Freddy Breck (''Gerhard Breker''; 21 January 1942, in

Sonneberg Sonneberg in Thuringia, Germany, is the seat of the Sonneberg district. It is in the Franconian south of Thuringia, neighboring its Upper Franconian twin town Neustadt bei Coburg. Sonneberg became known as the "world toy city", and is home to ...

Thuringia Thuringia (; german: Thüringen ), officially the Free State of Thuringia ( ), is a state of central Germany, covering , the sixth smallest of the sixteen German states. It has a population of about 2.1 million. Erfurt is the capital and lar ...

– 17 December 2008, in

Rottach-Egern Rottach-Egern () is a municipality (''Gemeinde Rottach-Egern am Tegernsee'') and town located at Lake Tegernsee in the district of Miesbach in Upper Bavaria, Germany, about 55 km (35 miles) south of central Munich. Late Austrian actor Walter Sl ...

Upper Bavaria Upper Bavaria (german: Oberbayern, ; ) is one of the seven administrative districts of Bavaria, Germany. Geography Upper Bavaria is located in the southern portion of Bavaria, and is centered on the city of Munich, both state capital and seat o ...

) was a

German German(s) may refer to: * Germany (of or related to) ** Germania (historical use) * Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language ** For citizens of Germany, see also German nationality law **Ge ...

schlager

singer Singing is the act of creating musical sounds with the voice. A person who sings is called a singer, artist or vocalist (in jazz and/or popular music). Singers perform music (arias, recitatives, songs, etc.) that can be sung with or withou ...

, composer,

record producer A record producer is a recording project's creative and technical leader, commanding studio time and coaching artists, and in popular genres typically creates the song's very sound and structure. Virgil Moorefield"Introduction" ''The Producer as ...

, and

news anchor A news presenter – also known as a newsreader, newscaster (short for "news broadcaster"), anchorman or anchorwoman, news anchor or simply an anchor – is a person who presents news during a news program on TV, radio or the Internet. ...

. Breck studied to be a machinist, then studied singing under

Heinz Gietz The H. J. Heinz Company is an American food processing company headquartered at One PPG Place in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. The company was founded by Henry J. Heinz in 1869. Heinz manufactures thousands of food products in plants on six conti ...

. He sang schlager songs which were based on well-known classical melodies. His first success was "Überall auf der Welt", based on

Va, pensiero "" (), also known as the "Chorus of the Hebrew Slaves", is a chorus from the opera ''Nabucco'' (1842) by Giuseppe Verdi. It recollects the period of Babylonian captivity after the loss of the First Temple in Jerusalem in 586 BCE. The libretto i ...

from Giuseppe Verdi's ''

Nabucco ''Nabucco'' (, short for Nabucodonosor ; en, "Nebuchadnezzar") is an Italian-language opera in four acts composed in 1841 by Giuseppe Verdi to an Italian libretto by Temistocle Solera. The libretto is based on the biblical books of 2 Kings, J ...

''. This he recorded in English as "We Believe in Tomorrow" and released it as a single in late 1972 - it topped the South African Charts in early 1973. He went on to score 5 platinum records and 35

gold records Gold is a chemical element with the symbol Au (from la, aurum) and atomic number 79. This makes it one of the higher atomic number elements that occur naturally. It is a bright, slightly orange-yellow, dense, soft, malleable, and ductile met ...

over the course of his career. In 1978, he issued an

English language English is a West Germanic language of the Indo-European language family, with its earliest forms spoken by the inhabitants of early medieval England. It is named after the Angles, one of the ancient Germanic peoples that migrated to the ...

disc. In the 1980s, he worked as a news presenter for various stations, and wrote music for groups such as the Original Naabtal Duo, the

Kastelruther Spatzen The Kastelruther Spatzen (German for Kastelruth sparrows) are a musical group from South Tyrol, northern Italy, who have won many honours and awards for their schlager in folk music style. Members The Kastelruther Spatzen were formed in 1976 by ...

and Nina & Mike. He founded his own

record label A record label, or record company, is a brand or trademark of music recordings and music videos, or the company that owns it. Sometimes, a record label is also a publishing company that manages such brands and trademarks, coordinates the produ ...

