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Udo Juergens music biography continued...

Klagenfurt, Carinthia, Austria, as Udo Jürgen Bockelmann, Juergens was encouraged to play music from a young age, and in 1948, while still in high school, he began music studies in his hometown at the Klagenfurt Conservatory. His first taste of success came in 1950, when he won a composer contest organized by Austria's public broadcasting channel ORF with the song Je t'aime. He wrote the 1961 worldwide hit Reach for the Stars, sung by Shirley Bassey. In 1964, he represented Austria for the first time at the Eurovision Song Contest with the song Warum nur warum?, finishing fifth. He won the contest in 1966 with his song Merci Chérie, which later became an English-language hit as interpreted by Vince Hill. Over the next decade he would record some of his most famous songs, including Griechischer Wein" (Greek wine), "Mit 66 Jahren" (At 66), "Ich war noch niemals in New York" (I've never been in New York) or "Aber bitte mit Sahne" (I'll have whipped cream with that). Juergens became so popular, in fact, that by 1992, his concert in Vienna was attended by 220,000 spectators, making it one of the biggest concerts in Europe ever.





Juergens continues to compose and perform, to date creating more than 900 songs and selling about 105 million albums, making him one of the most successful composers and singers in the world. His career continues with near-annual tours. He has even recently tried his hand at musical theater, composing and writing all of the songs for the 2007 musical Ich war noch niemals in New York (I've never been to New York), which succeeded Mamma Mia! in the Hamburg's Operettenhaus. With a colorful personal life that included relationships with a variety of women, Udo Juergens has certainly lived the life of a revered pop star, but don't tell him that. It might go to his head!