Fred Bertelmann

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Fred Bertelmann (born October 7, 1925 in Duisburg , † January 22, 2014 in Berg ) was a German pop singer and actor .

Life

Fred Bertelmann grew up in Duisburg-Meiderich as the son of Elisabeth and Jules Bertelmann, who was employed by Ruhrchemie . Fred Bertelmann first came into contact with music during his school days as a choirboy; later he went on a concert tour as a boy choir with the church choir of St. Lorenz. At that time he actually wanted to become a pediatrician, he had even started his studies, but then the tendency to music won out and he studied cello , violin and trumpet with Anton Gruberbauer at the Nuremberg Conservatory . At the same time he deepened his knowledge of singing with the hero baritone of the Nuremberg Opera House , Johnny Born . He also trained as an actor and singer at the Nuremberg Conservatory and at the UFA Acting School. During the Second World War he was taken prisoner by the US as a Wehrmacht soldier on the Western Front in 1944 . Bertelmann came to a camp in Alabama , where he came into contact with American swing and a 14-man orchestra was founded. After his release on May 6, 1946, he went to Füssen to play in the orchestra of a US Army club. In 1947 he met Ernst Mosch and Horst Reipsch in Landsberg am Lech . The three formed their own swing band with which they toured through American clubs. These appearances led to an invitation to Munich to join Radio Munich , later renamed Bayerischer Rundfunk .

In 1950 Bertelmann was so well known as a musician that he was hired by the orchestra leader Arne Hülphers to go to Sweden and was allowed to take part in concerts with Zarah Leander , who would later become von Hülphers' wife. In 1952 he was noticed by the manager Stefan von Baranski in Travemünde , who introduced him to Michael Jary , who wanted to help with the start of the record business. Here he also met his future producer Nils Nobach . In Hamburg he was at the start of German television (from NWDR ) in the program Klingendes Rendezvous . There he met Bibi Johns , with whom he later sang some recordings in a duet. From Hamburg he moved back to Nuremberg, where he continued to study singing. In 1952 Baranski brokered a record deal for Bertelmann with the Munich record company Tempo .

At Tempo, Bertelmann published around 20 singles by 1958 , many of which, as was usual at Tempo, contained cover versions of successful hits. As early as 1954 there was a record deal with the record company Electrola . In October 1955 he was noted with the title Tina Marie in the German Schlagerparaden right at the front. In 1957, Fred Bertelmann hit the German charts with the title Der lachende Vagabund , a cover version of Jim Lowe's US hit Gambler's Guitar . The copywriter Peter Moesser heard it in the Italian version on a trip to Italy, and Electrola wanted Bertelmann to perform. On July 9, 1957, it was recorded in Cologne. This song fit the mood of the German economic miracle , became a number one hit, and the single sold a million copies by May 1, 1958. In total, the song was sold 3.5 million times, including in the United States. Bertelmann's hit parades lasted into the mid-1960s, with a total of twelve titles in the hit lists. In 1961 he moved to Polydor , which was followed by record contracts with the record companies Ariola , Trans World, Koch International and Superton. His record releases date back to the 1990s, he recorded nearly 100 singles, and about eight vinyl long-playing records were produced. There are also numerous CD productions . In 1958 Bertelmann competed in the German preliminary decision for the Eurovision Song Contest . In the German preliminary round in 1964 , he sang the song That makes your smile, Mona Lisa .

His talent for singing did not go unnoticed by the German entertainment film either. A short vocal performance in powder snow overseas (1956) was followed by two revue scenes with Bibi Johns in Europe's new music parade in 1958 (1957) . The main role in The Laughing Vagabond (1958) earned him his hit of the same name. He owed this rise to the producer Willy Zeyn , who also used it in the successors The Blue Sea and You (1959) and Gauner-Serenade (1960). In both films he was given Chris Howland as a funny companion. The bankruptcy of the Union Filmverleihe ended this series. His first job in Austrian film was in the circus film Geliebte Bestie (1959), where he was responsible for the vocal parts. Producer Herbert Gruber also cast him in When my big brother knew (1959) and my niece does not (1960). He shared the main role with the young Cornelia Froboess . Guitars sounded softly through the night (1960) was tailor-made for him alone . The first film after his change of music publisher was a vocal appearance in So loves and kisses in Tyrol (1961). The end of the classic hit film was indicated by the lead role in Songs sounding on Lake Maggiore (1963). His cinema career ended with another vocal performance in the German version of the Spanish-Italian co-production Let the fingers of the doll (1966).

Since he had acting skills, he later also played classical theater (including Götz von Berlichingen or The Taming of the Shrew ) and took on roles in musicals . Further stations in his career were appearances on American television shows such as those of Ed Sullivan , Dean Martin and Perry Como . In 1961 he took part in the musical Show Boat in Chicago . In Europe he performed with Marika Rökk , Gerhard Wendland , Vico Torriani , Hans-Joachim Kulenkampff , Bibi Johns and Caterina Valente . In 1961 Bertelmann moved from Electrola to Polydor .

To promote young talent and talent, he founded Germany's first show school in Munich in the 1972 Olympic year together with the former pop singer Gitta Lind , who was supposed to be the director of training, but at that time maintained a quick cleaning service. The start-up capital of the equivalent of 50,000 euros was raised by both

In 2003 Bertelmann played in the play Sonny Boys in the Mühlentheater in Kleinseebach near Erlangen . In 2005 and 2006 he appeared at the Bavarian State Opera as part of the Munich Opera Festival as Aeneas on the stage of the Prinzregententheater in the festival production Dido & Aeneas - baroque opera stripped of its lovers (after Henry Purcell ) by and with Andreas Ammer and Sebastian Hess .

Fred Bertelmann had been married to the former TV announcer and film actress Ruth Kappelsberger since 1966 and lived in Berg am Starnberger See , where he died on January 22, 2014. He was buried in the cemetery in Aufkirchen am Starnberger See.

Honors and awards (selection)

His career brought the singer and actor numerous awards, so he received

Discography

Filmography

movie theater

Television (selection)

  • 1975: A waltz for two (television)
  • 1996: Zum Stanglwirt , episode: Now let's go - then see it (TV series)

literature

  • Frank Laufenberg: Rock & Pop Lexicon . Volume 1, Econ Taschenbuch Verlag, 1998, ISBN 3-612-26206-8 , p. 134.
  • Günter Ehnert (Ed.): Hit balance sheet German chart singles 1956–1980. Taurus Press, 1987, ISBN 3-922542-24-7 .

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Fred Bertelmann ( Memento of the original from December 1, 2015 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. at germanmusic.chapso.de @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / germanmusic.chapso.de
  2. ↑ His laughter has stopped: the hit man Fred Bertelmann is dead  ( page can no longer be accessed , search in web archives )  Info: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. at prinz.de@1@ 2Template: Toter Link / blog.prinz.de  
  3. ↑ What is actually… Fred Bertelmann doing at stern.de
  4. ↑ bayerische.staatsoper.de ( Memento of the original from July 29, 2013 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. @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.bayerische.staatsoper.de
  5. ↑ Fred Bertelmann is dead , Münchner Merkur
  6. ↑ knerger.de: The grave of Fred Bertelmann
  7. ↑ fred-bertelmann.de
  8. ↑ Source: Berg am Starnberger See
personal data
SURNAME Bertelmann, Fred
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German pop singer
DATE OF BIRTH October 7, 1925
PLACE OF BIRTH Duisburg
DATE OF DEATH 22th January 2014
Place of death Berg (Starnberger See)