Bert Kaempfert:

born 16.10.1923  (Hamburg /Germany)
died 21. Juni 1980 (Mallorca /Spain)

Bert Kaempfert, conductor, arranger, composer, multi-instrumentalist and record producer.

BertKaempfert played the piano as a child, and later studied at the Hamburg Conservatory of Music. By the time he joined Hans Busch and his Orchestra during World War II, he was capable of playing a variety of instruments, including the piano, piano-accordion and all the reeds. After the war he formed his own band, and became a big draw in West Germany before joining Polydor Records as a producer, arranger and musical director. In the latter role he had some success with Yugoslavian, Ivor Robic's version of "Morgen", which made the US Top 20 in 1959, and Freddie Quinn's Die "Gitarre Und Das Meer".

A year later he made his own global breakthrough when he topped the US charts with his studio orchestra's recording of "Wonderland By Night", which was refused to be released in Germany before. It was the precursor to a series of similar recordings in which a solo trumpet (usually Fred Moch, later Ack van Rooyen) and muted brass were set against a cushion of lush strings and wordless choral effects, all emphasised by the insistent rhythm of a two-beat bass guitar (Lady Geissler).

This Bert-Kaempfert-treatment was effectively applied to several of his own compositions, which were also successful for other artists, such as "Spanish Eyes (Moon Over Naples)" (Al Martino), "Danke Schoen" ( Wayne Newton), "L-O-V-E" ( Nat King Cole), "A Swinging Safari" ( Billy Vaughn), and "Wooden Heart", which Elvis Presley sang in his film, "G.I. Blues", and Joe Dowell took to the US number 1 spot in 1961. Two other Kaempfert numbers, "The World We Knew (Over And Over)" and "Strangers In The Night" benefited from the Frank Sinatra treatment and was the basis of the comenack by Sinatra. "Strangers In The Night" was originally part of a Bert Kaempfert film score for the James Garner / Melina Mercouri comedy/thriller "A Man Could Get Killed". The Kaempfert composition topped the US and UK charts in 1966.

Lyrics for his most successful songs were written by Charles Singleton, Eddie Snyder, Carl Sigman, Kurt Schwabach, Milt Gabler, Fred Wise, Ben Weisman and Kay Twomey.

Kaempfert himself had easy listening world-wide hits in his own inimitable style with revivals of 'golden oldies' such as "Tenderly", "Red Roses For A Blue Lady", "Three O' Clock In The Morning", "Bye Bye Blues" and "Tuxedo Junction". In 1961 "WONDERLAND BY NIGHT" spent five weeks at number 1 in the US, and Kaempfert continued to chart in the US and UK throughout the '60s. But in the Us and UK his records failed to achieve Top 40 status in the '70s, although he still sold a great many. Instead he gained very great popularity in Germany and later started to tour "live" with the Bert-Kaempfert-Sound.

Apart from his skill as an arranger and orchestra leader, Bert Kaempfert has another claim to fame in the history of popular music: he was the first person to record the Beatles. While they were playing a club in Hamburg in 1961, Kaempfert hired them to back Tony Sheridan, a singer who had a large following in Germany. After supplying the additional vocals on "My Bonnie Lies Over The Ocean" and "When The Saints Go Marching In", Kaempfert allowed Lennon & Co to record "Ain't She Sweet" and "Cry For A Shadow". When the beat boom got under way, "My Bonnie", as it was then called, made the US Top 30 in 1964, and "Ain't She Sweet" became a minor hit in the UK. Bert Kaempfert sold the rights to produce the group to Brian Epstein. My be by fault or may be after negotiations, he did not take any money or credits for this.

In 1980, after completing a successful series of concerts in the UK and Germany, culminating in an appearance at the Royal Albert Hall, he was taken ill while on holiday in Majorca, Spain, and died there on 21 June.

The New Bert Kaempfert Orchestra was organised by one of the two daughters of Bert Kaempfert and is mainly advertising its availability in UK trade papers. The band iss directed by Tony Fisher. Two new recording settings were made on CD so far, while is German record company under direction of the other Kaempfert daughter keeps on re-releasing the favourite Kaempfert records from the past on CD.

(more)