Rainhard Fendrich
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Rainhard Jürgen Fendrich (born 27 February 1955) is an Austrian singer, composer, entertainer, and actor. He is one of the most successful Austropop musicians, and his songs are written in
Viennese German Viennese German ( bar, Weanarisch, Weanerisch, german: Wienerisch) is the city dialect spoken in Vienna, the capital of Austria, and is counted among the Bavarian dialects. It is distinct from written Standard German in vocabulary, grammar, a ...
. He is very popular in Austria, but less so in other German-speaking countries. In non-German-speaking countries he is little known. His song from 1990, "I Am from Austria" (its lyrics, except for the title, are in Viennese German) is still popular in Austria and considered to be the "secret national anthem".


Early life and education

Fendrich's mother was a Sudeten German while his father's family originated from
Serbia Serbia (, ; Serbian: , , ), officially the Republic of Serbia (Serbian: , , ), is a landlocked country in Southeastern and Central Europe, situated at the crossroads of the Pannonian Basin and the Balkans. It shares land borders with Hungar ...
. His father was a
mechanical engineer Mechanical may refer to: Machine * Machine (mechanical), a system of mechanisms that shape the actuator input to achieve a specific application of output forces and movement * Mechanical calculator, a device used to perform the basic operations of ...
, his mother a
model A model is an informative representation of an object, person or system. The term originally denoted the plans of a building in late 16th-century English, and derived via French and Italian ultimately from Latin ''modulus'', a measure. Models c ...
. He has a brother, Harald Fendrich, who is six years younger than him and also a musician who played the
bass guitar The bass guitar, electric bass or simply bass (), is the lowest-pitched member of the string family. It is a plucked string instrument similar in appearance and construction to an electric or an acoustic guitar, but with a longer neck and ...
in his band and is now part of WIR4 (Ulli Bäer,
Gary Lux Gary may refer to: *Gary (given name), a common masculine given name, including a list of people and fictional characters with the name *Gary, Indiana, the largest city named Gary Places ;Iran * Gary, Iran, Sistan and Baluchestan Province ;Uni ...
, Harry Stampfer). At the age of ten, Fendrich was sent to a
Catholic The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.3 billion baptized Catholics worldwide . It is among the world's oldest and largest international institutions, and has played a ...
boarding school, where he lived until the age of 17. At the boarding school he was an
altar boy An altar server is a lay assistant to a member of the clergy during a Christian liturgy. An altar server attends to supporting tasks at the altar such as fetching and carrying, ringing the altar bell, helps bring up the gifts, brings up the book ...
and sang in the
choir A choir ( ; also known as a chorale or chorus) is a musical ensemble of singers. Choral music, in turn, is the music written specifically for such an ensemble to perform. Choirs may perform music from the classical music repertoire, which sp ...
. His
piano The piano is a stringed keyboard instrument in which the strings are struck by wooden hammers that are coated with a softer material (modern hammers are covered with dense wool felt; some early pianos used leather). It is played using a keybo ...
lessons were cancelled because he was too bad at mathematics. According to his own statements, he thought he was "chubby" and not very attractive as a child. When he got a
guitar The guitar is a fretted musical instrument that typically has six strings. It is usually held flat against the player's body and played by strumming or plucking the strings with the dominant hand, while simultaneously pressing selected strin ...
at the age of 15, he taught himself the
chords Chord may refer to: * Chord (music), an aggregate of musical pitches sounded simultaneously ** Guitar chord a chord played on a guitar, which has a particular tuning * Chord (geometry), a line segment joining two points on a curve * Chord ( ...
and also began to write
lyrics Lyrics are words that make up a song, usually consisting of verses and choruses. The writer of lyrics is a lyricist. The words to an extended musical composition such as an opera are, however, usually known as a " libretto" and their writer, ...
. Frustrating experiences with girls at that time find their expression later, for example in the songs Cyrano (1991) or Frieda (2001). He dropped out of law school in order to finance acting and
singing 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 with ...
lesson A lesson or class is a structured period of time where learning is intended to occur. It involves one or more students (also called pupils or learners in some circumstances) being taught by a teacher or instructor. A lesson may be either one ...
s by working various jobs.


