David Alexandre Winter (born Lion Kleerekoper; 4 April 1943) is a Dutch-born international pop singer. Winter found fame in Luxembourg and France.

Early life

Winter was born in Amsterdam, Netherlands into a Jewish family. Both he and his parents, Israel Kleerekoper and Magdalena Kleerekoper, née Blocq, were deported to different Nazi concentration camps during the

German occupation of the Netherlands Despite Dutch neutrality, Nazi Germany invaded the Netherlands on 10 May 1940 as part of Fall Gelb (Case Yellow). On 15 May 1940, one day after the bombing of Rotterdam, the Dutch forces surrendered. The Dutch government and the royal family re ...

. After the end of the war, the family was reunited.

Career

From 1966 to 1968 Winter was the lead singer for The Hague-based band "Daddy's Act". One of his first recordings was a cover of the Beatles hit "Eight Days A Week". Under the name Johnny van Dooren, he was a DJ at Dutch pirate station

Radio Veronica Radio Veronica was an offshore radio station that began broadcasting in 1960, and broadcast offshore for over fourteen years. It was set up by independent radio, TV and household electrical retailers in the Netherlands to stimulate the sales ...

and later at Radio 227, an English pirate radio station in the North Sea. During 1967–68, he also recorded two singles in Dutch for the Philips label.Albums by David Alexandre Winter
Rate Your Music (21 January 2003). In early 1968 while living in London he represented England at the Innsbruck Song Festival in Austria, where he obtained first prize and the coveted ‘'prix de press'’. He left England where he resided at the time to go to Paris, and was discovered by Leo Missir from Riviera Records (an affiliate of the Barclay group). In January 1969, his debut single, " Oh Lady Mary", was released; and by April 1969 it had sold 750,000, and one million sales were achieved by August in France, where it was

number one Number One most commonly refers to: * 1 (number) Number One, No. 1, or #1 may also refer to: Music Albums * ''Number 1'' (Big Bang album), and the title song * ''No. 1'' (BoA album), and the title song * ''No.1'' (EP), by CLC * ''n.1 ...

for 36 weeks and in the Top 10 for nine months. Total sales for the first single resulted in 2,6 million copies sold. It was also a

hit Hit means to strike someone or something. Hit or HIT may also refer to: Arts, entertainment and media Fictional entities * Hit, a fictional character from '' Dragon Ball Super'' * Homicide International Trust, or HIT, a fictional organization ...

in Italy (#4), Spain (#5), Germany (#2), Netherlands (# 5), Belgium (#1). In total it sold over 4.5. million copies throughout Europe. The song was written by Patricia Carli and Turkish composer Metin Bükey, and also became a hit in 1970 for

Austria Austria, , bar, Östareich officially the Republic of Austria, is a country in the southern part of Central Europe, lying in the Eastern Alps. It is a federation of nine states, one of which is the capital, Vienna, the most populous ...

's Peter Alexander (number one for four weeks). Winter went on to record 10 albums and 42 singles & E.P.'s, of which 9 titles became No. 1 hits in France, Belgium, Netherlands, Italy and Germany. Songs like: "Vole s’envole" (#1 1.650.000 sold )/"Je suis tombé du ciel" (# 3. 850,000 sold, Luxemburg's entry for the 1970 Eurovision Song Contest in Amsterdam, finishing last). He also recorded in all those languages, and scored two number 1 hits in Germany: "Schau Schau Hinter Den Dunen" and "Ohne Dich war es Halb So Schoen" In total David-Alexandre Winter sold well over 26 million records over his 10-year career in France and the rest of Europe, and performed on the most prestigious stages in all of Europe: The Bolchoi Theater in Moscow, the Royal Command Performance for Queen Elizabeth of England at the Royal Albert Hall in London, as well as the Gala of the Red Cross for Prince Raineer and Grace Kelly in Monte Carlo. In 1980, Winter moved to the United States. He recorded and produced an album with the Canadian independent company Isba Records and released a single entitled "L'Étoile du Berger". In 2010, Winter returned to the stage in France for a revival tour with "Age Tendre & Têtes de Bois", which tour played for 55 sold-out venues with over 550,000 people seeing him in concert. In 2014, Winter recorded a studio album ''Winter Country'' in Nashville, Tennessee.

Private life

Winter was married to French fashion model Catherine Fefeu in the early 1970s. They had two children,

Ophélie Winter Ophélie Kleerekoper-Winter (born 20 February 1974) is a French pop and R&B singer, songwriter, model and actress. The daughter of Dutch singer, David Alexandre Winter and French fashion model, Catherine Fefeu. She rose to prominence in much ...

(born 1974) and Michael Winter. Ophélie became a model, actress and pop singer in her own right, producing four albums between 1996 and 2009. David and Catherine's marriage ended in divorce in 1976.

References

External links

*
David Alexandre Winter's webpage
{{DEFAULTSORT:Winter, David Alexandre 1943 births Living people Musicians from Amsterdam Dutch male singers Eurovision Song Contest entrants of 1970 Eurovision Song Contest entrants for Luxembourg