Saturday 25 March 1972

PAUL KUHN

Born: March 12th, 1928, Wiesbaden (Germany)
Died: September 23rd, 2013, Bad Wildungen (Germany)
Nationality: German

In due course, the short impression below will be replaced with a more extensive career overview


BIOGRAPHY

Paul Kuhn studied at the Music Gymnasium in Frankfurt and the Wiesbaden Conservatory. Already during his student days, he worked as a jazz pianist. In the 1950s and early 1960s, he was a very successful vocalist of popular songs such as ‘Der Mann am Klavier’ (1954) and ‘Es gibt kein Bier auf Hawaii’ (1963). Around the same time, he was a regular TV host as well, amongst others of a show named after him, Hallo Paulchen.

Between 1968 and 1980, he was the conductor of the SFB Big Band, the orchestra of the West Berlin broadcaster. In 1981, he founded a new variety orchestra in Cologne, which toured with Peter Alexander. From the 1990s onwards, Kuhn has again focused on his roots as a jazz musician, founding a Paul Kuhn Trio and (from 2000 onwards) touring with fellow band leaders Max Greger and Hugo Strasser along with the SWR Big Band. In 2010, he was awarded with the ECHO Jazz Prize for lifetime achievement.

EUROVISION SONG CONTEST

In 1957, Paul Kuhn was one of the candidates to be the West German representative in the Eurovision Song Contest, but he came third in a preselection won by Margot Hielscher. Four years later, he had an involvement as the arranger of his country's entry, 'Einmal sehen wir uns wieder', which was performed by Lale Andersen.

In 1972, the West German Eurovision heats were held in West Berlin and Paul Kuhn and his SFB Big Band accompanied all contestants. The Vorentscheid was won by Mary Roos and her powerful effort ‘Nur die Liebe lässt uns leben’, which had been arranged by Jo Plée. Paul Kuhn also conducted the orchestra in the Eurovision finals in Edinburgh for Mary Roos, where she came third in a field of 18 contestants.

EUROVISION INVOLVEMENT YEAR BY YEAR

Country – West Germany
Song title – “Einmal sehen wir uns wieder”
Rendition – Lale Andersen
Lyrics – Ernst Bader
Composition – Rudolf Maluck
Studio arrangement – Paul Kuhn
Live orchestration – Paul Kuhn
Conductor – Franck Pourcel (MD)
Score – 13th place (3 votes)

Country – West Germany
Song title – "Nur die Liebe lässt uns leben"
Rendition – Mary Roos 
Lyrics – Joachim Relin
Composition – Joachim Heider
Studio arrangement – Jo Plée
Live orchestration – Jo Plée
Conductor – Paul Kuhn
Score – 3rd place (107 votes)

No comments:

Post a Comment