Michael Hoffmann was a hit star and sang at the ESC!

This is what became of him - "was my salvation"

Created: 10/31/2022 9:24 am

By: Christina Hein

Michael Hoffmann and his wife Petra © Christina Hein

Michael Hoffmann and his brother Günther were acclaimed pop stars in the 1970s and early 80s as the duo "Hoffmann und Hoffmann".

Today he can look back on an eventful musical career.

Kassel - "I used to sing about love, today I sing for love," says Michael Hoffmann.

He sits on the sofa in his light-flooded top floor apartment in Kassel-Kirchditmold, picks up the guitar and does what he has been good at since he was a teenager: music.

So much has changed for the now 71-year-old over the past few decades: around 1980 it was cheerful hits without any particular depth à la "Raspberry Ice Cream for Breakfast", which were celebrated by a mass audience, today Michael Hoffmann sings, accompanied by his Ms. Petra, mantras, meditative mini-texts to melodic guitar music.

"May healing happen in this world" is the programmatic title of his latest CD.

Michael Hoffmann: Schlager star once competed at the ESC

"I no longer look at the big audience," he says at hna.de, "instead I take my time and I'm connected to my soul." He makes music "for people".

That was not always so.

Together with his brother Günther, Michael has had a breathtaking musical career as the German Schlager duo "Hoffmann und Hoffmann".

It ended tragically with Günther's suicide in 1984. Before that, the life of the brothers from Karlsruhe – often compared to Simon and Garfunkel both visually and vocally by the media – had been in the fast lane for years.

Their first major success came in 1977 with "Raspberry Ice Cream for Breakfast", the German version of the Bellamy Brothers hit.

In 1983 they competed in the Grand Prix d'Eurovision de la Chanson for Germany with the title "Respect" penned by Volker Lechtenbrink and came fifth with 94 points against heavyweight competitors such as Wencke Myhre and Costa Cordalis song still in the charts.

Stars: Michael (left) and Günther Hoffmann 1983 on the record cover.

Reproduction © Christina Hein

A glittering and cold star machine started with all its might and unfolded its own momentum: Bravo title story, mountains of fan mail, autograph sessions, parties and performances without end.

They were caught in a toxic spiral.

Shortly before Günther took his own life, he confided in his brother and talked about the fear of losing himself.

"I, too, have spent a long time fulfilling the wishes of my outside world," says Michael Hoffmann.

But he was also able to switch off with his wife Petra and later with their two children.

Günther, on the other hand, composed, wrote, and produced around the clock.

He only lived for the music.

Despite the great pain of his brother's death, Michael initially continued alone in show business – also as a producer for other artists.

But then came his collapse: as if the diagnosis of cancer wasn't devastating enough, a fatal blow followed for a musician: sudden hearing loss.

Michael Hoffmann: Schlager star pulled the emergency brake

Then Michael Hoffmann pulled the emergency brake.

By chance he got the address of the Heilhaus, the center for life energy in Kassel-Rothenditmold and its founder Ursa Paul.

Looking back, he says: "That was my salvation."

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Here the musician learned to come to himself and to find his "inner land of love, faith and hope" in spiritual security, as he says.

He made the experience: "If you don't get stuck in the past, then you can grow."

Michael has “arrived with himself”.

He still lives from music today.

He and his wife work as music teachers in the Heilhaus.

He overcame his cancer.

Music is still his purpose in life.

But it is his very own music, spiritual, mantric, i.e. meditatively sung songs, with which he can identify.

He calls it "music for healing".

On his latest CD he embedded 14 mantras by Ursa Paul in calm guitar compositions.

Sentences like "Simplicity is the highest good of wisdom" or "I am looking for my home within myself" are repeated melodically and meditatively.

"It should be very simple compositions, but the simple is often the most difficult."

The booklet is illustrated with pictures by Christa Meurers, who is an expression painter at the Heilhaus.

The CD by Michael Hoffmann "May healing happen in this world" can be purchased for 20 euros at the Heilhaus, Brandaustrasse 10 in Kassel Info: heilhaus.org