Falco, born Johann Hölzel in Vienna in 1957, was a 1980's pop/rock icon, and is most noted in the USA for his 1985 hit "Rock Me Amadeus" (and its Simpsons parody "Dr. Zaius") though he had plenty of other fabulous songs. Unfortunately, his talent and popularity was not really extended beyond the German-speaking world, mostly because of language barriers.
Similar to Mozart, Falco was considered a child musical prodigy, after he tried out for the Vienna Music Academy at age five. He reportedly had perfect pitch. He began classical musical training in Vienna as a teenager, but the dropped out to pursue a rock career.
Falco died tragically young in a car crash in the Dominican Republic in 1998. And very unfortunately, unlike Tupac, Falco's posthumous CD releases are few and far between. However, his music is still immortalized in Austria - every time I go to Zielpunkt, I hear "Der Kommissar" over the store radio.
Zielpunkt isn't the only place you go to hear Falco...I feel like maybe this post was aimed at me, somehow. ;)
ReplyDeleteDu bist nur ein Egoist, Jake. :P ;)
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