Heino: All information about the German pop singer – his career and greatest hits

Created: 01/31/2022, 15:15

Pop singer Heino © Axel Heimken / dpa

Blond hair and dark sunglasses are Heino's trademarks and distinguishing features.

All information about his career, his greatest hits and his family.

Bad Münstereifel – Heino was born on December 13, 1938 under the name Heinz Georg Kramm in Düsseldorf.

With success, he changed his name.

Since the singer suffers from Morbus Graves, a pathological protrusion of the eyes, he has been wearing dark sunglasses since the 1970s.

This and a blond hair became the hallmarks of the native Rhinelander.

At the beginning of his career, the man with the deep voice and the rolling "R" subscribed to so-called folk songs.

Later there was an interpretation in the direction of Schlager.

Heino has been living in Bad Münstereifel, a town in the Euskirchen district, for many years.

Pop singer Heino: His CV

The CV of the pop singer Heino caused the young Heinz Georg Kramm to move to Saxony during the Second World War, where he grew up with his sister, who was five years his senior.

After the end of the war, mother Kramm and her two children, the father had died, returned to Düsseldorf, where Heino learned the trade of baker and confectioner from 1952.

In addition, he was involved in the Oberbilk-based football club SC Schwarz-Weiß, which he still sympathizes with.

Meanwhile, private life was characterized by ups and downs.

The first marriage, which produced a son, ended after three years.

Even a subsequent illegitimate connection did not bring the hoped-for stability in Heino's life.

Three marriages and first successes

The second marriage lasted 13 years, but Heino was already in close contact with his third wife, Hannelore Auersperg, before the divorce in 1978.

They met in 1972 at a beauty pageant in Kitzbühel, Austria.

The couple is still together to this day.

Hannelore Auersperg put her career as a singer and actress on the back burner for her marriage - unlike her husband, who took off in the 1970s.

His breakthrough at this point was already a few years ago.

That happened in the mid-1960s in the circle of the three-headed comedian Terzett, from whom Heino finally broke away.

Pop singer Heino: The career

Colleague Ralf Bendix, who discovered the late twenties on the sidelines of a fashion show, proved to be a real career helper for pop singer Heino.

Not only a professional but also a friendly relationship developed, as Bendix would accompany Heino's musical development over the next 20 years.

However, Ralf Bendix did not see his protégé in the circle of a singing group but rather as a solo artist.

So they asked Heino into the recording studio to sing a first single.

"Jenseits des Tales" (1966) turned out to be a major success, selling 100,000 copies.

It was the start of a whole series of successful singles, most of which fell in the 1970s.

The first farewell tour

In the 1980s, the blond bard became generally quieter, but he appeared regularly on TV, be it on his own show or as a co-moderator of comparable formats.

Heino made a small comeback in 1989 when he released rapped versions of the tracks "Schwarzbraun ist die Hazelnut" and "Enzian".

The background to the campaign was to open up a young target group, which received the remixes surprisingly positively.

After another career break in the 90s, Heino decided on a final tour, which took him to a total of 25 cities in 2005.

None

However, the retirement did not last long.

In 2013, Heino returned to public awareness.

Once again, his project aimed at developing an alternative fan group, this time from the rock and pop camp.

The album "Best regards" unexpectedly catapulted Heino to the top of the charts.

Twelve cover versions of German hits could be heard, which Heino interpreted according to his taste.

The unusual melange caused both irritation and broad approval, as the trained baker breathed a breath of fresh air into the numbers.

While some artists felt that they were being made fun of, the recipe was well received by the metal band Rammstein - so well that the quintet invited Heino to the Wacken Open Air genre festival that same year.

Standing together on stage

The second farewell tour

Inspired by the Rammstein experience, Heino jumped on the metal bandwagon and subjected his songs to a "thorough" overhaul. What was previously a friendly folk song or hit turned out to be hard rock of the first kind after the transformation. The long player “Schwarz blüht der Enzian” (2014) was aimed at a (metal) audience who mostly wore black. However, the album fell short of the success of its predecessor. Nevertheless, television, this time RTL, became aware of Heino again and placed him as a juror in the successful format “Deutschland sucht den Superstar” in 2015. Another "farewell tour" followed in 2019, which brought Heino to a young audience. Lots of sold-out houses and positive reviews suggestthat it could not have been the last live performance of the 83-year-old.

Pop singer Heino: His greatest hits

Pop singer Heino's greatest hits date primarily from the 1960s and 1970s.

In addition to his debut single "Jenseits des Tales", the numbers "Schwarzbraun ist die Hazelnuss" (1967), "Blau bläst der Enzian" (19729, "Karamba, Karacho, ein Whiskey" (1969), "Zu der Ponderosa we ride" (1968), "La Montanara" (1973), "The Black Barbara" (1975) and "Yes Yes, Katja, she has..." (1981). Further successes can be found on the album "Best regards" (2013), on which Heino covers the templates of well-known colleagues. The homages are given to the following titles and artists, among others:

• House by the Lake (Peter Fox)

• Willless (Marius Müller Westernhagen)

• Lighthouse (Nena)

• Sun (Rammstein)

• Boy (The Doctors)

There are also new versions of the songs "Best regards" (Die Fantastischen Vier), "Ein Compliment" (Sportfreunde Stiller), "Liebeslied" (Absolute Beginner) and "Kling Klang" (Keimzeit).

Pop singer Heino: Discography

The discography of the pop singer Heino includes more than 30 albums (not including compilations and theme albums).

There are also 89 singles.

Not all discs were successful, but Heino always had surprise successes due to his variability and changeability.

Particularly noteworthy in this context are Heino's collaborations with sometimes dissimilar soloists and groups.

In 1978, for example, the singer recorded an album with the Rösrather school choir "Die Sonntagskinder".

"Hurra, wir fahr'n into the green" reached number 9 in the German sales hit parade and was sold more than 250,000 times.

The collaboration with his wife Hannelore was also crowned with success.

"Love is the Gold of Life" made it to 39th place in 1984.

Finally a number one

However, Heino had to wait until 2013 before he was finally granted first place.

The album "Best regards" went to the top of the hit list after it was released.

More than 200,000 sales are recorded, which are by no means limited to Germany.

The project also found open ears in Austria and Switzerland and reached number 6 and 7 respectively in the charts.

Pop singer Heino: His family

Pop singer Heino lives with his wife Hannelore in the small town of Bad Münstereifel.

Especially in the past, the place became a place of pilgrimage for many Heino fans, which helped the city to become better known.

The main contact point for supporters was the café on Rathausplatz, which was run by Heino and Hannelore between 1996 and 2012.

Now in their 80s, the couple have kept their public appearances to a minimum.

Heino and his wife live in the historic Kurhaus.