Günter Kallmann

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Günter Kallmann (born November 19, 1927 in Berlin ; † April 22, 2016 there ) was a German choir director , singer and composer.

life and work

Günter Kallmann's grave

Günter Kallmann studied music in his hometown Berlin and, inspired by his great role model Louis Armstrong , initially worked as a trumpeter in various big bands , including the orchestras of Kurt Widmann and Wolf Gabbe . As a baritone singer, he has worked with groups such as the Ping-Pongs , which Willi Stanke , Klaus Gross , Rudolf Schock and Renate Holm accompanied, since 1954 . As a double bass player he belonged to by Alfons Zschockelt led jazz band hall , with which he recorded the 1,957th In the same year he was in the studio with vocal groups he founded such as the Monacos ; he also performed with the Ohio , Carawells , Rangers and Blue Stars . Since 1958 he was a member of the Botho Lucas Choir .

In 1961 he founded the Günter Kallmann Choir in Cologne . The first recording was the Elisabeth Serenade , which became a worldwide success. The record stayed in the German charts for 20 weeks, sold over 500,000 copies and reached number 3. An LP released in the USA also entered the Billboard charts and climbed to number 97. Despite its popularity, the choir later managed this hit do not repeat again. Nonetheless, 35 LPs, including eight gold records, helped the choir to tour several times in England, the USA, Canada and South Africa. On German television, they appeared 25 times in the Blauer Bock , Werner Müller's hit magazine and Helmut Zacharias ' shows. On February 26, 1966, the choir gave a concert in front of 1500 spectators in the South African Cango Caves . The recordings were released in the same year on the LP In the Cango Caves with the Günter Kallman Choir only in South Africa.

In 1970 the choir accompanied the candidates in the preliminary round Ein Lied für Amsterdam for the Eurovision Song Contest .

Kallmann's records appeared in the German-speaking area on the Polydor label, in the USA first on 4 Corners of the World , a sub-label of Kapp Records , and then also on Polydor. Over the years, depending on the market, Kallmann's records have also appeared under slightly different names, for example The Gunter Kallmann Chorus ( Wish Me a Rainbow , 1966), The Günter Kallmann Choir ( Feeling Groovy , 1969) or Kallmann Singers ( Schlager Tanzparade '69 , 1969). In the late 1960s, a few of his albums with covers of international pop hits were produced by Norrie Paramor .

The choir accompanied Peter Alexander , Caterina Valente , Udo Jürgens , Bill Ramsey , Paul Anka , Roy Black , Gilbert Bécaud and Chris Roberts as a background .

Members of the Günter Kallmann Choir were, besides himself as choir director, Blanche Birdsong, Catrin Cremer, Bernd Golonsky, Ute Hellermann , who later founded the Ute Mann Singers and married Paul Kuhn , Charlie Koch, Luigi Pelliccioni, today part of the Schlager duo Ann & Andy , Karl-Heinz Welbers and Ulla Wiesner .

In 2001 several British bands discovered the Kallmann title Daydream for themselves and used it as the basis for new songs, including the I Monsters from Sheffield , the Skinnys and the Beta Band . The trip-hop band Portishead is said to have used the title back in 1994 for their song Sour Times as a "source of inspiration". The DJ Bob Lipitch from Manchester , founder of the Chopped Herring label , tinkered the logo for his company from 80 Daydream records.

Günter Kallmann, who retired in 1985, spent his twilight years in Baden-Baden .

Günter Kallmann died in Berlin in 2016 at the age of 88. His grave is in the forest cemetery in Zehlendorf . (Field 024-355)

Trivia

The American military is rumored to have used a Kallmann Choir title, Lollipop and Roses , to "wear down" people under interrogation. When asked about this, Kallmann said in an interview that the “constant tinkling of bells” on his records had annoyed him at some point, but was “the hallmark” of the choir.

Discography

4 Corners of the World / Kapp (USA)

  • 1965: Serenade for Elisabeth
  • 1965: Serenade for a Lady in Love
  • 1966: Songs for My Love
  • 1966: Wish Me a Rainbow
  • 1967: With All My Heart
  • 1967: Call it Love
  • 1967: The Gunter Kallmann Chorus Sings 28 Christmas Songs
  • 1968: Live for Love
  • 1968: The Gunter Kallmann Chorus in Hollywood
  • 1968: Love Is Blue
  • 1969: Once in Each Life
  • 1970: Early in the Morning

Polydor (DE and others)

  • 1963: Elisabeth Serenade
  • 1964: Serenade in the castle park
  • 1964: love that never fades
  • 1965: Serenade by the Sea (UK title: Evening Serenade )
  • 1966: In the Cango Caves with the Günter Kallman Choir (only in South Africa)
  • 1967: With the sound of bells and the shine of lights
  • 1969: Schlager Tanzparade '69
  • 1969: Feeling Groovy
  • 1969: Put a Little Love in Your Heart
  • 1970: The great Schlager dance parade 2
  • 1970: Christmas Sing-In
  • 1971: Let's Dance
  • 2002: Lounge Legends: Gunter Kallmann Choir (compilation on CD)

Chart placements

Albums

year title Top ranking, total weeks, awardChartsChart placements
(Year, title, rankings, weeks, awards, notes) 		Remarks
US US
1965 Serenade for Elisabeth US97 (10 weeks)
US
1966 Wish Me a Rainbow US126 (8 weeks)
US

Singles

year Title
album 		Top ranking, total weeks, awardChart placementsChart placements
(Year, title, album , rankings, weeks, awards, notes) 		Remarks
DE DE UK UK US US
1964 Elisabeth Serenade DE3 (20 weeks)
DE 		UK39 (3 weeks)
UK 		-
1966 Wish Me a Rainbow - - US63 (8 weeks)
US

literature

  • Bernd Meyer-Rähnitz, Frank Oehme, Joachim Schütte: The "Eternal Friend" - Eterna and Amiga; The discography of the shellac records (1947–1961) , Albis International Bibliophilen-Verlag, Dresden-Ústí 2006, ISBN 80-86971-10-4 .

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Matthias Bardong, Hermann Demmler, Christian Pfarr: Das Lexikon des Deutschen Schlers. Schott Music, Mainz 1993, p. 183
  2. ↑ Various Artists |. In: www.jazzecho.de. Retrieved May 16, 2016 .
  3. ↑ https://www.discogs.com/The-G%C3%BCnter-Kallmann-Choir-In-The-Cango-Caves-With-The-G%C3%BCnter-Kallman-Choir/release/4997075
  4. ↑ www.aufrechtgehn.de ( Memento of the original from August 25, 2009 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.aufrechtgehn.de
  5. ↑ Norrie Paramor. Retrieved June 5, 2020 .
  6. ↑ a b Josef Engels: Coolmann's secret. In: welt.de . August 22, 2001. Retrieved October 7, 2018 .
  7. ↑ https://daily.bandcamp.com/2016/11/23/chopped-herring-profile/
  8. ^ Hans-Jürgen Mende: Lexicon of Berlin burial places . Pharus-Plan, Berlin 2018, ISBN 978-3-86514-206-1 , p. 634.
  9. ↑ http://www.spaceagepop.com/kallmann.htm
  10. ^ Tim Neely: Goldmine: Standard Catalog of American Records. Krause, USA 2000, p. 612
  11. ↑ a b Chart sources: DE UK US
personal data
SURNAME Kallmann, Günter
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German singer, composer and choir director
DATE OF BIRTH November 19, 1927
PLACE OF BIRTH Berlin
DATE OF DEATH April 22, 2016
Place of death Berlin