László "Leslie" Mándoki (born 7 January 1953) is a German-Hungarian musician who became known as a member of the music group

Dschinghis Khan Dschinghis Khan (; " Genghis Khan") was a German Eurodisco pop band. It was originally formed in Munich in 1979 to compete in the Eurovision Song Contest with their song "Dschinghis Khan". The original group led by original members Henriette S ...

. He continued his career as a solo artist and became a music producer who worked with many internationally famous artists.

Early life

Mándoki studied drums and percussion at the musical conservatory of Budapest in the early 1970s. At the same time he was a band leader for the local jazz-rock group JAM, citing groups like

Cream Cream is a dairy product composed of the higher-fat layer skimmed from the top of milk before homogenization. In un-homogenized milk, the fat, which is less dense, eventually rises to the top. In the industrial production of cream, this process ...

and Jethro Tull as his influence. In July 1975, Mándoki, along with animation filmmaker

Gábor Csupó Gábor Csupó ( , ; born September 29, 1952) is a Hungarian-American animator, writer, director, producer and graphic designer. He is co-founder of the animation studio Klasky Csupo, which has produced shows like ''Rugrats'', ''Duckman'', '' S ...

(the creator of ''

Rugrats ''Rugrats'' is an American animated television series created by Arlene Klasky, Gábor Csupó, and Paul Germain for Nickelodeon. The show focuses on a group of toddlers; most prominently— Tommy, Chuckie, Angelica, and twins Phil and Lil, ...

'') and others, fled from

Hungary Hungary ( hu, Magyarország ) is a landlocked country in Central Europe. Spanning of the Carpathian Basin, it is bordered by Slovakia to the north, Ukraine to the northeast, Romania to the east and southeast, Serbia to the south, Croatia a ...

Munich Munich ( ; german: München ; bar, Minga ) is the capital and most populous city of the States of Germany, German state of Bavaria. With a population of 1,558,395 inhabitants as of 31 July 2020, it is the List of cities in Germany by popu ...

West Germany West Germany is the colloquial term used to indicate the Federal Republic of Germany (FRG; german: Bundesrepublik Deutschland , BRD) between its formation on 23 May 1949 and the German reunification through the accession of East Germany on 3 O ...

to avoid prosecution by the communist regime for being a member of the student opposition. He had been imprisoned 17 times for his political opposition before he fled into the West.

Dschingis Khan

, where Mandoki was one of the six members, was the German entry for the

Eurovision Song Contest 1979 The Eurovision Song Contest 1979 was the 24th edition of the annual Eurovision Song Contest. It took place in Jerusalem, Israel, following the country's victory at the with the song "A-Ba-Ni-Bi" by Izhar Cohen and the Alphabeta. Organised by th ...

, finishing on 4th place. Mandoki performed on 15 episodes of the music show "ZDF Hitparade" with Dschinghis Khan between 1979 and 1982. Mandoki stated in later interviews that he was glad about his time with Dschingis Khan, although he felt unsure at the time about being in the group as he felt more at home with rock music. He has not taken part in the reunion of Dschingis Khan since 2015.

Producer

Mandoki is today a well-known producer who has rented the Park Studios near

Lake Starnberg Lake Starnberg, or ''Starnberger See'' ) — called Lake Würm, or ''Würmsee'' , until 1962 — is Germany's second-largest body of fresh water, having great depth, and fifth-largest lake by area. It and its surroundings lie in three different Ba ...

. He has worked as a producer for many German and international acts, including

No Angels No Angels are an all-female pop group from Germany, formed in 2000. Originally a quintet, consisting of band members Nadja Benaissa, Lucy Diakovska, Sandy Mölling, Vanessa Petruo, and Jessica Wahls, they originated on the debut season of th ...

Phil Collins Philip David Charles Collins (born 30 January 1951) is an English singer, musician, songwriter, record producer and actor. He was the drummer and lead singer of the rock band Genesis and also has a career as a solo performer. Between 1982 and ...

, Engelbert,

Joshua Kadison Joshua Kadison (born February 8, 1963) is an American singer-songwriter, pianist, and writer, who was born in Los Angeles, California. He is perhaps best known for the top 40 hits " Jessie" and " Beautiful in My Eyes" from his debut album '' Pai ...

Lionel Richie Lionel Brockman Richie Jr. (born June 20, 1949) is an American singer, songwriter, record producer, and television personality. He rose to fame in the 1970s as a songwriter and the co-lead singer of funk band the Commodores; writing and recordi ...

and

Jennifer Rush Jennifer Rush (born Heidi Stern; September 28, 1960) is an American pop and rock singer. She achieved success during the mid-1980s with several singles and studio albums including the million-selling single " The Power of Love", which she co-w ...

. He also worked as a musical director for commercials, with clients including

Audi Audi AG () is a German automotive manufacturer of luxury vehicles headquartered in Ingolstadt, Bavaria, Germany. As a subsidiary of its parent company, the Volkswagen Group, Audi produces vehicles in nine production facilities worldwide. Th ...

, Daimler and

Disney The Walt Disney Company, commonly known as Disney (), is an American multinational mass media and entertainment conglomerate headquartered at the Walt Disney Studios complex in Burbank, California. Disney was originally founded on October ...

