Udo Jurgens: 1934-2014.
I am sorry that I failed to spot this when it happened - it wasn't reported in the British news, and so - mea culpa - I missed it until tonight, when I googled him checking out a detail or two.
Udo Jurgens died 21 December 2014.
Outside of the German speaking countries of Europe (where he was hugely popular), this was a death which passed without much notice.
This was a man who came from Austria (he represented the country three times at the Eurovision Song Contest, winning in 1966 with a song - 'Merci Chérie' - that subsequently became hugely popular), had a banker grandfather who had fled Russia after the 1917 Revolution, was seen as someone who articulated German post war dreams and delusions, and ended up living in Switzerland.
There is a certain type of melancholic, bitter-sweet, European style music which I rather like (this is a sort of music that may not find much favour in the US, where unbridled optimism is much preferred - that is not so much a criticism, as merely an observation), that Udo Jurgens exemplified, and gave voice to.
Last year, in the company of a German colleague (who translated the lyrics for me), I heard his music for the first time. Listen to the song "Ich War Noch Einmals In New York" ('I Was Never In New York') and weep. Beautiful, and brilliant.
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