, Sun Day Records, with his wife Astrid in 1998, and in 1999 they released music as a duo, Astrid & Freddy Breck. Breck died of

cancer Cancer is a group of diseases involving abnormal cell growth with the potential to invade or spread to other parts of the body. These contrast with benign tumors, which do not spread. Possible signs and symptoms include a lump, abnormal b ...

in December 2008.Newsticker.sueddeutsche
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Discography

*1973 ''Rote Rosen für dich'' *1974 ''Die Welt ist voll Musik'' *1975 ''Mit einem bunten Blumenstrauß'' *1977 ''Die Sterne steh’n gut'' *1977 ''Mach was Schönes aus diesem Tag'' *1978 ''Sommerliebe'' *1978 ''Years of love'' *1981 ''Melodien zum Verlieben'' *1982 ''Meine Lieder, meine Träume'' *1985 ''Deutschlands schönste Volkslieder (und die Sonntagskinder)'' *1991 ''Für Dich'' *1992 ''Mein leises Du'' *1995 ''So wie ich bin'' *1997 ''Ich liebe Dich'' *2004 ''Wir zwei'' *''Weihnachten mit Freddy Breck''

Singles

*1972 "Überall auf der Welt", based on Giuseppe Verdi's

*1973 "Bianca", based on

Tchaikovsky Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky , group=n ( ; 7 May 1840 – 6 November 1893) was a Russian composer of the Romantic period. He was the first Russian composer whose music would make a lasting impression internationally. He wrote some of the most popu ...

Capriccio Italien The ''Capriccio Italien'', Op. 45, is a fantasy for orchestra composed between January and May 1880 by Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky. It premiered 18 December, 1880 (New System) in Moscow, conducted by Nikolay Rubinstein.Franz von Suppé Franz von Suppé (né Francesco Ezechiele Ermenegildo de Suppe) (18 April 181921 May 1895) was an Austrian composer of light operas and other theatre music. He came from the Kingdom of Dalmatia, Austro-Hungarian Empire (now part of Croatia). A co ...

's Dichter und Bauer *1974 "Halli, Hallo" *1974 "Die Sonne geht auf" *1974 "Mit einem bunten Blumenstrauß" *1975 "Der große Zampano" *1976 "Das ist die wahre Liebe" *1976 "Der weiße Flieder" *1977 "Die Sterne steh’n gut" *1977 "Im Schatten der alten Kastanie" *1977 "Überall, wo die Meisjes sind" *1978 "Mach was Schönes aus diesem Tag" *1978 "Amigo Perdido" *1979 "Mädchen" *1981 "Frauen und Wein" *1986 "Monica", based on Johann Strauss junior's waltz Wiener Blut *1991 "Herz Ass ist Trumpf"

Chart positions

*"Überall auf der Welt" :Germany: 7 :Netherlands: 7 *"Bianca" :Germany: 2 :Belgium: 1 :Netherlands: 3 :Austria: 11 :Switzerland: 4 *"Rote Rosen" :Germany: 2 :Netherlands: 1 :Austria: 7 :Switzerland: 9 *"Halli, hallo" :Germany: 21 :Netherlands: 13 *"So in Love with You" : UK: 44 *"Die Sonne geht auf" :Germany: 31 :Netherlands: 13 *"Mit einem bunten Blumenstrauß" :Netherlands: 24 *"Der große Zampano" :Germany: 16 :Netherlands: 19 *"Das ist die wahre Liebe" :Germany: 47 *"Die Sterne steh'n gut" :Germany: 48

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Breck, Freddy 1942 births 2008 deaths People from Sonneberg 20th-century German male singers Deaths from cancer in Germany