Frank Dostal (16 December 1945 in

Flensburg Flensburg (; Danish, Low Saxon: ''Flensborg''; North Frisian: ''Flansborj''; South Jutlandic: ''Flensborre'') is an independent town (''kreisfreie Stadt'') in the north of the German state of Schleswig-Holstein. Flensburg is the centre of the ...

, (Germany) – 18 April 2017) was a German songwriter and music producer. In the late 1960s, he was a singer with the rock band The Rattles, who were consistently successful in Germany during the 1960s, and Wonderland. In the late 1970s, he was a co-writer for the internationally successful vocal duo

Baccara Baccara was a female vocal duo formed in 1977 by Spanish artists Mayte Mateos (born 7 February 1951) and María Mendiola (4 April 1952 – 11 September 2021). The duo rapidly achieved international success with their debut single "Yes Sir, I Ca ...

, produced by Rolf Soja.

Biography

Frank Dostal was born in Flensburg and raised in

Hamburg (male), (female) en, Hamburger(s), Hamburgian(s) , timezone1 = Central (CET) , utc_offset1 = +1 , timezone1_DST = Central (CEST) , utc_offset1_DST = +2 , postal ...

. Before taking his

Abitur ''Abitur'' (), often shortened colloquially to ''Abi'', is a qualification granted at the end of secondary education in Germany. It is conferred on students who pass their final exams at the end of ISCED 3, usually after twelve or thirteen year ...

exams, he left school to become a rock singer. With a band called The Faces (not to be confused with the 1970s British band of the same name) he won a talent contest. He joined The Rattles and, in 1968, founded Wonderland with fellow ex-Rattle Achim Reichel. With Wonderland, he sang lead vocals and played

bongos Bongos ( es, bongó) are an Afro-Cuban percussion instrument consisting of a pair of small open bottomed hand drums of different sizes. They are struck with both hands, most commonly in an eight-stroke pattern called ''martillo'' (hammer). The ...

, bass guitar and organ. He also wrote the lyrics to Reichel's compositions for the band. The two of them later produced records for children, including "''Die große Kinderparty''" ("The great children's party"). Later, Dostal devoted himself exclusively to writing lyrics. In the second half of the 1970s, his lyrics frequently appeared on the German

Hit parade A hit parade is a ranked list of the most popular recordings at a given point in time, usually determined either by sales or airplay. The term originated in the 1930s; ''Billboard'' magazine published its first music hit parade on January 4, 1936 ...

. He worked for Father Abraham ("''Das Lied der Schlümpfe''", the German version of "The

Smurf ''The Smurfs'' (french: Les Schtroumpfs; nl, De Smurfen) is a Belgian comic franchise centered on a fictional colony of small, blue, humanoid creatures who live in mushroom-shaped houses in the forest. ''The Smurfs'' was first created and int ...

Song"),

Nana Mouskouri Ioanna "Nana" Mouskouri ( el, Ιωάννα "Νάνα" Μούσχουρη ) (born 13 October 1934) is a Greek singer. Over the span of her career, she has released over 200 albums in at least twelve languages, including Greek, French, English, Ger ...

, the

Goombay Dance Band Goombay Dance Band is a German band created in 1979 by Oliver Bendt, named after a small bay on the Caribbean island of Saint Lucia. Their music has a distinctive sound (somewhat similar to Boney M.), which is a mixture of soca, calypso and west ...

and many others. Dostal came to international fame as a co-writer of songs of the vocal duo

, produced by Rolf Soja: "

Yes Sir, I Can Boogie "Yes Sir, I Can Boogie" is a 1977 hit single by the Spanish vocal duo Baccara. Written by Frank Dostal and Rolf Soja, and produced by Soja, this song was a hit across Europe and became the duo's sole number one single in the United Kingdom, spendi ...

", "

Sorry, I'm a Lady "Sorry, I'm a Lady" is a song co-written by Rolf Soja and Frank Dostal, and performed by Spanish duo Baccara. It was released in 1977 as the second single from their debut album, ''Baccara Baccara was a female vocal duo formed in 1977 by Spa ...

", and " Parlez-vous français?". Frank Dostal was married to Mary McGlory, a former bass guitar player of

Liverpool Liverpool is a city and metropolitan borough in Merseyside, England. With a population of in 2019, it is the 10th largest English district by population and its metropolitan area is the fifth largest in the United Kingdom, with a popul ...

all-female beat group

The Liverbirds The Liverbirds were an English all-female rock band from Liverpool, active between 1963 and 1968. The group consisted of vocalist and guitarist Valerie Gell, guitarist and vocalist Pamela Birch, bassist and vocalist Mary McGlory, and drumme ...

. They had two children.

References

External links

Dostal's biography at ''GEMA.de''Hits by Frank Dostal in the Swiss hit parade
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Dostal, Frank 1945 births 2017 deaths German record producers Musicians from Hamburg 20th-century German male singers German rock singers German male singer-songwriters People from Flensburg