"Peppermint Prince" Westernhagen turns 75

Musician and actor - "Peppermint Prince" Westernhagen turns 75

The "Peppermint Prince" sticks to him. Freedom" also remains associated with his name. Marius Müller-Westernhagen stands for the snotty rocker as well as for blues in the pub or ballads sung along a thousand times. The long life of the artist has a new number. This Wednesday (December 6), the musician and actor turns 75.

Even successful songs are not sacred cows for Müller-Westernhagen, for example on the upcoming anniversary tour next year. "There will always be new things," the musician told the German Press Agency in Berlin. "There will always be the will to be creative with the old songs, to make them interesting for us and for the audience. I would never let that be taken away from me."

"Theo against the rest of the world"

The son of actor Hans Müller-Westernhagen was born in Düsseldorf. His father was part of the ensemble of the Städtische Bühnen under Gustaf Gründgens, and Marcel Pagnol's "Marius" was also on the repertoire. Marius Müller-Westernhagen discovers acting before music. By the end of the 80s, he had appeared in dozens of productions. He became known above all as a long-distance Ruhrpott patterer in "Theo gegen den Rest der Welt" (1980).

The musical steps begin in the second half of the 60s. Müller-Westernhagen later describes the beginnings in the song "Mit 18": "The guitars were out of tune, but it was a blast, we thought we were geniuses." The debut album "Das erste Mal" had little success in 1975. That changed three years later, and "Mit Pfefferminz bin ich dein Prinz" laid the foundations for a long career. "Amazingly good songs, I wouldn't have thought so," the musician says decades later in a dpa interview about the blues version"Das Pfefferminz-Experiment".

With "Sekt oder Selters" and "Stinker", he proves his qualities in lyrics and music. Without the miller of the double name, the musician becomes a superstar with albums such as "Westernhagen", "Halleluja", "JaJa", "Affentheater" and "Radio Maria". It is the time in the 90s when he fills soccer stadiums, with tens of thousands singing "Freiheit" with him. The success leaves its mark. For some, the Theo buddy type becomes an "Armani rocker".

"I said I didn't want to do these stadium tours anymore," says the artist looking back, having been back longer than Müller-Westernhagen. "At some point, there's no artistic development except bigger, bigger and bigger, and at some point the stadiums are too small for that." The pressure also increases. "I had the feeling I was losing myself." Müller-Westernhagen takes time out to "think and reflect".

"Life is a series of mistakes"

It's not all ups in his private life either. "Life is a series of mistakes." You have to learn from them, reflect, face up to them and grow. "I've always tried to stay true to myself," says Müller-Westernhagen. He is in his second marriage to the US singer Lindiwe Suttle. The couple live in Berlin.

Over the years, comparatively moderately successful albums such as "In den Wahnsinn" (Müller-Westernhagen: "My most important album for me, a turning away and a new door") and "Nahaufnahme" followed. Most recently, "Das eine Leben" will be celebrated in 2022.

The recently released album box set "Westernhagen 75" is a collection of 75 songs from the years 1974 to 2023 and follows the broad arc of the artist's musical work. It includes remastered original recordings, surprising studio recordings ("The mixing desk was probably involved") and new interpretations of the "Peppermint Experiment".

The version of "Dicke", for example, which was criticized as fat-shaming in the original and thus misunderstood from the musician's point of view, originates from the practice room. "I really liked the version, it was very spontaneous and different. I always like to surprise people."

Müller-Westernhagen wants to stick with music for a while longer. "I work very hard, also physically, to keep myself fit, I also try to keep myself mentally fit - and I'm lucky that it's still working at the moment," says the musician. "But you don't know what will happen in two years' time, what will happen in three years' time."

Big tour next year

Next year is the first tour, with around 20 concerts scheduled from May onwards. Then there will probably also be "the songs that have meant a lot to people, that have socialized them, that have emotionalized them". He can only sing some of them with a certain irony, but he still wants to do so. After all, he is also entertainment, the fans pay admission. Müller-Westernhagen, then 75: "If they want to hear 'Sexy', then I want to sing 'Sexy'."