Udo Lindenberg
Seven exciting facts about the “panic rocker”
Udo Lindenberg celebrates his 75th birthday on May 17th.
© imago images / Eventpress Fuhr
Udo Lindenberg is celebrating his 75th birthday. To this day he is one of the most famous musicians in Germany. Seven facts about an icon.
Hat, sunglasses and cigar: Udo Lindenberg (75) has been one of Germany’s most famous musicians for decades. The native of North Rhine-Westphalia sang his way into the hearts of millions with mumbling and original lyrics. Since a “special train to Pankow” started at the latest, Lindenberg has also been known for its political commitment. The “panic rocker” celebrates his 75th birthday on May 17th. Lindenberg has been in business for 50 years and has survived a lot. “Retirement” seems to be a foreign word for the cult singer. A few days ago his new album “Udopium” was released and by the way, the resident of Hamburg is also trying his hand at acting. So it is clear: You can probably count on Udo for even longer.
Udo Lindenberg and the music
Udo Lindenberg, who was born in Gronau in 1946, was already enthusiastic about music at a young age. Even as a child he showed a pronounced sense of rhythm and drummed around on petrol barrels. No wonder that he later belongs to the best German jazz drummers. He demonstrated his talent for drumming in bands like Die City Preachers, Free Orbit, Emergency and Niagara.
His solo career began in the early 1970s with the panic orchestra. Actually, Lindenberg wasn’t intended as a singer either. But when they couldn’t find a front man, the drummer himself stood at the microphone. The album “Andrea Doria” and the single of the same name were a success – and Udo Lindenberg a star. Why does he always sing in German? “Because it’s such a great language,” he said in an interview in 2019 with the “Süddeutsche Zeitung”.
With a total of 52 albums and 23 singles, Lindenberg has been in the charts 1,134 times. This was the result of a recently published analysis by GfK Entertainment, investigator for the Official German Charts. He was represented in the top ten 153 times. In 2008 he reached number one for the first time with the long player “Stark wie Zwei”. His latest work “Udopium – Das Beste” was published on May 14th. The best-of album features 71 tracks from his 50-year music career, plus four new songs.
Udo Lindenberg and art
Udo Lindenberg is more than an entertainment musician. His texts are apt, original and mostly describe everyday situations. He is the “trigger, the foundation and the pioneer for a new German song language”, the singer Johannes Oerding (39) said in a message by Warner Music quoted. Together with Lindenberg he wrote the song “Mittendrin”. Oerding is not alone in his opinion, as many awards confirm: Lindenberg received the Carl Zuckmayer Medal in 2007 and the Jacob Grimm Prize in 2010.
Together with Thomas Brussig (56) and Ulrich Waller (65), Lindenberg wrote the musical “Hinterm Horizont”, which premiered in 2011. It tells a love story based on Lindenberg’s songs. Over two million people visited the musical in the five-year season.
Lindenberg does not only live in music: his style, a mixture of cartoon and caricature, has even been patented. His first public exhibition took place in 1996, and in 2005 his art was exhibited in the House of History in Bonn. When the newspaper “Welt” celebrated its 70th anniversary in 2016, Lindenberg was allowed to illustrate the special edition. The talent probably runs in the family: Udo’s older brother Erich Lindenberg (1938-2006) was a painter and taught at the Academy of Fine Arts in Munich. In 2006, shortly before his death, he and Udo opened the exhibition “The Unequal Brothers” in Cottbus.
Udo Lindenberg and the story
Udo Lindenberg doesn’t mince his words – not even in political matters. His musical demand “Sonderzug nach Pankow” (1983) became famous when he asked the GDR leadership to perform in East Berlin. In fact, after long discussions in the Politburo, in October 1983 he was allowed to play for a full 15 minutes in the Palace of the Republic – under the supervision of numerous Stasi agents. A year later he wanted to tour the GDR, but received a rejection.
When Erich Honecker (1912-1994), then Chairman of the GDR State Council, visited the Federal Republic in 1987, Lindenberg gave him a leather jacket and a guitar with the inscription “Guitars instead of creaking”. Lindenberg has already been awarded the Federal Cross of Merit twice for his efforts to promote understanding between East and West: in 1989 and 2019 he was able to look forward to the special award. Lindenberg is also committed to social projects. With his Udo Lindenberg Foundation among other things, he promotes young musicians.
Udo Lindenberg and the alcohol
In the past, Udo Lindenberg made headlines with excessive alcohol consumption. In the meantime, the musician keeps his hands off it. “The decisive thing has to come from you,” said Lindenberg in 2019 in an interview with the “Hamburger Abendblatt”. He made a deal with himself: “If I give up the binge, I can start again.” For him, the better drug is the intoxication on stage, the fame and the big panic family. His experience was that “drugs and binge drinking are of no use”.
Udo Lindenberg and death
Udo Lindenberg only barely survived his alcohol addiction. In the biography “Udo” (2018), author Thomas Hüetlin (60) revealed that Lindenberg survived a lethal dose of alcohol on a tour through East Germany. Apparently he drank so much that there were sometimes doubles on the stage. In September 2000, a few days after the final concert, Lindenberg delivered himself to the hospital – with 4.7 per mille. Actually, a blood alcohol concentration of four per thousand or more is considered fatal. But the doctors were able to save his life.
Udo Lindenberg and his home
Udo Lindenberg doesn’t live in a villa like other stars. The Hotel Atlantic in Hamburg has been his home address for 26 years. At the beginning of his career in the 1970s, the musician lived with Otto Waalkes (72) and Marius Müller-Westernhagen (72) in the “Villa Kunterbunt” in Hamburg.
Udo Lindenberg and the “crime scene”
In addition to Maria Furtwängler (54) alias Commissioner Charlotte Lindholm, Udo Lindenberg can be seen in “Tatort” in 2021. The crime thriller with the working title “Everything comes back” was filmed in Hamburg and is expected to be broadcast on Erste at the end of the year. This is not the first collaboration between Furtwängler and Lindenberg: In 2018 they released the song “Are you from the KGB?” recorded. The “crime scene” is also no stranger to the 75-year-old. In 1970 he recorded the first version of the “Tatort” title music together with Klaus Doldinger’s (85) jazz quartet. Since 1978 there has been a new variant – without Udo Lindenberg.