Career


Beginning of career and commercial breakthrough (1980-1986)

Fendrich appeared at the Theater an der Wien from 1980 (in ''Die Gräfin vom Naschmarkt'' and ''
Chicago (''City in a Garden''); I Will , image_map = , map_caption = Interactive Map of Chicago , coordinates = , coordinates_footnotes = , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name ...
'') and played
Judas Judas Iscariot (; grc-x-biblical, Ἰούδας Ἰσκαριώτης; syc, ܝܗܘܕܐ ܣܟܪܝܘܛܐ; died AD) was a disciple and one of the original Twelve Apostles of Jesus Christ. According to all four canonical gospels, Judas betr ...
in the musical '' Jesus Christ Superstar'' there in 1982. In 1980 he was also engaged by Hans Gratzer for a performance series of ''
Hamlet ''The Tragedy of Hamlet, Prince of Denmark'', often shortened to ''Hamlet'' (), is a tragedy written by William Shakespeare sometime between 1599 and 1601. It is Shakespeare's longest play, with 29,551 words. Set in Denmark, the play depicts ...
'' at the Schauspielhaus, made one of his first television appearances as a singer on the
ORF ORF or Orf may refer to: * Norfolk International Airport, IATA airport code ORF * Observer Research Foundation, an Indian research institute * One Race Films, a film production company founded by Vin Diesel * Open reading frame, a portion of the ...
program ''Wir-extra'' for the benefit of children in the
Third World The term "Third World" arose during the Cold War to define countries that remained non-aligned with either NATO or the Warsaw Pact. The United States, Canada, Japan, South Korea, Western European nations and their allies represented the " First ...
, and received his first recording contract. Another appearance followed in ''Tritsch Tratsch'' in 1981 with the song ''Zweierbeziehung'' (Two-way relationship of a man with his car). The debut album ''Ich wollte nie einer von denen sein'' (I never wanted to be one of them) was released in May of the same year, but initially failed to achieve high sales figures. In August 1981 he landed the Austrian summer hit of the year with ''Strada del sole'' (in a similar style, about a "vacation relationship"). The single sold 99,000 copies in Austria, which would correspond to today's status of triple
platinum Platinum is a chemical element with the symbol Pt and atomic number 78. It is a dense, malleable, ductile, highly unreactive, precious, silverish-white transition metal. Its name originates from Spanish , a diminutive of "silver". Pla ...
. Moreover, in 2020 the song was voted 14th among the "100 most important Austrian pop songs" by the pop culture magazine The Gap as part of the AustroTOP ranking. Equally successful was the second album ''Und alles ist ganz anders word’n'' (And everything has become completely different). The next number one hits followed in 1982 with ''Schickeria'' and ''Oben Ohne'' (Topless). At that time Fendrich was already celebrated as a shooting star of Austropop. In 1983 Fendrich presented his first compilation called ''A winzig klaner Tropfen Zeit'' (A tiny drop of time). In the same year he also performed with
Wolfgang Ambros Wolfgang Ambros is an Austrian singer-songwriter. He is one of the most important contemporary Austrian musicians and is considered to be one of the founders of Austropop. Life 1952–1970 Wolfgang Ambros was born in the Semmelweisklin ...
at the School Closing Open Air in Vienna's Gerhard-Hanappi Stadium. This concert was released on a live compilation with the album ''Open Air''. Fendrich achieved his next success in 1983 with ''Auf und davon'' (Up and away). Although the album couldn't quite meet the commercial expectations of the previous album and the singles didn't manage that either, Fendrich performed at several sold-out concerts on his tour. This led to the song ''Weus'd a Herz hast wia a Bergwerk'' (Cause you have a heart like a mine) being available twice as a single; in a studio version and in a live version. After a short retreat from the public eye, the albums ''Wien bei Nacht'' (Vienna by night) and ''Kein schöner Land'' (No country more beautiful) were released in 1985 and 1986. He also released another live compilation.


