Klaus Wunderlich

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Klaus Wunderlich (born June 18, 1931 in Chemnitz , † October 28, 1997 in Engen OT Bittelbrunn ) was a German musician . He was awarded a total of 13 gold records , a gold music cassette and a silver record. Wunderlich was the first German entertainment musician to make the electronic organ popular with a larger audience.

Life

Single Tico-Tico no Fubá , 1958

Wunderlich grew up in Chemnitz as the son of a police inspector. At the age of 16 he was a répétiteur , but ultimately he was more attracted to light music.

In 1951, Wunderlich moved to West Germany with a band and "dangled" through the Federal Republic as a pianist in a bar trio. In the mid-1950s he was a founding member of the New Jazz Group Hannover , which was formed in 1954 after the musicians were recorded in a studio production for the NWDR . He also made the acquaintance of the Hammond organ , which became his main instrument from 1955. “The organ is my life” and “On the Hammond organ you can imitate every string instrument with the exception of the butter knife,” said Klaus Wunderlich. This was followed by solo appearances in various cabarets until the Teldec label noticed him in 1958 and offered him a record deal after a rehearsal.

His music was always aimed at light entertainment.

In the 1970s he set up his own recording studio in Reichenbach near Karlsruhe and began to work with the Moog synthesizer ; he used it to record three long-playing records. His Moog debut, published in 1973 under the title “Sound 2000 - Moog, Organ, Rhythm”, featured hits such as “ La Paloma ”. His New Pop Organ Sound became known when he added sound effects to the melody on the Hammond H100 with sound effects from the WERSI organs W248S, Lowrey H 25-3 and, from 1977, the WERSI Helios. This sound was difficult to produce in the studio and could not be reproduced live on stage. His late public live concerts include a performance at London's Royal Albert Hall .

Wunderlich mainly used the following organ models: Hammond C3, H-100, Lowrey H25-3, Wersi W248S, Wersi Helios, Wersi Beta DX400, Wersi Spectra CD700.

On October 28, 1997, Wunderlich died of a heart attack in the presence of his wife Traudl and friends in his house in Bittelbrunn in the district of Constance.

Discography

Wunderlich has released more than 100 albums, of which 13 LPs and one music cassette received a gold record .

Albums

year title Top ranking, total weeks, awardChart placementsChart placements
(Year, title, rankings, weeks, awards, notes) 		Remarks
DE DE UK UK NL NL
1965 Hammond fireworks DE24 (4 weeks)
DE 		- -
1966 Bar music - 28 melodies that you will never forget DE28 (4 weeks)
DE 		- -
1969 Hammond Pops III DE10 (12 weeks)
DE 		- -
1971 Hammond Pops 6 DE41 (12 weeks)
DE 		- -
1975 The Hit World of Klaus Wunderlich - UK27 (8 weeks)
UK 		-
1976 Speelt voor u 28 advertising melodies - - NL2 (12 weeks)
NL
1978 The Unique Klaus Wunderlich Sound - UK28 (4 weeks)
UK 		-
1979 The Fantastic Sound of Klaus Wunderlich - UK43 (5 weeks)
UK 		NL2 (17 weeks)
NL
1981 The Fantastic Sound of Klaus Wunderlich Vol. II - - NL24 (13 weeks)
NL
1984 On the Sunny Side of the Street - UK81 (2 weeks)
UK 		-
1987 The Collection - UK-
silver
silver
UK 		-

gray hatching : no chart data available for this year

See also

Web links

swell

  1. ^ W. Knauer, "Play yourself, man!" The history of jazz in Germany. Reclam, Stuttgart 2019, p. 188
  2. ↑ Discogs, Klaus Wunderlich
  3. ↑ Okey Magazine, Klaus Wunderlich (1931 - 1997) in a portrait of Ralf Hoffmann ( memento from April 15, 2016 in the Internet Archive )
  4. ↑ Chart sources albums: Charts DE Charts UK Charts NL
  5. ↑ Music Sales Awards: UK
personal data
SURNAME Wonderful, Klaus
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German musician
DATE OF BIRTH June 18, 1931
PLACE OF BIRTH Chemnitz
DATE OF DEATH October 28, 1997
Place of death Narrow