In Memoriam: Udo Jürgens and Joe Cocker

Two singers passed away at the end of 2014: Udo Jürgens (1934 – 2014) and Joe Cocker (1944 – 2014).

Austrian singer and songwriter Udo Jürgens died December 21 at the age of 80. His songs were popular all over the world and covered in multiple languages.

New York Times: “Became known as Europe’s Frank Sinatra as he helped define postwar popular music in the German-speaking world”

Le Monde: “Très populaire dans les pays germaniques grâce à des mélodies sentimentales qui ont marqué leur époque”

Der Standard: “Einer der größten Stars und Entertainer des deutschsprachigen Raums. Seine Musik begleitete mehrere Generationen.”

Commemorative postage stamp (Sondermarke) from Austria

“Merci, Chérie” was Jürgens’s winning entry in the Eurovision Song Contest in 1966:

 

Recently the song was sung by Helene Fischer for his 80th birthday celebration:

 

A new biography of Jürgens has just been published:

Paul Sahner, Merci, Udo! (Freiburg: Herder, 2015)

Other books about Jürgens have been reviewed by info-netz-musik:

• Bischoff, Lisbeth: Udo Jürgens: „Merci“. Die Biographie. Wien: Amalthea, 2009.

• Hagestedt, Jens: Tausend Träume. Udo Jürgens und seine Musik. Wilhelmshaven: Florian Noetzel, 2009.

• Jürgens, Udo und Michaela Moritz: Der Mann mit dem Fagott. München: Limes, 2004
  
   

British singer Joe Cocker died on December 22 at the age of 70. The Telegraph writes that his voice “could rage, bellow, rasp, screech or – if circumstance demanded – be unexpectedly yearning and vulnerable, he was capable of taking any song and making it his own.”

This was probably most famously demonstrated in his cover of the Beatles’ “With a Little Help from My Friends,” which he performed at Woodstock in 1969:

The Telegraph: “A Sheffield soul singer who electrified Woodstock with his rasping voice and convulsive mannerisms”

Die Zeit: “Raue Stimme und eigenwillige Körpersprache auf der Bühne”

Le Monde: “L’un des rares Britanniques à participer au festival américain devenu le symbole de la fin des années d’utopie hippie.”