Jürgens Udo, born Udo Jürgen Bockelmann, *30 September 1934 in Klagenfurt, †21 December 2014 in Münsterlingen (Switzerland), Austrian singer, pianist, composer, and songwriter. In 1950, he won an Austrian radio competition for his song Je t’aime. In 1951, he graduated from the composition class at the conservatory in Klagenfurt; in the 1950s, he performed in his hometown at the helm of his own Udo Bolan Band. In 1954, he made his first radio recordings in West Berlin, signed a record deal, and went on his first tour to the USSR (from then on known by the pseudonym Udo Jürgens). In 1960, Jürgens received the press award for the song Jenny at the song festival in Knokke; in 1963, a new record contract resulted in the hit Tausend Träume. However, it was only after the Eurovision Song Contest in Copenhagen in 1964 (6th place for the song Warum nur, warum, in the English version Walk Away) that he became famous; his compositions were included in the repertoires of M. Monroe, B. Lee, S. Distel, J.-C. Pascal, S. Vaughan, and Sh. Bassey. In 1966, at the Eurovision Song Contest in Luxembourg, the song Merci, chérie by Jürgens won, and from that time on it became a standard of popular music. In the 1970s, Jürgens appeared regularly on international television programs and at European song festivals. The album Udo ‘80 includes the song Wort, recorded with an orchestra conducted by H. v. Karajan. Jürgens received the highest awards in Austria and West Germany for his compositional, vocal, and recording achievements (including the Deutsche Schallplatten Preis for the album Leave a Little Love, 1982, Deutscher Fernsenpreis, 2004). Jürgens is compared to G. Becaud, but his songs are more romantic in nature. He performed in Poland in 1967 (recital at the International Song Festival in Sopot), in 1975 and 1978; in 1988, the album Udo Jürgens was released in Poland by Muza. Jürgens’ hits: Sag ihr, ich lass sie grüssen, Cotton Fields, Mathilda, Es wird Nacht, Señorita, The Music Played, Anuschka, Lieb Vaterland, Ein Platz an der Sonne, Ich glaube an die Liebe, Booze Is a Devil’s Brew, Geschieden, Griechischer Wein, Aber bitte mit Sahne, Mit 66 Jahren, Buenos Dias, Argentina, Meine Lieder, Superstar.
Literature: collective work Warum nur, warum? Das Phänomen Udo Jürgens, Vienna, Hamburg 1971, U. Jurgens, M. Moritz autobiography Der Mann mit dem Fagott, Munich 2004, U. Jurgens, M. Moritz Spiel des Lebens. Geschichten, Frankfurt 2019.
