A Tale of 2 Schlager Girls: Shania Twain in Chicago & Helene Fischer in Berlin

July 23, 2016, 7:37 am

≫ Next: Ella Endlich Finally Begins to Focus - Her New Great Schlager Videos

It is so common that it is becoming tedious - but we are constantly being asked "Is there American schlager?"

Shania Twain in concert in Chicago

Well, you bet there is -- It is what we customarily call Country and Western music. And as Germanic schlager has moved more and more into the mainstream pop Germanic culture -- American C&W US music has likewise moved into the realm of "New Country" -- rather a fusion of traditional C&W and pop -- They're really beginning to look more and more the same - albeit in different languages.

If you doubt that, then, just look at these juxtaposed clips from outdoor open air concerts - both within a decade of each other in 2003 and 2013 respectively.

The 1st three singles are by the Canadian, international superstar, Shania Twain, as she performed before more than 100,000 Americans in Chicago's Grant Park in the summer of 2003.

The other is a full concert by German schlager superstar, Helene Fischer, when she performed at an open-air concert before 40,000 Germans, in Berlin, in 2013.

Helene Fischer in 2013 Berlin Open Air Concert

They are both very beautiful and talented women.

We'll have to let you decide who comes out on top.

Here's Shania Twain performing in Chicago's Grant Park in the summer of 2003. Wow! Isn't she one amazing Canadian girl?! Did you know that she is part Native American Indian? Did you know that she now lives in Switzerland?

Here is the German schlager superstar, Helene Fischer, performing a decade later in Berlin. She parlays a variety of - mostly American - (Bellamy Brothers, Arlo Guthrie, Gloria Gaynor) pop hits of the disco era, transformed into German:

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Ella Endlich Finally Begins to Focus - Her New Great Schlager Videos

September 28, 2016, 12:14 pm

≫ Next: Helene Fischer Goes Disney: Sings Title Song to Euro Version of Moana (Vaiana)

≪ Previous: A Tale of 2 Schlager Girls: Shania Twain in Chicago & Helene Fischer in Berlin

We have been rather ambivalent about the East German-born songstress, Ella Endlich - for two reasons.

Ella Endlich

First, because she has been so unfocused in her musical offerings.

And second, because Ella, a 2nd tier schlager performer refused our requests for interviews on 3 occasions (despite the fact that far more significant performers, such as Helene Fischer, respected us and sent us press passes to her concerts.)

The 2nd tier Ella Endlich thought herself so important that she rudely refused to speak to our CSMR girls in Linz, Austria and Dresden, Germany - all the while, superstar Helene Fischer was happy to talk to us.

Maybe this former, communist-born East German, Ella Endlich, (real name, Jacqueline Zebisch)
just hates Americans.

The former 2 hit wonder teen star from communist East Germany's Potsdam, has flirted with Jazz, Chanson , and a variety of odd, but very interesting , Germanic show-tunes -- all the while, trying to make it on the schlager circuit.

She did some interesting stuff, but she seemed rather like a square peg, trying to fit into a round hole.

She wasn't doing traditional schlager, but rather - interesting stuff that was all over the board. She called it "Neo-Schlager" and no one knew what the hell she was talking about -- and no one was buying it.

Now, in her 30s, apparently trying to overcome an admittedly interesting excursion into odd German creativity, she's finally decided to become a schlager music performer.

Ella Endlich during her eccentric 1940s retro mode

And she's finally decided to bag the rather eccentric 1940s retro dresses that tended to camouflage her rather formidably enticing figure.

And lo and behold, Ella Endlich has actually begun to produce some really good stuff. And to look really good.

Her attempt, this year, to represent Germany in the Eurovision Song Contest prompted her to do a purely schlager song - a cover of Austrian schlager singer, Alessa's, Adenalin.

With that rather boring tune, she came in 4th in the German pre-lims so didn't end up representing her country. But the accompanying video to that song, was probably the coolest she ever made.

However neurotic, she is unquestionably, a beautiful and wildly talented girl and she has probably never looked hotter than in that video.

Subsequent to that, she released another purely schlager single, Spuren auf dem Mond.

She really looks great and has finally seemed to have come into her natural schlager element.

Ella, dear - why did it take you so long?

