Falco (musician)

Falco
Falco and Ursela Monn, 1986
Falco and Ursela Monn, 1986
Background information
Birth nameJohann Hölzel
Born(1957-02-19)19 February 1957
Vienna, Austria
Died6 February 1998(1998-02-06) (aged 40)
between Villa Montellano and Puerto Plata, Dominican Republic
Genres
Occupations
  • Musician
  • singer
  • composer
Instruments
  • Vocals
  • bass
  • piano
Years active1975–1998
Labels
Websiteofficialfalco.com

Johann "Hans" Hölzel (German: [ˈjoːhan hans ˈhœltsl̩]; 19 February 1957 – 6 February 1998), better known by his stage name Falco (from Falko Weißpflog),[1] was an Austrian singer and musician. He had several international hits, including "Der Kommissar" (1981), "Rock Me Amadeus",[2][3] "Vienna Calling",[2][3] "Jeanny", "The Sound of Musik", "Coming Home (Jeanny Part II, One Year Later)", and posthumously "Out of the Dark".

"Rock Me Amadeus" reached No. 1 on the Billboard charts in 1986, making Falco the only artist in history to score a number-one hit with a German language song in the United States.[4][a] According to his estate, he has sold 20 million albums and 40 million singles, which makes him the best-selling Austrian singer of all time.

Also notable was his very early, first notable, creation of a successful non-English language rap music song ("Der Kommissar"), recorded in December 1981.[b]

  1. ^ "Falco und das U4 – die Falco Night". U4 Club Wien (in German). Retrieved 4 August 2024. Der Künstlername 'Falco' ist übrigens zurückzuführen auf den Skispringer Falko Weißpflog.
  2. ^ a b Cammila Collar (2014). "Falco: Damn, We're Still Alive! (2008)". Movies & TV Dept. The New York Times. Rovi. Archived from the original on 10 September 2014.
  3. ^ a b Cite error: The named reference AllMovie-14164 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  4. ^ Clark, Dick (1986). "Dick Clark Interviews Falco". YouTube. American Bandstand. Retrieved 4 August 2024 – via Awards Show Network.


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