15. August 1981

 

SAARBRUCKEN

Golden Europa Winners Named

 

Radio station Europa Welle Saar has now selected the six winners of this year's Golden Europa award, given for outstanding chart performances.

Besides Helen Schneider and Stefan Waggershausen, whose awards had already been announced, singer Katja Ebstein, Boney M and Udo Jurgens will be presented with the trophies, along with Robert Palmer, the only foreign artist.  
Palmer is also seen as the most interesting international newcomer in both the national and international charts. All six winners will appear on a television special to be broadcast Oct. 29, based on the live award presentation.

 

 

 


14. November 1981

 

VIENNA

Juergens Bows English Album

 

Udo Juergens, one of the most successful of all singers in the German-speaking territories, has completed his first English-language album, "Leave A Little Love", recorded in Los Angeles.

Prior to the release of the LP in the U.S., Ariola previewed it in Munich and here in Vienna. Sales in Austria were reportedly brisk from the first day of release.

Juergens wrote the music for the album, with lyrics contributed by Will Jennings, Don Black, Keith Forsey and Donna Summer. Harold Faltermeier produced.

 

 

 

TOKYO

Winners Chosen For 12th Pop Song Fest In Tokyo

 

Osvaldo Rodriguez and Shigehito Takahara were the grand prize winners at the 12th annual World Popular Song Festival here.
Rodriguez, a blind singer from Cuba, sang his composition, "Digamos Que Mas Da", at the Nippon Budokan Hall. Takahara's "The Incredible Rock 'N' Roller" was performed by The Aladdin Group from Japan. Each composer won $ 10,000 and was presented with a gold medallion in a ceremony Nov. 1 .

The selections were among 16 performed in the finals by such artists as Peaches and Herb and Jim Photoglo (United States), Buzz Fizz (Britain), and Revolver (West Germany).
Twenty-nine songs from 22 countries were sung when the Festival opened Oct. 30 . Attendance topped the 24,000 mark, according to the Yamaha Music Foundation, which sponsored the three-day event.
Outstanding performance awards went to Udo Jurgens of Austria, who sang "Leave A Little Love", for which he also received an outstanding song award; and Maria Del Sol, a Mexican, who sang, "You Gotta Have Someone". Jurgens and Del Sol received gold medallions and $ 4,000 and $ 3,000 each, respectively.
Tino Geiser, composer of the Del Sol entry, received $ 1,000 as the winner of the Foundation's Kawakami Award. 

 

 

 


26. Dezember 1981

 

GERMANY

JUERGENS TOPS RECOGNITION POLL

 

Udo Juergens, an Austrian citizen with a swiss manager and overwhelming popularity in Germany, is ready to break out of his central European environs.
After dozens of German language hits, he recorded his first English-lyrics album in Los Angeles last summer. He and his manager Freddy Burger believe the time couldn't be more right for the bid for international stardom.
The recipient of numerous gold awards since 1965, Juergens recently topped all domestic and foreign entertainers in a national recognition poll, being "identified" by 95% of Germans questioned. Some 330,000 people attended the 110 shows of his 1980 tour. And he won a 1981 "Schallplattenpreis" from the German Phono Academy for the best domestic pop album of the year.

Several of his songs have been covered in English by such artists as Shirley Bassey and Sammy Davis Jr. Juergens' "Buenos Dias, Argentina" as sung by Marty Robbins, won an ASCAP country music award in 1980. Yet, outside of Central Europe, Udo Juergens remains outside the "household name" category,
Out to change that, Juergens went to Los Angeles last winter to compose completely new songs for his first American production. Lyrics were provided by Will Jennings  and Don Black. Among other name artists, Donna Summer collaborated on one song. In April, and then again in July, Juergens and producer Harold Faltermeier recorded the material in Los Angeles using top local session musicians.

Ariola-Eurodisc export head Geiso Mampell says: "Everyone who has heared this album is flipping out." Ariola released it first in Holland last September to coincide with a television appearance there by Juergens. The German release followed in October, heralded by an elaborate multi-media press presentation.
Mampell reports "excellent results" for the album in the German-speaking countries. He says radio stations such as the Austrian Third Program, which usually plays few German language productions, are giving the Los Angeles-style Udo Juergens some of the heaviest air-play even he has enjoyed.
In January, Australia, Italy, Chile and South Africa will follow. In the U.S. and U.K., several major labels have shown interest. Mampell says he and Burger are concerned with getting "the right marketing commitment for this artist".

Substantial international exposure of the album now seems assured. And already the response has been gratifying for Ariola. At the World Popular Song Festival in Tokyo, Japan, last fall, Juergens' "Leave A Little Love", title track from the new LP package, won both the "most outstanding performance" and "outstanding song" awards.