Here is Ella Endlich in her new video release of her very schlager/dance, Spuren auf dem Mond (Footsteps on the Moon):

And here is a Ella Endlich's video performance of her ESC song entry, Adrenalin, in which she co-stars with her beloved '68 Volkswagen Bug :

For more information and videos on Ella Endlich you can go to several of our earlier Chicago Schlager Music Review articles on her:

http://chicagoschlager.blogspot.com/2012/09/the-beautiful-multitalented-ella-endlich.html

http://chicagoschlager.blogspot.com/2013/02/a-little-mid-winter-summer-breeze-from.html

http://chicagoschlager.blogspot.com/2014/06/ella-endlich-turns-30-still-crazy-after.html

Or to Ella Endlich's official website:

http://www.ellaendlich.de/

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Helene Fischer Goes Disney: Sings Title Song to Euro Version of Moana (Vaiana)

December 12, 2016, 8:05 pm

≫ Next: Merry Christmas - Fröhliche Weihnachten - from Austrian, Laura Kamhuber

≪ Previous: Ella Endlich Finally Begins to Focus - Her New Great Schlager Videos

German schlager/pop superstar, Helene Fischer, contracted with Disney/Deutschland to record the theme song to the hit Disney animated movie, Moana.

The movie is a big hit in the USA -- #1 in the box office for the past three weeks here -- it will be released in Germany on December 22nd.

Helene Fischer sings the theme song to the
German version of Disney's hit film Moana (Vaina)

Fischer's German language version of the film's theme song is an adaptation of Alessia Cara's US hit, How Far I'll Go, which was reconfigured into the German language for her as Ich Bin Bereit (I'm Ready).

For several reasons, Disney's animated treatment of South Pacific Polynesian characters, will be entitled Vaiana, in the European market.

First, the US film title, Moana, ran amiss of copyright laws in Spain, where others had previously registered it for an earlier project.

And second, Disney/Euro execs decided that Moana would have unsavory connotations in Italy, due to its similarity to the name of Italian porn star, turned politician, Moana Pozzi.

So it will be called Vaiana in Europe.

This seems a big step forward in the career of the beautiful and highly talented Rhinelander, Helene Fischer, who, in a few short years has emerged from being a simple schlager singer to becoming the #1 pop music star of Central Europe.

Alessia Cara's "How Far I'll Go"
has become a big hit in the US

The song in its American form, How Far I'll Go, has sold big-time.

But Alessia Cara's English language version, seems one of those rather predictable, angst-ridden, Millennial-generation offerings.

In contrast, we think Helene Fischer's more powerfully mellifluous voice, combined with a more full-bodied musical and choral backdrop, renders Ich Bin Bereit, the better musical offering.

You can judge for yourself:

Here's Helene Fischer's rendition of the theme song to the Euro version of the hit Disney movie, Moana (Vaiana in Europe) Ich Bin Bereit (I'm Ready):

Here's Alessia Cara's relatively subdued, original version of the theme song to Moana, How Far I'll Go. For some mysterious reason, it has become a big hit in the US and was nominated for a 2017 Golden Globe award. As could be expected, the video has Disney's very high cinematographic production values:

You can get more info on Helene Fischer by going to our extensive CSMR archive of articles on her, which can be accessed in the box on the upper right hand corner of the home page or by going to her personal website:

http://www.helene-fischer.de/

And more info on Alessia Cara can be garnered at her official website:

http://www.alessiacara.com/

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Merry Christmas - Fröhliche Weihnachten - from Austrian, Laura Kamhuber

December 23, 2016, 6:20 am

≫ Next: Celebrating New Year 2017 With Bernhard Brink and Ella Endlich

≪ Previous: Helene Fischer Goes Disney: Sings Title Song to Euro Version of Moana (Vaiana)

We used to call Laura Kamhuber the Austrian wunderkind, because she was such a cute little pre-teen girl, with a voice as powerful as Barbra Streisand's - or as strong as that of Laura's personal hero, Whitney Houston.

Laura Kamhuber

Well, she still has that wildly powerful voice - but she's not a little kid anymore. Now, she's an Austrian teen-aged girl.

And she's still putting out some really fantastic music.

That's why we're devoting our Weihnacht/Christmas issue to the music of Austria's Laura Kamhuber.

