b. Johann Hölzel, 19 February 1957, Vienna, Austria, d. 6 February 1998, Puerto Plata, Dominican Republic. Using a droll mixture of German and English lyrics, Falco had several international hits in the 80s. After completing his studies at the Vienna Conservatoire, he played bass guitar in the punk band Drahdiwaberl, composing ‘Ganz Wien’ which appeared on their Psycho Terror in 1979, and was banned because it contained the line ‘all Vienna is on heroin today’. His solo career began in 1982 with the rap-style European hit ‘Der Kommissar’ and the controversial tale of prostitution ‘Jeanny’, which topped the German charts despite a complete radio ban. Falco’s first impact on the English-speaking world came with 1985’s ‘Rock Me Amadeus’. Co-written with Dutch producers Rob and Ferdi Bolland, the song’s zany mixture of speech and singing made it a US/UK chart-topper the following year at the same time as Falco 3 broke into the US Top 10. After releasing the rock ballad ‘Vienna Calling’, Falco returned to the ‘Amadeus’ mode on ‘The Sound Of Musik’, which was an attack on Austrian president Kurt Waldheim. Despite his collaboration with model and film star Brigitte Nielsen on ‘Body Next To Body’, Falco’s later records, such as ‘Titanic’ in 1992 were not successful outside German-speaking territories. Moving to the Dominican Republic for tax purposes, he was building his own recording studio when he was killed in a car accident in February 1998.