ManDoki Soulmates

In 1993, Mandoki founded a group called ManDoki Soulmates, which combines elements of

progressive rock Progressive rock (shortened as prog rock or simply prog; sometimes conflated with art rock) is a broad genre of rock music that developed in the United Kingdom and United States through the mid- to late 1960s, peaking in the early 1970s. Init ...

with

jazz Jazz is a music genre that originated in the African-American communities of New Orleans, Louisiana in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, with its roots in blues and ragtime. Since the 1920s Jazz Age, it has been recognized as a major ...

music. The group has produced more than a dozen albums since then. Many notable artists appeared as guest musicians on the Soulmates albums, including Ian Anderson,

Robin Gibb Robin Hugh Gibb (22 December 1949 – 20 May 2012) was a British singer and songwriter. He gained worldwide fame as a member of the Bee Gees pop group with elder brother Barry and fraternal twin brother Maurice. Robin Gibb also had his o ...

Jack Bruce John Symon Asher Bruce (14 May 1943 – 25 October 2014) was a Scottish bassist, singer-songwriter, musician and composer. He gained popularity as the primary lead vocalist and ‍bassist ‍of British rock band Cream. After the group disbande ...

Steve Lukather Steven Lee Lukather (born October 21, 1957) is an American guitarist, singer, songwriter, arranger and record producer, best known as the sole continuous founding member of the rock band Toto. His reputation as a skilled guitarist led to a stea ...

Bobby Kimball Robert Troy Kimball (born March 29, 1947) is an American singer and songwriter best known as the original and longtime frontman of the rock band Toto from 1977 to 1984 and again from 1998 to 2008. Kimball has also performed as a solo artist and ...

Midge Ure James Ure (born 10 October 1953) is a Scottish musician, singer-songwriter and record producer. His stage name, Midge, is a phonetic reversal of Jim, the diminutive form of his actual name. Ure enjoyed particular success in the 1970s and 1980s ...

Nik Kershaw Nicholas David Kershaw (born 1 March 1958) is an English singer, songwriter, musician and record producer. Kershaw came to prominence in 1984 as a solo artist. He released eight singles that entered the Top 40 of the UK Singles Chart during the ...

Al Di Meola Albert Laurence Di Meola (born July 22, 1954) is an American guitarist. Known for his works in jazz fusion and world music, he began his career as a guitarist of the group Return to Forever in 1974. Between the 1970s and 1980s, albums such as ' ...

Michael Michael may refer to: People * Michael (given name), a given name * Michael (surname), including a list of people with the surname Michael Given name "Michael" * Michael (archangel), ''first'' of God's archangels in the Jewish, Christian an ...

and

Randy Brecker Randal Edward Brecker (born November 27, 1945) is an American trumpeter, flugelhornist, and composer. His versatility has made him a popular studio musician who has recorded with acts in jazz, rock, and R&B. Early life Brecker was born on Nov ...

Till Brönner Till Brönner (born 6 May 1971 in Viersen, West Germany) is a jazz musician, trumpeter, flügelhorn player, singer, composer, producer and photographer. History From 1989–1991, Brönner was a member of the Peter Herbolzheimer Rhythm Combin ...

and

Eric Burdon Eric Victor Burdon (born 11 May 1941) is an English singer. He was previously the lead vocalist of R&B and rock band the Animals and funk band War. He is regarded as one of the British Invasion's most distinctive singers with his deep, powe ...

. :de:ManDoki Soulmates In April and November 2004, Mandoki and the Soulmates appeared together with many acclaimed international artists in the two-part television show ''50 Jahre Rock'' ("''50 Years of Rock''") on

ZDF ZDF (, short for Zweites Deutsches Fernsehen; ; "Second German Television") is a German public-service television broadcaster based in Mainz, Rhineland-Palatinate. It is run as an independent nonprofit institution, which was founded by all fe ...

hosted by

Thomas Gottschalk Thomas Johannes Gottschalk (born 18 May 1950) is a German radio and television host and entertainer. He is best known for hosting '' Wetten, dass..?'', for many years Europe's biggest television show, which he steered to huge success in Germany, ...

. Material from these shows was later used for the album ''Legends of Rock''.

Trivia

In 2003, he played a guest role on three episodes of the German teenager television series ''

Schloss Einstein ''Schloss Einstein'' is a long-running, popular German television series which is designed as a teenage soap opera. It portrays the lives of teenagers in Schloss Einstein (Castle Einstein), a fictional boarding school. The intended audience is 10 ...

''. In 2020, he joined the group "Alcatéia", in Arton, where he became known under the name of Boris Blyatnov.

Discography

* ''Back to Myself'' (Jupiter, 1982) * ''Children of Hope'' (Gong, 1986) * ''Strangers in a Paradise'' (Titan, 1988) * ''Drums and Percussion'' (Selected Sound, 1991) * ''Out of Key...with the Time'' (Electrola, 1992) * ''People in Room No. 8'' (PolyGram, 1997) * ''Soulmates'' (Paroli, 2002) * ''Soulmates Classic'' (Sony, 2003) * ''Legends of Rock'' (Paroli, 2005) * ''Aquarelle'' (NEO, 2009) * ''BudaBest'' (Sony, 2013)

Awards

Order of Merit of the Republic of Hungary The Hungarian Order of Merit ( hu, Magyar Érdemrend) is the fourth highest State Order of Hungary. Founded in 1991, the order is a revival of an original order founded in 1946 and abolished in 1949. Its origins, however, can be traced to the O ...

(2012)

References

External links

Official Website

Legends of Rock

Interview by Tigran Arakelyan
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Mandoki, Leslie Hungarian defectors 1953 births Living people Musicians from Budapest Hungarian pop singers Dschinghis Khan members 20th-century Hungarian male singers 21st-century German male singers