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Ralf Bursy in his pop star era: look typical of the time
Photo: Gueffroy / IMAGO
His solo career started with a bang: in 1986 Ralf Bursy had a great success in the GDR hit parade with the song »Eh' die Liebedies«;
he won the "Silver Bong" prize several times in the TV show "Bong".
In the last few years of the GDR, Ralf Bursy, known everywhere as »Bummi«, was one of the big pop stars.
After reunification, however, his career ended abruptly, he worked behind the scenes as a producer for a while, then withdrew from the music business.
Ralf Bursy died in Berlin on Monday evening.
This was initially reported by the music magazine "Good Times" on its Facebook page, with reference to his circle of friends.
Bursy's wife confirmed the news of the death to the "Bild" newspaper.
Ralf "Bummi" Bursy had been ill for a long time, he was 66 years old.
Music videos in typical black and white fog look
Bursy was born in Berlin on January 18, 1956. He first learned the trade of mechanical engineer, but then completed a correspondence course in singing at the music academy.
From 1977 onwards he sang songs by Uriah Heep and Deep Purple with the hard rock band Regenbogen, later the band also played their own songs.
In 1979 he joined the band Biscuit and in 1981 he went to the rock group Prinzip.
In 1986 the state record company Amiga released an EP with four solo titles by Ralf Bursy in the »Amiga Quartet« series.
»Eh' die Liebe died« became a hit and Bursy became a crush on East German youth.
His 1987 album »Wind in the Face« was voted »Favorite Record« in the »Rock/Pop« category in a survey of 15,000 young readers, TV viewers and radio listeners.
The title song also became a hit, as did »Kalte Augen« and »Lebensroulette«.
A music video was shot for the ballad »Waiting in the Darkness«, which, with its black and white foggy look, did not need to hide behind contemporary titles from western television.
Just like Ralf »Bummi« Bursy's mullet look in the late 80's seems extremely typical of the time.
After reunification, Bursy was still working on a project with Nena, but the record company went bankrupt.
"The bookings were gone from one day to the next," said the ex-pop star in 1992 to the "Süddeutsche Zeitung", "a catastrophe."
Ralf »Bummi« Bursy subsequently concentrated on studio work for other artists.
In 2003, the "Bild am Sonntag" reported that Bursy ran two boutiques for women's underwear.
He told the »Super Illu« about musical comeback plans, which, apart from appearances at some Ostalgie events, little came to fruition.
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