HILDEGARD KNEF

Hildegard Frieda Albertine Knef was a German actress, voice actress, chanson singer and author. While she was known as Hildegard Knef in German-speaking countries, she called herself Hildegarde Neff outside German-speaking countries from 1948 to around 1968.

After a long break, she returned at the beginning of 2010 with the single Soldier of Love, immediate post-war period through films such as The Murderers Are Among Us (1946) and Film Untitled (1948). She played the lead role in the controversial film The Sinner (1950), after which she turned to more international film roles in the 1950s and played a leading role on Broadway. In later years she was particularly successful as a chanson singer (for example with her signature song For me it should rain red roses) and as a book author. In 1957, Knef recorded a multi-song EP in England and later some jazz records in France. Because of the positive response abroad, people in Germany became aware of Knef again. In 1962 she made her first German record since 1952. The single He was never a cavalier was a sales success. In 1963 she released her first long-playing record, Either way is life (number 8 in the German music charts). Even with But it was nice however (1963), Mackie-Messer (1963) and Eins und eins, das Macht zwei (1964, written by Charly Niessen) reached the single charts in the Federal Republic of Germany. As a chanson singer, Knef now also received shows on German television. In 1965 she wrote her own lyrics for the first time (Are Clouds Getting Old?). The LP I see the world through your eyes with lyrics written by her was a huge success in 1966. In the same year she undertook her first concert tour. Ella Fitzgerald described Hildegard Knef as the “best singer without a voice”. The smoky organ, the precise, sometimes flippant, but consistently soulful style of delivery and his own lyrics, which are characterized by cleverness and laconic irony, made Knef a unique phenomenon in German-language light music. She performed with first-class backing bands (e.g. Kurt Edelhagen, Hans Hammerschmid, Bert Kaempfert and Gert Wilden).