She almost won the intra-national competition to represent Austria in the Eurovision Song Contest this past year. But she lost by a paltry few votes, because the Luddite, old-line Austrian judges, wouldn't recognize the votes she got from Facebook.

Well, maybe that tells you why Austria is still a backwoods country, now incapable of defending itself from being overrun by muslim "refugees."

The girls in Laura Kamhuber's videos are very nice - and very talented. And we hope that their countrymen will have the wherewithal to defend them from the vile muslim invaders.

Laura and her cute Austrian friends - "The Muts Kids"

If they can't, we will be happy to arrange political asylum for them in the Free USA.

But Laura Kamhuber is extraordinarily talented -- and very popular on our American site.

And we are proud to have her (and her fellow Austrian "Muts Kids"), as our featured Christmas performers, for our readers, in the English-speaking world, Germany, and beyond.

Here's Laura Kamhuber with her pals from the very cute and well choreographed, "Muts Kids" doing a really great reprise of Brenda Lee's"Rockin' Around the Christmas Tree," from 1958. Interestingly, Brenda Lee, when she sang it, was only 13 years old -- younger than Laura is today. The song ultimately became a US and worldwide hit - and has sold over 25 million copies to date:

Here's Austrian Laura Kamhuber, backed by her neighborhood friends, "The Muts Kids" in her rendition of Mariah Carey's "All I Want for Christmas is You:

Here's Laura's solo Winter release from a few days ago, which really showcases her uniquely powerful voice, Ich glaube noch an Wunder (I Still Believe in Miracles):

To get more on Laura Kamhuber, go to our earlier CSMR articles on her:

http://chicagoschlager.blogspot.com/2015/03/little-wunderkind-with-big-voice-laura.html

http://chicagoschlager.blogspot.com/2016/02/schlager-girls-in-eurovision-song.html

or to Laura Kamhuber's official website:

http://laurakamhuber.at/

And Merry Christmas to you all from the Chicago Schlager Music Review - Hey! we're about to hit 1 million readers! Thanks, everybody.

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Celebrating New Year 2017 With Bernhard Brink and Ella Endlich

January 1, 2017, 5:26 am

≫ Next: Tina Anders Goes to the End of the Earth with a Great Schlager Song

≪ Previous: Merry Christmas - Fröhliche Weihnachten - from Austrian, Laura Kamhuber

As in years past, we're once again celebrating the New Year with Bernhard Brink's great medley of his hits as performed on the Musikstadl Silvester celebration.

And although it wasn't a New Year's event, we're also showcasing Ella Endlich's elegantly festive performance of her hit, Adrenaline, at the 2016 Starnacht open air concert in Neuseidler See, Austria.

Americans are approaching 2017 with a new level of optimism, and soaring stock prices in the wake of Donald Trump's election to the Presidency.

Britain, with its popular referendum to leave the EU, and Italy with the emergence of a new reform, independence-oriented government also have cause for optimism as does France, with the imminent emergence of a serious nationalistic administration.

Not so for Germans and Austrians, who have endured a series of attacks on their citizens, due to the 3rd World refugee influx. Germany, actually even cancelled a number of traditional New Year's Eve celebrations for fear of terrorist violence.

But the ever-optimistic schlager world marches on and will continue to produce new and dynamic musical offerings in 2017, which the Chicago Schlager Music Review will faithfully continue to chronicle, as we have in the preceding 5 years.

Here's Northern German, Bernhard Brink's super medley of his greatest hits from the 2009 Musikenstadl televised New Year's Eve presentation:

Here's Berliner, Ella Endlich's festive 2016 Austrian open air performance of her 2016 Eurovision Song Contest effort, Adrenalin:

Happy New Year 2017, from the Chicago Schlager Music Review!

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Tina Anders Goes to the End of the Earth with a Great Schlager Song

January 9, 2017, 3:10 am

≫ Next: Ultra-Talented Sabrina Sauder Making Great Sounds in Switzerland

≪ Previous: Celebrating New Year 2017 With Bernhard Brink and Ella Endlich

One of our favorite schlager singers is Tina Anders who is from the Southeastern part of Austria.

Austrian Schlager Star Tina Anders

She has a totally smashing and wildly mellifluous voice - and stays true to the traditional strains and sound of schlager music.

Tina has been making major inroads commercially in Styria and other parts of Austria, with major advertising endorsements.

