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Singer Marshall (1938-2023): "Let Tony do it"
Photo: Kerstin Joensson / picture alliance / dpa
The pop singer Tony Marshall is dead. The 85-year-old died on Thursday evening, as a spokeswoman for his family announced on Friday afternoon.
He became famous in 1971 with the song "Beautiful Maid".
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Tony Marshall 2018 in the »Cologne Treff«
Photo: Henning Kaiser / dpa
For the fans, Marshall was an entertainer throughout his life and was best known for hits.
The Baden-Baden native had a state exam as an opera singer.
Herbert Anton Hilger, his real name, played four other instruments in addition to the piano and violin and sang in eight languages.
At least at the beginning of his career, Tony Marshall suffered from his Schlager image.
When Marshall was supposed to sing Jack White's "Pretty Maid" in the recording studio, he was embarrassed by the lyrics with the whole "Hojahojaho".
He drank one, but the hope of being thrown out for drunkenness was not fulfilled.
Everyone loved it - and Tony Marshall was a star.
Tony Marshall was one of the most prominent faces in the hit boom of the 1970s.
He had other hits like "Come on, give me your hand" or "On the road south".
In 1976, he won the German preliminary round of the Eurovision Song Contest with the title »Der Star«, but was not allowed to compete in the final because the title had been published earlier.
Marshall's popularity also led to moderation of TV shows such as "Let Tony do that" on ZDF.
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Tony Marshall 1972 as a young hit star
Photo: Horst Ossinger / dpa
Marshall loved his fans and later even explicitly advocated the hit genre.
He called his biography »One like you«.
As a pick-me-up and mood cannon, he roamed the town halls into old age, with long curly brown hair, then with a hat and always in a good mood.
In recent years, the high-risk dialysis patient has more or less withdrawn from the public eye.
He had a pacemaker and was living with the nervous condition polyneuropathy, which restricted his urge to move.
He survived a corona infection, for which he had to go to a clinic as a high-risk patient, and underwent emergency surgery in May 2022.
He also had to cancel concerts and performances for health reasons.
In 2021, however, he opened a personal gallery with photos, trophies, medals, gold records and other mementos in Gaggenau, Baden.
On February 3rd he was able to celebrate his 85th birthday.
feb/dpa/AFP
