1. Januar 1972

 

ZURICH

Swiss cabaret lyric writer Dr. Hans Gmur has been given the task of finishing off Austrian singer Udo Jurgens' musical, "Helden".

 

 

 


12. Februar 1972

 

TOKYO

European singer Udo Jurgens visited Japan for a promotion tour, doing several TV appearances. Polydor is releasing "World of Udo Jurgens".

 

 

 


15. April 1972

 

HAMBURG

 

World Million for German Title

Four months after its initial release, the Udo Juergens song "Was ich dir sagen will" (What I Wanted To Tell You) has sold a million copies, according to Montana Records.
The Japanese version by Pedro and Capricious (Wakare No Asa) has sold 600,000 copies and the English version, "The Music Played" has sold 250,000. The remaining 150,000 sales have been achieved by the ten other versions including those by Franck Pourcel and Caravelli.
For this achievement Udo Juergens is to be awarded a gold disk in Japan -  the first ever awarded to a German composer.
Meanwhile the Hans Werner Funke concert agency is setting up a major 40-city German and Austrian tour for Juergens.

 

 

 


20. Mai 1972

 

VIENNA

Ariola artist Udo Juergens, winner of the 1966 Eurovision song contest, has written the music to a new musical based on George Bernard Shaw's 'Arms and the Man' which will be premiered on Oct. 27 in the An der Wien theater. Starring in the musical are Michael Heltau, Irmgard Seefried, Gabriele Jacoby and Julia Migenes. [...]

 

 

 


8. Juli 1972

 

"Rose de France" now firmly on the musical map

 

France has had a national song festival of some kind or another since 1958 - but it is only in the last two years that the festival has become a really important promotional tool for record sales and has broadened it's concept to feature, hors concours, top international artists.

The first national festival was known as the Coq d'Or, inaugurated in 1958 and held at the Olympia Theater in Paris for about five years.

Then came the Rose d'Or organised by the tourist office of Antibes-Juan les Pins. The Rose d'Or, directed by Claude Tabet, enjoyed modest success at the beginning but never really ment a great deal record-wise until last year when four of the songs all entered the Top 20 and stayed for long weeks. Total sales of songs from the 1971 festival must now be well over a million and this has inevitably resulted in a far greater readiness on the part of the French music industry to give the annual festival strong support.

What has helped put the festival firmly on the musical map - apart from the good quality of songs and the undoubted abilities of the young singers - has been the heavy radio promotion given to the festival songs. This year, for example all fourteen songs selected for the festival are being played every day on Europe No. 1 and Radio Monte Carlo; and after the festival the first four songs will get three plays a day on each station for three months.

This year's festival will be held July 6 - 8 and will also be the subject of a one-hour feature film directed by Sergio Gobbi.
[...]
Artists guesting at this year's contest:
MIDDLE OF THE ROAD, RITA PAVONE, JEAN PIEREE FERLAND, UDO JURGENS, BILL & BUSTER, LES CHARLOTS, MICHEL DELPECH, RIKA ZARAI, MARTIN CIRCUS, TITO CARONA & PACHACAMAC and BAGIAH LAVI.

 

 

 


15. Juli 1972

 

MUNICH

Udo Juergens will undertake a 27-day tour of West Germany beginning Oct. 30 for agent Hans Werner Funke. Prior to the tour on Oct. 28 Juergens' musical, "Helden" (Heros) will open in Vienna.

 

 

 


19. August 1972

 

MUNICH

Siegel, German music publisher, writer dies

 

Ralph Maria Siegel, one of Germany's most succesful music publishers and a noted composer, died after a short illness here on Aug. 2 . Siegel, 61, headed the Ralph Maria Siegel Music Publishing Company and recently was responsible for forming Jupiter Records, handled by Intercord of Stuttgart.

Siegel was the son of musical director Dr. Rudolf Siegel. Following the end of the Second World War Siegel entered the music industry and was responsible for composing operettas and childrens's musicals. One of his most famous songs was "Ich Hab Noch Einen Koffer In Berlin" (I still have a suitcase in Berlin).
In his 25 years of music publishing Siegel built his publishing company into one of the most succesful in Germany and was responsible for introducing Udo Juergens about seven years ago. Siegel's firm published Juergens' song "Jenny".

Siegel's only son, Ralph Siegel, who has been involved in songwriting and record production for the past few years, will continue to work for the Ralph Maria Siegel company.

 

 

 


7. Oktober 1972

 

HAMBURG

On Oct. 28 Udo Jurgens begins a European tour following his appearance in the musical "Helden Helden" which is being staged at the Theater an der Wien in Vienna.

 

 

 


18. November 1972

 

MUNICH

 

The world premiere of the Udo Juergens musical "Heroes" took place at the An der Wien theater in Vienna. The musical - which is actually closer to an operetta than a musical comedy - is based on the George Bernard Shaw play "Arms and the Man". Ariola has acquired the recording rights of the production and will also buy the original cast recording of the German premiere which is scheduled for February 1973, in Hamburg.

Coupled with the opening was the inauguration of a new Udo Juergens tour which will take him through most European countries and extend through spring 1973. Ariola has tied in release of a new Juergens LP, "Ich bin wieder da".