Breakthrough in Germany (1988–1997)

With ''Macho, Macho'', sung largely in Viennese, another of his singles reached the top position in 1988. In addition, this was followed by the big breakthrough in Germany with number 2. Fendrich also achieved a top 3 position in Switzerland. He wrote the song in five minutes, it was inspired by an article in '' Brigitte'' magazine. Equally well known in Austria and Germany is his appearance with
Reinhard Mey Reinhard Friedrich Michael Mey (born 21 December 1942) is a German "Liedermacher" (literally "songmaker", a German-style singer-songwriter). In France he is known as ''Frédérik Mey''. By 2009, Mey had released 27 German albums, and generally ...
, with ''Ein Loch in der Kanne'' (A hole in the pot) in the television program ''Was wäre wenn'' (What if) in 1988. In 1989 the album ''Von Zeit zu Zeit'' (From time to time) was released, which could not meet Fendrich's commercial expectations. The singles ''Von Zeit zu Zeit'' and ''I Am from Austria'' were also not successful at first. Later, however, the title ''I Am from Austria'' developed into the "secret federal anthem of Austria" and was voted the "greatest Austropop hit of all time" in 2011 as part of the ORF program ''Österreich wählt'' (Austria votes). In 1991 the album ''Nix is fix'' (Nothing is fixed), produced by Tato Gomez at
BMG Ariola Ariola (also known as Ariola Records, Ariola-Eurodisc and BMG Ariola) is a German record label. In the late 1980s, it was a subsidiary label of the Bertelsmann Music Group, which in turn has become a part of the international media conglomera ...
, was released, which could repeat the success of earlier times. The album stayed in the Austrian
charts A chart (sometimes known as a graph) is a graphical representation for data visualization, in which "the data is represented by symbols, such as bars in a bar chart, lines in a line chart, or slices in a pie chart". A chart can represent tab ...
for 32 weeks and was number 1 for five weeks. A year later, Fendrich performed with the
Vienna Symphony Orchestra The Vienna Symphony (Vienna Symphony Orchestra, german: Wiener Symphoniker) is an Austrian orchestra based in Vienna. Its primary concert venue is the Vienna Konzerthaus. In Vienna, the orchestra also performs at the Musikverein and at the The ...
at the opening of the
Vienna Festival __NOTOC__ The Wiener Festwochen (Vienna Festival) is a cultural festival in Vienna that takes place every year for five or six weeks in May and June. The Wiener Festwochen was established in 1951, when Vienna was still occupied by the four Alli ...
. Under the project "Vienna Symphonic Orchestra Project" (VSOP), by and with Christian Kolonovits, who conducted the concert and in which the
Arnold Schoenberg Choir The Arnold Schoenberg Choir (german: Arnold Schoenberg Chor) is a Viennese/Austrian choir which was founded 1972 by Erwin Ortner, who is still its artistic director. The choir has a high reputation both among conductors and among critics and the ...
also participated. This concert was released as an album and after some time made it to the first place in the Austrian music charts. Fendrich took over as host of the ARD program ''Herzblatt'' (Sweetheart) in 1993 after
Rudi Carrell Rudi Carrell (born Rudolf Wijbrand Kesselaar; 19 December 1934 – 7 July 2006) was a Dutch entertainer. Along with famous entertainers such as Johannes Heesters and Linda de Mol, he was one of the most successful Dutch personalities active in ...
, which he presented on German television until 1997. In the same year, he launched the comedy show ''Nix is fix'' (ORF/ARD). The cabaret and media-critical format was not continued despite good reviews. A special postage stamp was issued by the Austrian Post Office in 1993. Along the way, Fendrich recorded the album ''Brüder'' (Brothers), which also managed to place in Germany after a long time. The singles ''Midlife Crisis'' and ''Brüder'', which were rather unpopular in Austria, made it into the German charts. The album was, despite the great commercial success, rather negatively received by the media in Fendrich's home country. The reason for this was that Fendrich slowly turned away from the Viennese dialect with this album. As a promotion for ''Herzblatt'', the ballads album ''Lieder mit Gefühl'' (Songs with feeling) was also presented. In the mid-1990s, Fendrich did not release any music. He made his comeback with the album ''Blond'' (Blonde). The title song became his last major number one hit to date. The single ''Blond'' sold 10,000 copies in Austria and was awarded gold. In addition, after the programming reform of the Austrian station Ö3, the song was one of the few Austrian songs played on the radio.


