Tony Holiday (born Rolf Peter Knigge; 24 February 1951 – 14 February 1990) 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 **Ger ...

pop and schlager singer and songwriter.

Career

Knigge was born in

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

. He began his career initially as a textile businessman and fashion designer. In 1974, he received a record contract with Hans Bertram, who rechristened him "Tony Holiday". His first two singles met with little success. Holiday's breakthrough came in 1977 with the German recording of Italian singer

Raffaella Carrà Raffaella Maria Roberta Pelloni (18 June 1943 – 5 July 2021), better known as Raffaella Carrà (), was an Italian singer, dancer, television presenter, actress and model. She was well known in Europe and Latin America as a result of her many ...

's 1976 single "

A far l'amore comincia tu "A far l'amore comincia tu" (; "Start making love first") is a song by Italian singer Raffaella Carrà from her album ''Forte forte forte'' (1976). It was written by Franco Bracardi and Daniele Pace, and produced by Gianni Boncompagni. The song b ...

", retitled "Tanze Samba mit Mir" ("Dance the Samba With Me"). The song quickly became a hit in both Germany and Austria, peaking at No. 4 on the German music charts and reaching the Top 20 on the Austrian music charts. In 1979, he participated with the title "Zuviel Tequila, zuviel schöne Mädchen" ("Too Much Tequila, Too Many Beautiful Girls") in the German finals for the

Eurovision Song Contest The Eurovision Song Contest (), sometimes abbreviated to ESC and often known simply as Eurovision, is an international songwriting competition organised annually by the European Broadcasting Union (EBU), featuring participants representing pr ...

and the song finished in ninth place. Between 1975 and 1984, Holiday performed 11 times on the popular German music television program ''

ZDF-Hitparade The ''ZDF-Hitparade'', or ''Hitparade'' for short, by German TV channel ZDF, was one of the most popular and most well-known music television series presenting mostly German Schlager. From 1969 to 1984 the presenter was Dieter Thomas Heck. The ...

''. In 1980, Holiday scored a second European hit with "Nie mehr allein sein" which reached the number 15 on the German music charts. The song was a reworking of "Sun of Jamaica" by the German band

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 ...

. Holiday subsequently hosted several music programs on television and released several more singles throughout the 1980s.

Death and legacy

Holiday was gay, but did not publicly acknowledge his homosexuality. He died on Valentine's Day, 1990 of an

AIDS Human immunodeficiency virus infection and acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (HIV/AIDS) is a spectrum of conditions caused by infection with the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV), a retrovirus. Following initial infection an individual m ...

-related illness in

Lausanne , neighboring_municipalities= Bottens, Bretigny-sur-Morrens, Chavannes-près-Renens, Cheseaux-sur-Lausanne, Crissier, Cugy, Écublens, Épalinges, Évian-les-Bains (FR-74), Froideville, Jouxtens-Mézery, Le Mont-sur-Lausanne, Lugrin (FR-74), ...

, aged 38, just ten days shy of his 39th birthday. In 2000, Tony Holiday's single "Tanze Samba mit Mir" was prominently featured in the

Teddy Award The Teddy Award is an international film award for films with LGBT topics, presented by an independent jury as an official award of the Berlin International Film Festival (the Berlinale). In the most part, the jury consists of organisers of gay a ...

-winning

François Ozon François Ozon (; born 15 November 1967) is a French film director and screenwriter. Ozon is considered one of the most important modern French filmmakers. His films are characterized by aesthetic beauty, sharp satirical humor and a free-wheeli ...

directed film ''Gouttes d'eau sur pierres brûlantes'' (''

Water Drops on Burning Rocks ''Water Drops on Burning Rocks'' (french: Gouttes d'eau sur pierres brûlantes) is a 2000 French romantic comedy drama film directed by François Ozon, based on Rainer Werner Fassbinder's play ''Tropfen auf heiße Steine''. The plot concerns a 50 ...

''), an adaptation of the play ''Tropfen auf heiße Steine'' by German filmmaker and dramatist

Rainer Werner Fassbinder Rainer Werner Fassbinder (; 31 May 1945 – 10 June 1982), sometimes credited as R. W. Fassbinder, was a German filmmaker. He is widely regarded as one of the major figures and catalysts of the New German Cinema movement. Fassbinder's main ...

.Kinoeye. ''Identity and love: The not-so discreet charm of François Ozon
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Discography

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Holiday, Tony 1951 births 1990 deaths 20th-century German male singers AIDS-related deaths in Switzerland German pop singers German male songwriters Schlager musicians German LGBT songwriters German gay musicians German LGBT singers Gay songwriters Musicians from Hamburg Gay singers German expatriates in Switzerland 20th-century LGBT people