Mieczysław Fogg (born Mieczysław Fogiel; 30 May 1901,

Warsaw Warsaw, officially the Capital City of Warsaw, is the capital and List of cities and towns in Poland, largest city of Poland. The metropolis stands on the Vistula, River Vistula in east-central Poland. Its population is officially estimated at ...

3 September 1990,

) was a Polish singer and artist. His popularity started well before

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

and continued well into the 1980s. He had a characteristic way of staying very serious yet slightly emotional on stage when singing. Fogg had a lyric

baritone A baritone is a type of classical music, classical male singing human voice, voice whose vocal range lies between the bass (voice type), bass and the tenor voice type, voice-types. It is the most common male voice. The term originates from the ...

voice and can be compared to French

Tino Rossi Constantin "Tino" Rossi (29 April 1907 – 26 September 1983) was a French singer and film actor of Corsican origin. Born in Ajaccio, Corsica, Rossi was gifted with a voice well suited for opera. He became a tenor in the French cabaret style. ...

in style.

Biography

Mieczysław Fogiel was born 30 May 1901 in

, then a province

gubernia A governorate (, , ) was a major and principal administrative subdivision of the Russian Empire. After the Bolshevik Revolution in 1917, governorates remained as subdivisions in the Byelorussian, Russian and Ukrainian Soviet republics, and i ...

capital in

Russian Empire The Russian Empire was an empire that spanned most of northern Eurasia from its establishment in November 1721 until the proclamation of the Russian Republic in September 1917. At its height in the late 19th century, it covered about , roughl ...

. His father was Antoni Fogiel (1874–1924), an engine driver, mother was Anna Apolonia Fogiel née Beck (1877–1967), a shopkeeper, he had six siblings. He spent his childhood there and, after graduating from a local gymnasium in 1922, he started working as a railway worker. About that time, he also joined the choir of the St. Anne's Church. There his friend,

Ludwik Sempoliński Ludwik Sempoliński (18 August 1899 – 17 April 1981) was a Polish film actor. He appeared in twenty films between 1935 and 1966. Selected filmography * '' Jaśnie pan szofer'' (1935) * '' Barbara Radziwiłłówna'' (1936) * '' Róża'' ( ...

, made him join the classes of music organized by Jan Łysakowski, Eugeniusz Mossakowski, Wacław Brzeziński, Ignacy Dygas and many other notable Polish musicians of the epoch. Initially a hobbyist, in 1928 he met

Władysław Daniłowski Władysław Daniłowski (also known by his pseudonyms Władysław Dan and Walter Dana, April 26, 1902 – March 4, 2000) was a Polish and American pianist, composer and singer. A pioneer of jazz and tango in Poland, in the United States he is be ...

''Dan'', who chose him as a soloist for his newly formed Dan's Choir. The choir became extremely popular the following year when

Jerzy Petersburski Jerzy Petersburski (20 April 1895 – 7 October 1979) was a Jewish Polish pianist and composer of popular music, renowned mostly for his Tangos, some of which (such as '' To ostatnia niedziela'', ''Już nigdy'' and ''Tango milonga'' / English an ...

's song ''Tango Milonga'' became an international hit. This and other

tangos Tangos may refer to: * Tangos (song), "Tangos" (song), a song popularized in Spain * Tangos (district), a district or barangay in Navotas, Philippines * ''Tangos'', a 1973 album by Buenos Aires 8 * Tangos (album), ''Tangos'' (album), a 2014 album ...

and romances performed by the choir in the famous Qui pro Quo theatre led Fogiel to become one of the most popular Polish singers. After 1932, Fogiel, under a new pseudonym of ''Fogg'', toured a number of countries, including

Germany Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It lies between the Baltic Sea and the North Sea to the north and the Alps to the south. Its sixteen States of Germany, constituent states have a total popu ...

Latvia Latvia, officially the Republic of Latvia, is a country in the Baltic region of Northern Europe. It is one of the three Baltic states, along with Estonia to the north and Lithuania to the south. It borders Russia to the east and Belarus to t ...

, the

Soviet Union The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR), commonly known as the Soviet Union, was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 until Dissolution of the Soviet ...

Finland Finland, officially the Republic of Finland, is a Nordic country in Northern Europe. It borders Sweden to the northwest, Norway to the north, and Russia to the east, with the Gulf of Bothnia to the west and the Gulf of Finland to the south, ...

Norway Norway, officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic countries, Nordic country located on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. The remote Arctic island of Jan Mayen and the archipelago of Svalbard also form part of the Kingdom of ...

Sweden Sweden, formally the Kingdom of Sweden, is a Nordic countries, Nordic country located on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. It borders Norway to the west and north, and Finland to the east. At , Sweden is the largest Nordic count ...

Austria Austria, formally the Republic of Austria, is a landlocked country in Central Europe, lying in the Eastern Alps. It is a federation of nine Federal states of Austria, states, of which the capital Vienna is the List of largest cities in Aust ...

and

Italy Italy, officially the Italian Republic, is a country in Southern Europe, Southern and Western Europe, Western Europe. It consists of Italian Peninsula, a peninsula that extends into the Mediterranean Sea, with the Alps on its northern land b ...

. In the

United States The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...

, the group toured over 31 states. His popularity was increased by the fact that Fogg was keen on languages and was able to sing in local languages of the countries he toured. He also appeared in a number of duos with other popular artists of the time, including

Hanka Ordonówna Hanka Ordonówna or Ordonka (born Maria Anna Pietruszyńska; 4 August 1902 in Warsaw – 8 September 1950 in Beirut) was a Polish singer, dancer and actress. Life She began her career at the age of 16 in a Warsaw cabaret named Sfinks and then ...

