Jürgen Ludwig Drews (born 2 April 1945) is a German
Schlager singer, musician, songwriter and actor.
Life

Drews was born in
Nauen near
Berlin
Berlin is Capital of Germany, the capital and largest city of Germany, both by area and List of cities in Germany by population, by population. Its more than 3.85 million inhabitants make it the European Union's List of cities in the European U ...
,
and brought up in
Schleswig.
After finishing school, he went on to study medicine at the
University of Kiel
Kiel University, officially the Christian-Albrecht University of Kiel, (german: link=no, Christian-Albrechts-Universität zu Kiel, abbreviated CAU, known informally as Christiana Albertina) is a public research university in the city of Kiel, G ...
, but dropped out of medical school to work as a singer. At age 15 he received an award as Best
Banjo
The banjo is a stringed instrument with a thin membrane stretched over a frame or cavity to form a resonator. The membrane is typically circular, and usually made of plastic, or occasionally animal skin. Early forms of the instrument were fashi ...
Player of
Schleswig-Holstein
Schleswig-Holstein (; da, Slesvig-Holsten; nds, Sleswig-Holsteen; frr, Slaswik-Holstiinj) is the northernmost of the 16 states of Germany, comprising most of the historical duchy of Holstein and the southern part of the former Duchy of Sc ...
, while playing in jazz band the ''Schnirpels''. At school he played in "The Monkeys". In 1967 he was solo guitarist in the
Kiel
Kiel () is the capital and most populous city in the northern German state of Schleswig-Holstein, with a population of 246,243 (2021).
Kiel lies approximately north of Hamburg. Due to its geographic location in the southeast of the Jutland pe ...
based
psychedelic rock
Psychedelic rock is a rock music Music genre, genre that is inspired, influenced, or representative of psychedelia, psychedelic culture, which is centered on perception-altering hallucinogenic drugs. The music incorporated new electronic sound ...
band "Chimes of Freedom", later renamed by its manager to "Die Anderen" (The Others). In that same year, Drews took on his first acting role as a student and musician in the German film comedy ''
Zur Hölle mit den Paukern''. He sang for the 70's pop group the "
Les Humphries Singers" and started a solo career. He had a German number one hit in 1976 with "Ein Bett im Kornfeld",
an adaptation of the
Bellamy Brothers' "
Let Your Love Flow
"Let Your Love Flow" is the debut single by country music duo the Bellamy Brothers, recorded in the autumn of 1975 and released in January 1976. The song was written by Larry E. Williams and produced by Phil Gernhard and Tony Scotti. It became an i ...
" which was also a German number one.
In the U.S., he had only one moderate hit with "Don't Want No-Body" on the
''Billboard'' Hot 100 in January 1981. The single was credited to J.D. Drews and it peaked at #79. As
"Nobody", it was released as a single by
Toni Basil
Antonia Christina Basilotta (born September 22, 1943), better known by her stage name Toni Basil, is an American singer, choreographer, dancer, actress, and director. Her song " Mickey" topped the charts in the US, Canada and Australia and hit t ...
.
Drews' first marriage was to German actress and model Corinna Drews (née Gillwald) from 1981 until 1985, with whom he has one son. Since 1995 Drews has been married to German actress and model Ramona Drews (née Mittendorf), with whom he has one daughter, Joelina Drews. He lives in
Dülmen-Rorup in Germany and spends a lot of his time working on the Spanish island
Majorca
Mallorca, or Majorca, is the largest island in the Balearic Islands, which are part of Spain and located in the Mediterranean.
The capital of the island, Palma, is also the capital of the autonomous community of the Balearic Islands. The Bale ...
, where he styles himself as the King of Majorca (''"König von Mallorca"'') since being called that on prime-time German television by
Thomas Gottschalk in the show ''
Wetten, dass..?''.
Drews opened a restaurant in
Santa Ponsa, Majorca in January 2011. It was called "König von Mallorca – Kultbistro" and is decorated with memorabilia and awards from Drews' music career. It had to be closed due to
COVID-19 pandemic
The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identified ...
in August 2020. Drews is suffering from
polyneuropathy and announced to reduce his activity as a professional musician because of this disease in May 2022.
Awards
* ''
Bravo Otto''
** 1976: "Silver“
** 1977: "Silver“
** 1978: "Silver“
* ''
Goldene Stimmgabel
The Goldene Stimmgabel (English: Golden Tuning Fork) was an annual prize awarded within the German music scene from 1981 to 2007.
The prizes were awarded according to the number of records sold from October of the previous year to June of the year ...
''
** 1981
* ''
Löwe von Radio Luxemburg''
** 1976: "Silber“
Selected filmography
Movies
* ''
Zur Hölle mit den Paukern'' (1968, comedy)
* ''
Execution Squad'' (1972, drama film, Italian crime thriller)
* ''
When Women Were Called Virgins
''When Women Were Called Virgins'' ( it, Quando le donne si chiamavano madonne) is a 1972 commedia sexy all'italiana written and directed by Aldo Grimaldi. It is part of a series of derivative erotic comedies set in the Middle Ages which were ...
'' (1972, Italian comedy)
* ' (1981, adult comedy)
* ' (1997, comedy)
* ''Pudelmützen Rambos'' (Bobble-hat Rambos, 2003, action comedy)
* ''Der Prinz von
Wanne-Eickel'' (The Prince of Wanne-Eickel, 2007, comedy)
* ' (2009, comedy)
* ''Agenten in Gummistiefeln – Jagd auf den Killerhasen'' (Agents in
rubber boots
The Wellington boot was originally a type of leather boot adapted from Hessian boots, a style of military riding boot. They were worn and popularised by Arthur Wellesley, 1st Duke of Wellington. The "Wellington" boot became a staple of pr ...
–
Hunt for the killer
rabbits
Rabbits, also known as bunnies or bunny rabbits, are small mammals in the family Leporidae (which also contains the hares) of the order Lagomorpha (which also contains the pikas). ''Oryctolagus cuniculus'' includes the European rabbit spe ...
, 2011, comedy)
TV series
* ''3×1 in Noten'' (3×1 in music notation)
* ''Die deutsche Schlagerparade'' (The German
Schlager parade
A parade is a procession of people, usually organized along a street, often in costume, and often accompanied by marching bands, floats, or sometimes large balloons. Parades are held for a wide range of reasons, but are usually celebrations of s ...
, 1988–1993)
* ''
Strip!'' (1999–2000)
* ''Die Drews – eine furchtbar nette Familie'' (The Drews – a terribly nice family, from 2003)
* ''Cash Crash'' (2013)
References
External links
Official website by Jürgen Drews*
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Drews, Jurgen
People from Havelland
People from Schleswig, Schleswig-Holstein
German male singers
Schlager musicians
University of Kiel alumni
Les Humphries Singers members
German emigrants to Spain
1945 births
Living people