Her - really great video - Bis Ans Ende Der Welt (To the Ends of the Earth) is really wonderful and exemplary of the great stuff Tina has produced over the past few years.

And her voice is just so beautiful!

The 2015 video contains very pretty scenes of the late Autumn - early Winter Austrian countryside.

And she just released a more urban flavored video of her new single, Feuermond (Fire Moon). The song contains a throbbing schlager beat, replete with saxaphone accents.

Here's Tina Anders with her very enjoyable new video, Bis Ans Ende Der Welt (To the ends of the Earth):

Here's Tina Anders 2016 urban flavored schlager release, Feuermond (Fire Moon). We bet you didn't know that urban American tagging and graffiti art had spread to Austria:

You can get more on Tina Anders at our earlier Chicago Schlager Music Review articles on her:

http://chicagoschlager.blogspot.com/2011/09/tina-anders-compelling-austrian.html

http://chicagoschlager.blogspot.com/2012/04/tina-anders-daring-new-release.html

Or at her official Tina Anders website:

http://www.tina-anders.com/

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Ultra-Talented Sabrina Sauder Making Great Sounds in Switzerland

January 16, 2017, 3:08 am

≫ Next: Helene Fischer with Elvis' Ghost and an Aging Tom Jones

≪ Previous: Tina Anders Goes to the End of the Earth with a Great Schlager Song

When we first discovered Swiss musician and schlager singer, Sabrina Sauder more than four years ago, we were immediately struck by her wide range of talents.

Sabrina Sauder

The Bischofszell native plays the classical and pop/rock flute (she once performed with Ian Anderson of Jethro Tull) as well as the piano and has an incredibly powerful and soulful voice. She almost seemed too talented to be in the schlager genre.

While her songs were strikingly good, her early videos were somewhat simple. But recently, Sabrina underwent a personal stylistic makeover, and she now has fused that new look with well-produced video efforts which showcase her really top-notch schlager vocals.

As in the past, Sabrina Sauder injects her trademark flute accents into her music - sui generis for schlager music - and it really sets her apart in an interesting way.

We're happy to discover that over the past year, Sauder has, at last, commercially, been getting her just rewards.

Her late 2016, Liebst Du Mich album has entered the top 30 on the general Swiss sales charts and is #1 on the Swiss schlager charts.

She's become a regular presence on the Swiss schlager TV circuit and gets loads of radio airplay on SRF and Radio Melody.

She'll be on Swiss TV again in March on the 'Samschtig Jass'show and her people are more intensively trying to get her to break into the far larger German music market.

That's a tough trick for a Swiss performer, given national biases in the music industry. But Beatrice Egli and Francine Jordi have done it and we're betting that the ultra-talented, Sabrina Sauder, will be the next Swiss performer to pull it off.

Here's the title cut to Sabrina Sauder's, Liebst Du Mich (Do you love me) album, which has hit #1 on the Swiss schlager charts:

Here's Sabrina Sauder's Gluckskind (Ole,Ole,Ole) (Darling of Luck) which has been adopted as team anthem by the Wettingen soccer club in the Swiss canton of Aargau. (If you look closely, in several shots, you'll see that Sabrina is wearing a Chicago Bears football jersey beneath her sportcoat):

Here's the lively schlager/dance, Schwerelos (Weightless) from Sabrina Sauder's new album:

You can get more information on Sabrina Sauder at our earlier Chicago Schlager Music Review articles on her:

http://chicagoschlager.blogspot.com/2015/05/sabrina-sauders-dynamic-new-schlager.html

http://chicagoschlager.blogspot.com/2012/12/joyeux-noel-from-switzerland-sabrina.html

Or at Sabrina Sauder's official website:

https://sabrinasauder.ch/

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Helene Fischer with Elvis' Ghost and an Aging Tom Jones

January 31, 2017, 4:09 am

≫ Next: Andrea Berg: New Look, New Tour, Same Solid Schlager Sound

≪ Previous: Ultra-Talented Sabrina Sauder Making Great Sounds in Switzerland

The peculiar German fascination with bad Anglo/American pop was taken to new depths by German pop/schlager superstar, Helene Fischer, during her latest Christmas Day ZDF-TV variety show.