, Stefcia Górska,

Zula Pogorzelska Zula Pogorzelska (14 August 1896 – 10 February 1936) born Zofia Pogorzelska, was a Polish cabaret and film actress. She was the first Polish performer to introduce the Charleston on stage of the Cabaret ''Pod sukienką'' in 1926. Pogorzelska ...

and

Adolf Dymsza Adolf Dymsza (born Adolf Bagiński; 7 April 1900 – 20 August 1975) was a Polish comedy actor of both the pre-World War II and post-war eras. He starred in both theatre and film productions, mainly before World War II. He and Kazimierz Krukowski ...

. He also appeared in 11 films. After the Dana Choir was disbanded in 1938, Fogg started a solo career. The same year, he was chosen as the most popular Polish singer by the

Polish Radio The Polish Radio (PR; Polish: ''Polskie Radio'', PR) is a national public-service radio broadcasting organization of Poland, founded in 1925. It is owned by the State Treasury of Poland. On 27 December 2023, the Minister of Culture and Nationa ...

. He toured the country with a trio consisting of himself,

Mira Zimińska Mira Zimińska (1901–1997) was a Polish stage and film actress. She was the founder and long-time director of the Mazowsze folk group. In 1954 she married Tadeusz Sygietyński. After his death in 1955 she became a director of Mazowsze.Anna M ...

and Tadeusz Sygietyński. Among the authors of his songs was also

Marian Hemar Marian Hemar (1901–1972), born Marian Hescheles (other pen names: Jan Mariański, and Marian Wallenrod), was a Polish poet, journalist, playwright, comedy writer, and songwriter. Hemar himself stated that before the outbreak of World War II he ...

. After the outbreak of

, Fogg remained in

, where he joined the underground

Armia Krajowa The Home Army (, ; abbreviated AK) was the dominant resistance movement in German-occupied Poland during World War II. The Home Army was formed in February 1942 from the earlier Związek Walki Zbrojnej (Armed Resistance) established in the ...

. He gave concerts in the few cafes available to Poles under German occupation. During the

Warsaw Uprising The Warsaw Uprising (; ), sometimes referred to as the August Uprising (), or the Battle of Warsaw, was a major World War II operation by the Polish resistance movement in World War II, Polish underground resistance to liberate Warsaw from ...

, he gave countless concerts both on the barricades, in hospitals and in the bomb shelters beneath the city. For his efforts to keep high the morale of the soldiers and civilians of the fighting city, he was awarded with some of the highest Polish decorations. Fogg was also one of the

Polish Righteous among the Nations The citizens of Poland have the highest count of individuals who have been recognized by Yad Vashem as the Polish Righteous Among the Nations, for saving Jews from extermination during the Holocaust in World War II. There are Polish men and w ...

. He hid a Jewish family of

Ivo Wesby Ivo Wesby (1902–1961), born Ignacy Singer in Kraków, Poland, was a Polish composer and director. He studied music in Vienna. In the 1920s he was music director of various revi-teaters (revue theaters) in Warsaw, and in the last years before th ...

in his apartment until the end of World War II.Filip Łobodziński: "Fogg ocalił palto"
Newsweek.Polska. 16 August 2009. After the war, in 1945, he opened up his own cafe in the ruins of Warsaw. The cafe, located at 119 Marszałkowska Street, was the first music theatre opened after the war in the destroyed city and served as one of the very few centres of culture. However, the following year, it was nationalized by the new communist authorities of Poland and closed soon afterwards. Fogg continued to give hundreds of concerts in all parts of Poland and also headed his private music record firm ''Fogg Records'', which shared the fate of Fogg's cafe in 1951. His popularity as a singer remained high and in 1958 he was again chosen the most popular Polish singer by the audience of the Polish Radio – 20 years after he was given the same title for the first time. Warszawa 9407

He continued to give concerts almost until his death in 1990. Throughout his 60-year long career, he gave more than 16,000 of them in all countries of Europe, Brasil, Israel, Ceylon, New Zealand, Australia, Canada and the US. His everlasting popularity led to the creation of a number of anecdotes. In one of them, the Polish archaeologists supposedly discovered an Egyptian mummy. After they unfolded it, they were surprised by the mummy asking a short question: "Is Fogg still giving concerts?" Mieczysław Fogg died in Warsaw on 3 September 1990 and is buried at the

Bródno Cemetery :''You may also be looking for the Bródno Jewish Cemetery.'' Bródno cemetery () is an old cemetery in the Targówek district, in the eastern part of Warsaw, Poland. Occupying an area of , it is the largest cemetery in Warsaw. With more than 1 ...

, Warsaw with his wife and son.

References

Sources

* *

External links

* Retrieved 14 February 2008.
Mieczysław Fogg
at

Yad Vashem Yad Vashem (; ) is Israel's official memorial institution to the victims of Holocaust, the Holocaust known in Hebrew language, Hebrew as the (). It is dedicated to preserving the memory of the Jews who were murdered; echoing the stories of the ...

website. {{DEFAULTSORT:Fogg, Mieczyslaw 1901 births 1990 deaths Catholic Righteous Among the Nations Musicians from Warsaw Polish Righteous Among the Nations Tango in Poland Warsaw Uprising insurgents Recipients of the Meritorious Activist of Culture badge Baritones Baritones from the Russian Empire Tango singers Burials at Bródno Cemetery Home Army members Artists from Warsaw Polish people of the Polish–Soviet War Polish male singers 20th-century Polish male singers Music industry executives Polish businesspeople Tango musicians Recipients of the Medal of the 10th Anniversary of the People's Republic of Poland Recipients of the Medal of the 40th Anniversary of the People's Republic of Poland

Biography

See also

References

Sources

External links