Return to Austria (from 1997)

In 1997, Fendrich initiated a benefit concert for the homeless, which was intended as a one-off event, at which he performed together with Wolfgang Ambros and
Georg Danzer Georg Franz Danzer (7 October 1946, in Vienna – 21 June 2007, in Asperhofen, Lower Austria) was an Austrian singer-songwriter. Although he is credited as one of the pioneers of Austropop (most famous are his comic songs "Jö schau" (about a ...
. The overwhelming success led to this team performing as Austria 3 until 2006, creating joint live albums and compilations. The band announced their split on June 10, 2006. Their last concert took place on July 24, 2006 in
Altusried Altusried is a municipality in the district of Oberallgäu in Bavaria Bavaria ( ; ), officially the Free State of Bavaria (german: Freistaat Bayern, link=no ), is a state in the south-east of Germany. With an area of , Bavaria is the larges ...
, Swabia. On April 16, 2007, the circle of friends reunited at Georg Danzer's comeback concert in the Viennese City Hall to perform three of their old songs; afterwards, several parties planned a possible comeback, but Georg Danzer died of
lung cancer Lung cancer, also known as lung carcinoma (since about 98–99% of all lung cancers are carcinomas), is a malignant lung tumor characterized by uncontrolled cell growth in tissues of the lung. Lung carcinomas derive from transformed, malign ...
on June 21, 2007.


Further artistic achievements

Also in 1997, Fendrich had success as a film actor in the lead role of ''Fröhlich geschieden'' (Happily divorced) (ZDF) alongside
Christina Plate Christina Plate (born 21 April 1965 in Berlin) is a German actress. She has appeared in many German films, TV films and series. Plate won a Bambi in 1988. In 2009, she married German television presenter Oliver Geissen. Together they have three ...
and
Helmut Fischer Helmut Fischer (15 November 1926 – 14 June 1997) was a popular, award-winning German actor. Life Helmut Fischer was the son of a businessman and a tailor who grew up in the Munich district of ''Neuhausen'' at '' Donnersbergerstraße 50a'', ...
. In 1998 he played ''Billy Flynn'' in the musical ''Chicago'' at the Theater an der Wien, and in 2002 and 2003 he appeared as ''Jeff Zodiak'' in the musical ''WakeUp'', written by him and arranged by Christian Kolonovits and
Harold Faltermeyer Hans Hugo Harold Faltermeier (born 5 October 1952) is a German musician, composer and record producer. Faltermeyer is best known for composing the "Axel F" theme for the feature film ''Beverly Hills Cop'', an influential synth-pop hit in the 1 ...
, with less success at the
Raimund Theater The Raimund Theater is a theatre in the Mariahilf district of Vienna, Austria. Named after the Austrian dramatist Ferdinand Raimund, the theatre was built by an association of Viennese citizens and opened on 28 November 1893 with Raimund's play ...
. Fendrich received the Austrian Golden Romy award for most popular presenter in TV entertainment three times. In 1994, 1995 and 2000, he was nominated for the
Amadeus Austrian Music Award The Amadeus Austrian Music Awards is the annual awards ceremony for excellence in the Austrian music industry. It has been awarded to the most successful Austrian musicians since 2000, and has been held in the Volkstheater in Vienna each March si ...
four times before winning it in 2002. Austrian ''NEWS'' magazine readers voted him "Best Entertainer of the Decade" in same year. As an entertainer, he was the first host of ''
Die Millionenshow This table lists all international variants in the television game show franchise ''Who Wants to Be a Millionaire?'' that have been broadcast since the debut of the original Who Wants to Be a Millionaire? (British game show), British version of t ...
'', the Austrian version of ''
Who Wants to Be a Millionaire ''Who Wants to Be a Millionaire?'' (often informally called ''Millionaire'') is an international television game show franchise of British origin, created by David Briggs, Mike Whitehill and Steven Knight. In its format, currently owned and l ...
''. He also hosted the game show Deal or No Deal in 2005. Both shows aired on ORF. From 2008 he hosted the show ''Sing and Win!'' (a variation of the US format ''
Don't forget the lyrics ''Don't Forget the Lyrics!'' is an international game show in the United States. The American show originally aired on Fox from July 11, 2007, to June 19, 2009, and after a year off the air, a third overall season, and first as a syndicated sh ...
'') on the private TV station ATV.


