Texas duo
The Texas duo were a well-known Swiss singing duo in the 1940s and 1950s . It consisted of the musician couple Yvonne (Irma) Furrer (born 1921 in Horgen ) and Paul Furrer (born 1920 in Venthône , † 1984 in Basel ).
history
Yvonne Furrer's baptismal name was Irma, which she later changed to the more modern-sounding Yvonne. After finishing school, she completed an apprenticeship as a saleswoman, then she worked in a silk goods store. In 1942 she met Paul Furrer, who had moved with his mother - his father had died shortly after his birth - from the Valais to Zurich. His mother married the innkeeper and country musician Alois Amgwerd, who ran the “Landidörfli” inn on Müllerstrasse at the time of the Swiss National Exhibition in 1939 . Since there was a lot of music there, the young Paul Furrer learned to play the mandolin and guitar.
Both soon discovered their mutual love for music and cowboy songs from western films and began to perform folk songs and hits in Zurich's squares. With two cowboy songs, the “Duo Paolo”, as the two of them called themselves, won first prize in a singing competition in the Kongresshaus Zurich . As a result, Yvonne and Paul Furrer appeared at various singing events; a year later they were able to repeat their success in the Kongresshaus. A talent scout from Decca Records , who was in the audience, offered the duo a record deal.
The composer Artur Beul , who has already composed successfully for the yodel duo Marthely Mumenthaler-Vrenely Pfyl and the Trio Schmid , was commissioned by the record company to write a few songs for the duo. This is how the dialect titles «Chumm mit mir nach Texas», «Cowboy Cowboy» and the German sung titles «Three Cowboys sing» and «Cowboys go through the night» were created. The songs were recorded together with the Walter Baumgartner Orchestra, which had also accompanied numerous other titles by Artur Beul.
The first records appeared in 1946. It was then that the name "Texas-Duo" was born; a creation of the record company. The songs were often played on Radio Beromünster , especially "Chumm mit mir nach Texas" became a hit. Yvonne and Paul Furrer had meanwhile married, made music their profession after their successful debut and performed in numerous concert halls and hotels. Mostly they appeared in cowboy clothes with a Stetson , a fringed dress and boots. In addition to cowboy songs, they also performed folk songs, hits and Viennese melodies.
Even though Artur Beul continued to write as the main composer for the Furrers, the Furrers began to change his lyrics and melodies a little to strengthen the cowboy mood. In 1947 the first original compositions by Yvonne and Paul Furrer appeared: “Cowboy schick di dri” and “Cowboy in Schwizerland”. The greatest commercial success was in 1947 Beul's title “The Blue Mountains of Gina Valley”, also edited by Paul Furrer.
When Paul Furrer missed an appearance in the same year due to illness, Artur Beul stepped in as a singer and recorded six songs with Yvonne Furrer; including "Under the Bridge of San Louis". These are the only recordings on which Artur Beul can be heard as a singer. They appeared under the name "Arizona Duo", but were not very successful. Beul's collaboration with the Texas duo fell asleep around 1948 when the Furrers began to write their own songs. The "Texas Duo" had one of their most successful appearances on the radio on New Year's Eve 1948, when they performed together with greats like Schaggi Streuli , Voli Geiler and Walter Morath . In addition to appearances in French-speaking Switzerland, there were appearances in France and Austria, including a multi-week engagement in Vienna. In 1949 they recorded several successful dialect numbers for the first time that had nothing to do with the Western image: “Ja ja die langi Mode”, for example, “Märtgass –Blues”, “Zürcher Schliefscheh-Blues” or “Oh du schöni Bahnhofstrass” for Hazy Osterwald played vibraphone .
After the career
Paul Furrer in particular gradually lost interest in the numerous trips and appearances; He much preferred to appear in bars in Zurich's Niederdorf, where he was a welcome guest. The last recording of the "Texas duo" was made in 1951 and a little later they parted ways.
Yvonne Furrer joined Bobby Gallina's entertainment ensemble, where she worked as a singer, drummer and comedian; later she performed with various vocal ensembles. In the mid-1950s, she and her relative Harry Bischoff recorded two more records, but without much success. She later managed a branch of a textile cleaning company and worked as a landlady in Zurich.
Paul Furrer moved to Basel in the early 1960s, where he performed as an entertainment musician with accordionist Emil Wild. He later worked as an auxiliary electrician. In 1984 he died of heart failure.
Recorded titles (selection)
The more than 50 records of the "Texas-Duo" appeared neither on LP nor on CD; however, the shellac records are still available in specialist shops.
Title from Artur Beul:
Chum with me to Texas, cowboy cowboy; Three cowboys are singing; Cowboys roam the night; Little joe; El Paso is on the Rio Grande; The stars shine in the Milky Way; Dancing cowboys; A cowboy from Texas; The blue mountains of Gina Valley; Marie, the rose of the prairie; Under the San Louis Bridge; That was the kid from the Texas bar; If I were a cowboy Cowboy sing it Liedli; Over hill and dale; Goodbye little cowboy; Three cowboys are singing; In the Coral Sea; My car rolls through the prairie; When a cowboy is homesick;
Other titles:
Cowboy chic di dri; Cowboy in Schwizerland; Texas is the most beautiful place on earth; The cowboy goes to the rancher's house; When the moon shines on Miami;
Web links
- Swiss Musicians Review, January 1995 (PDF; 997 kB)
- Audio samples