Klaus Hoffmann (born 26 March 1951,

Berlin Berlin ( , ) is the capital and List of cities in Germany by population, largest city of Germany by both area and population. Its 3.7 million inhabitants make it the European Union's List of cities in the European Union by population within ci ...

) is a German singer, songwriter and actor.

Career

Klaus Hoffmann started his career as a singer-songwriter during the late 1960s in the alternative Berlin club culture. After travelling to Afghanistan in 1969, he began training as an actor at the Berlin Max-Reinhardt-Schule für Schauspiel. Since 1974, Hoffmann has starred in several renowned theatre and television productions. He became famous for his portrayal of Edgar Wibeau in the 1976 film adaptation of

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s ''

Die neuen Leiden des jungen W. ''Die neuen Leiden des jungen W.'' (''The New Sufferings of Young W.'') is an analytic collage-style novel (montage novel) and play by Ulrich Plenzdorf. History Plenzdorf wrote ''Die neuen Leiden des jungen W.'' using the East German (DDR) you ...

'', for which performance he won several German film awards. While working as an actor, Hoffmann continued to pursue a career as a singer-songwriter. He released his first album in 1974 and has since recorded more than 30 albums. He regularly performs live and has won several prestigious German music awards. Hoffmann’s songs are characterised by their sophisticated, sensitive and descriptive lyrics. Rooted in his childhood in working class, post war Berlin and his teenage years during the 1968 student uprisings, Hoffmann’s lyrics often reflect on the inner conflict between the warmth and security of the familiar and the freedom and possibilities of the unknown. He has gained recognition for his songs about his hometown of Berlin – "Berlin", "Was fang ich an in dieser Stadt?" ("What am I supposed to do in this town?"), "Kreuzberger Walzer" ("Kreuzberg Waltz") – which rank him among the representatives of the Berlin Chanson tradition along with German artists

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and

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. Together with his wife Malene Steger, Hoffmann lives in his hometown of

Brel interpreter

Hoffmann is considered the leading German interpreter of the Belgian chansonnier Jacques Brel. His repertoire includes a wide range of adaptations of Brel's chansons. In 1997, Hoffmann's musical ''Brel – die letzte Vorstellung'' (''Brel – the last performance''), which he had written with permission of Therese Brel,Hoffmann, K. (2012): Als wenn es gar nichts waer. iography in GermanBerlin: Ullstein, p. 350. the widow of Jacques Brel, received its world premiere. Hoffmann performed his program "Klaus Hoffmann singt Jacques Brel" in the Maison Heinrich Heine in Paris on 9 October 2008, the 30th anniversary of the death of Jacques Brel.

References

External links

Official site
(In German) * {{DEFAULTSORT:Hoffmann, Klaus 1951 births Living people German male singers German male stage actors Male actors from Berlin German songwriters German male television actors Recipients of the Order of Merit of Berlin