wera Röttgering receive KIND awards. Retrieved March 14, 2014 .