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Bückeburg Military Music School of the German Wehrmacht when he was 14. After the fall of the Nazis, he joined Hans-Gunther Österreich's Radio Bremen Dance Orchestra in 1946. In 1948, he became the leader of the Last-Becker Ensemble, which performed for seven years. After the group disbanded, he became the in-house arranger for Polydor Records, as well as for a number of European radio stations. For the next decade, he helped arrange hits for artists like Helmut Zacharias, Freddy Quinn, Lolita, Alfred Hause and Caterina Valente. Last released his first album, Non-Stop Dancing, in 1965. The record consisted of brief renditions of popular songs, all tied together by an insistent dance beat and joyous crowd noises. It was a hit and helped make him a major European star. Over the next two decades, Last released over 50 records, including several more volumes of Non-Stop Dancing. On these records, he varied his formula by adding different songs from different countries and genres, as well as guest performers like Richard Clayderman and Astrud Gilberto. Last's success has been confined mostly to Europe, in particular the UK, where he had 52 hit albums between 1967-1986. Although he has had only one hit single—"The Seduction," the theme from 1980's American Gigolo—he has sold over 50 million albums worldwide.