LASZLO BENCKER

Born: November 16th, 1954, Budapest (Hungary)
Nationality: Hungarian

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

BIOGRAPHY

With his friend and fellow-student László ‘Leslie’ Mandoki, pianist and bass player László Bencker (pseudonym of László Szűcs) escaped from Hungary in the 1970s, after having been involved in Budapest’s students’ opposition against the communist regime. With Mandoki, who became a pop star in West Germany, he founded the Park Studios in Munich. Bencker has worked as a record producer and arranger since he came to Germany, working with artists such as Howard Carpendale, Placido Domingo, Engelbert Humperdinck, No Angels, Chaka Khan, Jennifer Rush, and – of course – Leslie Mandoki. He released several library music records under his own name, including ‘Lady Robot’.

EUROVISION SONG CONTEST

László Bencker arranged and conducted the 1987 West German entry in the Eurovision Song Contest held in Brussels, ‘Lass die Sonne in dein Herz’ by Wind. The song was composed by Ralph Siegel with lyrics by Bernd Meinunger. This effort finished second behind Ireland’s Johnny Logan and was a chart success in several European countries.

In 1988, Bencker also had a hand in the studio version of the German entry, 'Lied für einen Freund', another Siegel creation, for which he recorded the keyboard tracks in collaboration with Hermann Weindorf.

EUROVISION INVOLVEMENT YEAR BY YEAR

1987 Brussels

Country – West Germany

Song title – "Lass die Sonne in dein Herz"

Rendition – Wind  (= Alexander Heiler / Sami Kalifa / Christiane von Kutzschenbach / Andreas Lebbing / Robert Pilatus / Petra Scheeser)

Lyrics – Bernd Meinunger

Composition – Ralph Siegel

Studio arrangement – László Bencker

Live orchestration – László Bencker

Conductor – László Bencker

Score – 2nd place (141 votes)

1988 Dublin

Country – West Germany

Song title – “Lied für einen Freund”

Rendition – Maxi & Chris Garden

Lyrics – Bernd Meinunger

Composition – Ralph Siegel

Studio arrangement – Rainer Pietsch / Alfons Weindorf / László Bencker

Live orchestration – Michael Thatcher

Conductor – Michael Thatcher

Score – 14th place (48 votes)