Heino doesn't feel like celebrating

He would have loved nothing more than to spend this day with Hannelore. But after the death of his wife around a month ago, Heino now has to spend his 85th birthday without her. "Dear people" are supposed to help him get through it.

The blond bard with the dark sunglasses has been the face of German folk music for decades. Despite more than 60 years in the business, Heino is still not retired - on the contrary, he is currently on tour. "That's what keeps him going, that's what keeps him alive," says his manager Helmut Werner. Between planned appearances in Graz (Austria) and Bad Oeynhausen (NRW), Heino turns 85 on Wednesday.

These days, he is driving his limousine through snowy landscapes to let his famous baritone voice ring out in churches up and down the country. "Die Himmel rühmen rühmen" is the name of the tour he is determined to complete. It was the idea and favorite project of his wife Hannelore, who died on 8 November.

Accordingly, the Düsseldorf native does not feel like celebrating. "I will spend my birthday with loved ones in the smallest of circles and wish myself continued good health," he said.

"That would drive me crazy"

Heino and Hannelore were married for 44 years - and were the dream couple of German folk music for decades. For her sake, he moved the center of his life from Bad Münstereifel in North Rhine-Westphalia to Kitzbühel after decades, to her house with a view of the Alps. "Out of 365 days, I spend 364 with Hannelore," Heino said a few years ago.

The newspaper "Bild" reported that he couldn't stand living in the house in Austria after the death of his beloved wife and was temporarily staying with the family of his manager Helmut Werner. "We will all move into our Kitzbühel house together next spring because we have become a grown-up family. I couldn't go back to the house on my own, I'd go mad," Heino told the newspaper.

Heino's real name is Heinz-Georg Kramm. He was born in 1938 in the working-class district of Oberbilk in Düsseldorf and initially worked as an apprentice baker, scrap sorter and insurance agent. Over an Altbier in a Düsseldorf brewery, he talked about his childhood in the bombed-out city, which presented itself to him as a great adventure playground.

The "Heino brand"

In 1961, Heino performed at colorful evenings, and in the mid-60s he was discovered by the legendary producer Ralf Bendix. He put him in a turtleneck sweater and forbade him to smile. As one eye was protruding due to an overactive thyroid gland, Heino wore black sunglasses from the early 1970s onwards.

This created the "Heino brand" which, together with hard work and discipline, became the basis of his success. He has recorded over 1200 songs and sold around 55 million solo albums. Still unsurpassed with 850,000 records: his debut album "Heino".

However, his career was not entirely free of scandal: in 1977, he sang all three verses of the Deutschlandlied for the Minister President of Baden-Württemberg and former Nazi naval judge Hans Filbinger. Many took offense at this.

Heino still defended the record decades later: it had been intended as teaching material and he had even asked Federal President Walter Scheel whether he could do it. Heino, a Social Democrat by his own admission, was nevertheless placed in the right-wing corner. Yet the folk musician wants nothing to do with the nationalists. In 2019, he spoke out in favor of an AfD ban.

In 2013, he stunned audiences with his album "Mit freundlichen Grüßen". Heino covered Die Ärzte, Peter Fox and Rammstein and posed as a rocker in a leather jacket. He made it to number one in the charts.

In 2021, he did not accept the fact that a "German song recital" in Düsseldorf was chalked up to "tümelnd". After the mayor put his foot down, Heino was allowed to promote his concert as planned.

This year, Heino entered another genre that didn't really fit in with the church tour: under the unsuspicious title "Lieder meiner Heimat", he covered Mickie Krause's "Zehn nackte Friseusen" (Ten Naked Hairstylists), the uproarious "Layla" and other Ballermann hits.