Rest of career

He has appeared in numerous Austrian and German movies. The concert on
Donauinselfest The ''Donauinselfest'' (German for " Danube Island Festival") is a free open-air music festival which occurs annually at Donauinsel in Vienna, Austria. The festival is hosted by SPÖ Wien. It is the largest open-air music festival in the wor ...
which Fendrich gave "instead and for Georg Danzer" who a few weeks before the event had to refuse because of his rapidly progressing disease, attracted 200.000 fans on 23 June 2007.


Private life

Fendrich was married to Andrea Sator from 1984 to 2003, with whom he has two sons. Their daughter died of a viral disease in 1989 at the age of 17 months. When Fendrich was found to have bought
cocaine Cocaine (from , from , ultimately from Quechua: ''kúka'') is a central nervous system (CNS) stimulant mainly used recreationally for its euphoric effects. It is primarily obtained from the leaves of two Coca species native to South Ameri ...
in early April 2006 in the course of police surveillance of a dealer ring, he confessed and claimed to have been using it for 15 years. Immediately afterwards, the artist went through voluntary withdrawal and has since participated in anti-drug campaigns, but was sentenced to an unconditional fine of 37,500 euros in May for possession of cocaine and the (later largely abandoned) "passing on of drugs". On December 4, 2010, Fendrich married his long-time girlfriend Ina Nadine Wagler in Berlin. Their son was born on March 10, 2011. After the couple separated in 2012, the divorce took place in November 2016.


Discography


Studio albums


Live albums


Compilation albums


Austria 3

* 1998: ''Austria3 - Live'' (with Wolfgang Ambros and Georg Danzer) * 1998: ''Austria3 - Live Vol. 2'' (with Wolfgang Ambros and Georg Danzer) * 2000: ''Austria3 - Die Dritte'' (with Wolfgang Ambros and Georg Danzer)


DVDs

* 2002: ''Ein Saitensprung'' * 2004: ''Jetzt''


Singles

* "Little Drummer Boy" with
Eric Minsk The given name Eric, Erich, Erikk, Erik, Erick, or Eirik is derived from the Old Norse name ''Eiríkr'' (or ''Eríkr'' in Old East Norse due to monophthongization). The first element, ''ei-'' may be derived from the older Proto-Norse ''* ain ...
, and "Stille Nacht" with Andrew Edge.


References


External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Fendrich, Rainhard 1955 births Living people Musicians from Vienna 20th-century Austrian male singers Austrian male composers Austrian composers Austrian male musical theatre actors 21st-century Austrian male singers