Greetje Kauffeld

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Greetje Kauffeld at the Ringfest in Cologne 2005

Greetje Kauffeld , (born November 26, 1939 in Rotterdam ) is a Dutch pop and jazz singer. In the 1960s she was best known in Germany as a pop singer.

Life

Greetje grew up in Rotterdam and sang hits from American artists as a child. During school she sang in the school choir. At the age of 13 she sang in a young band that took part in a competition at Radio Hilversum . The family has since moved to Zeeland . After finishing school, Greetje first learned the trade of a telephone operator. At 16 she became the lead singer of the “Skymasters”, a well-known backing band. Greetje made various radio broadcasts and concert tours with her. The orchestra accompanied Evelyn Künneke , René Carol , Rudi Schuricke and Fred Bertelmann , among others , so that Greetje came into contact with the famous pop stars of the time. On the occasion of her participation in the “Festival de la canzone” in Venice she was discovered by Erwin Lehn , who brought her to his home broadcaster, the Süddeutscher Rundfunk, in Stuttgart . Here he made several recordings with her.

Greetje Kauffeld, 1961

Heinz Gietz heard her performing at the Stuttgart Liederhalle and got her a record deal. At the same time she played in the television series "Spiel mit Vieren". From 1961 she took on several titles, but initially did not make her breakthrough as a pop singer. During this time she began working with Paul Kuhn until shortly before his death, initially with a few duets, whereby Every Day, Since I Love You A Little Bit More, was the most successful. She was more successful in her home country. In 1961 she took part in the Eurovision Song Contest for the Netherlands with the title Wat een dag ("What a day") and reached 10th place.

In 1963 she applied with “Nur bei dir” at the German Schlager Festival in Baden-Baden , but could not qualify for the final.

In 1964 she published the song We Can Only Write Letters . The song became her absolute hit, which stayed in the charts for weeks and has since become an evergreen of German hits.

After her record contract expired in 1967, she performed in Los Angeles / USA , but soon returned to Europe. In 1970 she married her long-time friend Joop de Roo . He advised her to change the music subject.

From then on she devoted herself to jazz and was successful first in the Netherlands and later in Germany. She performed with well-known jazz musicians and released a jazz album in 1981. In 1980 she had already been recognized as the best soloist at the Euro-American Nordring Radio Festival.

In 1986 Greetje founded her own jazz trio, to which she contributed the voice, the other two tenor saxophone ( Jan Menu ) and guitar . She then received several jazz prizes and awards, including the "Gouden Notenkraker" and the city s Hertogenbosch jazz prize. In addition, she was a lecturer at the University of the Arts in Hilversum , where she served as a role model for many young jazz musicians, such as Pit Witt .

Since 1993 she has performed in Germany primarily with the " Siggi Gerhard-Swingtett ". To this day she is a welcome and heard guest at numerous events.

In 2002 Greetje Kauffeld put together the program “A Lovely Way to Spend an Evening” with jazz pianist Dirk Raufeisen .

In 2005 a collaboration with the Swingin 'Fireballs from Bremen began. A Christmas CD was created, which was released in 2006 by Mons Records .

Also in 2006 the singer published her memoir "Was für Tage ..." together with the German journalist Ingo Schiweck; on her 75th birthday in 2014, the book was greatly expanded.

Success title

Chart positions
Explanation of the data
Singles
Every day I love you a little more (with Paul Kuhn)
  DE 42 02/01/1964 (8 weeks)
We can only write letters to each other
  DE 26th 09/01/1964 (8 weeks)
  • Call to 1961
  • Just a bad copy in 1961
  • Sunday Melody 1963
  • Every day I love you a little more 1963 (with Paul Kuhn)
  • We can only write letters to each other in 1964
  • Please dance with me again in 1966
  • The Song Is You 1988
  • Greetje Kauffeld meets Alan & Marilyn Bergman. On My Way To You 1989
  • European Windows 1992
  • The Real Thing 1994
  • Greetje Kauffeld Meets Jerry von Rooijen u. a. 1997
  • My Favorite Ballads 1997
  • Dreaming 2000
  • My Shining Hour 2005

Discography

Albums

  • In the Mood for Christmas 2006 Swingin 'Fireballs Feat. Greetje Kauffeld (Mons Records)
  • Every day I love you a little more
  • Heaven's Open 2011 (Sonorama)

literature

Web links

Commons : Greetje Kauffeld  - collection of images, videos and audio files

swell

  1. Chart sources: DE