Liane Augustin

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Liane Augustin at the Eurovision Song Contest 1958

Liane Augustin (born November 18, 1927 in Berlin , † April 30, 1978 in Vienna ) was an Austrian singer , diseuse , actress and voice actress .

Career

Liane Augustin was born on November 18, 1927 as the second daughter of the Viennese actor Karl Augustin in Berlin. The mother, a concert singer, comes from Frankfurt am Main. The constant bombing raids on Berlin and the father's professional reorientation prompt the family to return to their father's home in Vienna in 1944. The 16-year-old Liane, like many backfishes of the time, raves about the lively Ilse Werner , who had conquered the film and hit audience by singing and whistling during the war years. Liane finds more and more pleasure in singing and whistling about their successful titles and is so inspired that she seriously thinks about taking up the profession of singer. Her parents enable her to take singing lessons first and then to study accordingly. In addition to her first modest broadcasting activities, in 1946 she accepted an engagement in an American soldiers' club. Her language skills are an enormous help in this. In these early years she already had the ability to sing her repertoire in German, French, English, Italian, Hungarian and Swedish.

In the centrally located Bohème-Bar, near the St. László Gatti (guitar) and Willy Fantel (accordion and bass). Sometimes Michael Danzinger, who himself has had a remarkable solo career, is replaced by Herbert Seiter on the piano. The singer and her trio quickly became a local star, and Liane received her first record deal in 1949. First for a few numbers at Odeon, then later permanently at Elite Special / Austroton. The radio, which had previously entrusted her with minor tasks, correctly highlighted Liane from 1951. Their own radio broadcasts on ORF make them famous far beyond Vienna. Her unmistakable voice, slightly guttural in the depths, has a cheerful and vulnerable, lascivious or sentimental note and becomes a trademark.

The American producer Seymour Salomon enjoys Lianes program during a visit to the Bohème Bar and subsequently offers the artist a contract that guarantees the worldwide distribution of her records. In 1952 Liane's first long-playing record appeared on the “Vanguard” label in the USA. Orient-Express specifies the style of the 16 albums that will be released by the early 1960s. The singer presents upscale Viennese songs, German and international evergreens, sometimes accompanied by the “Bohème-Bar-Trio”, sometimes with a large orchestra. The individual song numbers are always connected to one another by a musical transition, small artistic pieces. Even the film cannot ignore the elegant appearance of Liane Augustin. She can be seen in 6 strips, mainly as a Diseuse.

In 1953, Liane Augustin married the wealthy businessman Gabriel Kenézy, who bought the Eden Bar in Vienna especially for her and made his wife the “grande dame” of this house, where an upscale, international audience came together. Daughter Jenny should complete the marital happiness. However, the marriage ends in divorce and private happiness is not permanent.

In the radio hit parades, the artist is particularly successful with cover versions of American hits. In Vienna, the 1956 is Threepenny Opera by Kurt Weill and Bertolt Brecht with Liane Augustin, Helge Rosvaenge and Rosette Anday recorded. Liane takes on the role of Polly Peachum. The album is awarded the Grand Prix du Disque .

At Christmas 1958, the artist barely survived an airplane disaster when an Air France plane she was sitting in collided with the site on approach to Vienna Airport and went up in flames (see: Air France flight 703 ).

In 1961, Liane Augustin performed in New York's Town Hall with great success, and the Wiener Laterne on 79th Street in Manhattan was always sold out during its guest appearance. In those years, the continuous collaboration with Robert Stolz also reached its peak. In the great broadcasting hall of the Wiener Funkhaus with the Great Wiener Rundfunkorchester under the direction of the master, a number of titles are recorded that confirm the international class of Diseuse Augustin.

In 1964 Liane Augustin was one of the performers at the German Schlager Festival , but failed in the preliminary round and did not reach the final.

Numerous tours abroad have taken the singer around the globe. A new private happiness prompts her to temporarily pitch her tent in Scandinavia, but she returns to Vienna. In the mid-1970s, the number of forums at which Liane Augustin can present her kind of music decreased. For some time she found her livelihood as a singer on the luxury steamer Bremen . After a minor abdominal operation in the hospital of the Barmherzigen Brüder in Vienna, heavy bleeding occurs that cannot be stopped. Liane Augustin dies suddenly and unexpectedly on April 30, 1978, at the age of 51. At the funeral service in the Vienna crematorium, the well-known actor Fritz Muliar says: "This is the beginning of the end of an era". The American critic Stephanie L. Stein recommends with regard to the entire work of the singer: "... if you don't know the bittersweet world of Liane, it is high time you investigate it."

In 2008, the Augustinplatz in Vienna- Neubau (7th district) was named after her, the name also referring to the bank singer Marx Augustin (1643–1685).

Participation in the Eurovision Song Contest

In 1958, Liane Augustin was selected by ORF to represent Austria at the Eurovision Song Contest in Hilversum . With the song The Whole World Needs Love , written by Günther Leopold and Kurt Werner , she landed in the middle of the field: she came in fifth among ten participants with eight points. The title was never recorded by her on vinyl and accordingly was not published commercially.

She is buried at the Vienna Central Cemetery (Group 157, Row 5, Number 15) as Liana Brockmann.

Records

Burial place of Liana Augustin

Singles:

  • 1950: A song calls out at night
  • 1950: my eyes say yes
  • 1951: Everything will be fine again
  • 1952: Give me your heart
  • 1953: April in Portugal
  • 1956: Let the world talk about it
  • 1957: I say goodbye to you
  • 1957: your love
  • 1964: No bouquet of roses helps ( German Schlager Festival 1964 , preliminary round)

LPs:

  • 1952: Orient Express
  • 1953: The Bohème Bar
  • 1953: A Continental Cocktail
  • 1954: Café Continental
  • 1955: Glowing Embers
  • 1955: Berlin Cabaret Songs
  • 1956: Vienna Midnight
  • 1956: Rendezvous avec Liane
  • 1956: Paris Midnight
  • 1956: The Threepenny Opera
  • 1957: Embraceable you (Liane sings George Gershwin)
  • 1957: Winter Wonderland
  • 1957: Vienna by Night
  • 1958: Paris After Midnight
  • 1959: Night and Day (Songs of Cole Porter)
  • 1962: April in Paris

CD:

  • 2002: Liane Augustin sings Robert Stolz

Prices

  • 1957: Grand Prix du Disque of the Charles Cros Academy for participation in the production The Threepenny Opera as Polly Peachum

Filmography

literature

  • Jan Feddersen : A song can be a bridge. The German and international history of the Grand Prix Eurovision. Hoffmann and Campe, Hamburg 2002, ISBN 3-455-09350-7 .

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ http://www.diggiloo.net/?1958
personal data
SURNAME Augustine, liana
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Austrian singer
DATE OF BIRTH November 18, 1927
PLACE OF BIRTH Berlin
DATE OF DEATH April 30, 1978
Place of death Vienna