Helene Fischer and the Ghost of Elvis

There, taking a stylistic page from the late Natalie Cole, who produced a ground-breaking recording in 1992, which juxtaposed her voice to that of her deceased father, the great Nat King Cole, singing Unforgettable - Helene Fischer juxtposed her voice to a recording of the great American King of Rock, Elvis Presley.

It was hardly one of Elvis' big hits - a rather nondescript throw-away song entitled, "Let's Pretend."

But it's cute to see how greatly Helene Fischer's English language performances have improved.

Certainly, she's improved since her dreadful, highly accented, and idiotically entitled, "The English Ones," album from 2010.

Additionally, Tom Jones appeared live with Helene Fischer on her German TV show, performing a truly preposterous song, entitled, "Sex Bomb."

Tom Jones, a native of Wales, hit it really big in the USA and the UK during the mid-1960's."What's New Pussycat", "She's A Lady" and "It's Not Unusual," were huge hits in the English-speaking world. In fact he became such a male sex symbol of that era, that his female fans would throw their panties onto his stage during his performances.

Maybe, today, he needs the money, but he was once very good and wildly dynamic - and it is sad to see him reduced to this.

Helene is drifting further and further from her cute, and quite endearing schlager music roots. She is obviously beautiful and quite talented. But if her handlers think this is going to get her to break into the #1 American music market - they are sadly mistaken.

This stuff, by American standards, is gauche.

Here Helene Fischer sings a duet with the ghost of Elvis Presley - one of his more nondescript songs, "Let's Pretend":

Here Helene Fischer sings a live on-stage effort with Welsh 60's pop star, Tom Jones, "Sex Bomb" a rather tacky (almost un-listenable) song that was virtually unheard of in the USA, despite Tom Jones' 1960's success in the market here. Oddly, under various covers, it has been big in the German music market:

And here is the ground-breaking song which first juxtaposed a deceased legendary singer with a living one. Nat King Cole and his daughter Natalie Cole with "Unforgettable." It became the US chart "Song of the Year" for 1992:

You can get more on Helene Fischer by searching our extensive Chicago Schlager Music Review archive of articles on her. Go to the search field on the upper right hand corner of the CSMR home page.

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Andrea Berg: New Look, New Tour, Same Solid Schlager Sound

February 16, 2017, 12:42 pm

≫ Next: Now Solo, Vanessa Mai Getting Big in German Music Market

≪ Previous: Helene Fischer with Elvis' Ghost and an Aging Tom Jones

Like a fine wine, schlager superstar Andrea Berg gets better and better with each passing year. And her fan base just seems to be growing and growing.

The new look Andrea Berg

The former emergency room nurse from Anspach in the Southwest of Germany played to a packed house in Cologne in October and took her new "Seelenbeben" show on the road early this year to venues in Germany, Austria and Switzerland.

She's updated her look to a more simple, hip form. Gone are the garish, elaborate costumes of her Piraten tour and now she looks cleanly downscaled and better than ever.

Her Seelenbeben album is breaking all kinds of German sales records - with it and all her records combined, Andrea Berg's been on the best selling album charts for 976 weeks, now, and combined with 24 weeks on the singles charts, she is clearly within shooting distance of a new all-time German record for sales success.

Having played to packed houses in Munich, Cologne and Bremen, earlier this month Andrea will be wrapping up her February tour with stops in Hamburg and Magdeburg in the coming days.

Andrea Berg's fans have an almost cult-like devotion to her and when you see their reaction to her live performances, you can't help but wonder if she isn't still bigger than Helene Fischer.

Here's the new look Andrea Berg performing a medley of her hits while on tour, earlier this month:

You can really get a sense of Andrea's fan devotion in this clip of her performing her single Kilimandscharo und Ein Tag mit Dir im Paradies (Kilimanjaro and a Day in Paradise with You) along with a medley of her other hits:

You can get more on Andrea Berg from our earlier Chicago Schlager Music Review articles on her:

http://chicagoschlager.blogspot.com/2014/01/andrea-berg-sings-in-english-visits.html

http://chicagoschlager.blogspot.com/2014/09/an-inside-look-at-andrea-bergs-home-and.html

http://chicagoschlager.blogspot.com/2011/05/early-andrea-berg.html

Or at the official Andrea Berg website:

http://www.andrea-berg.de/home.html

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Now Solo, Vanessa Mai Getting Big in German Music Market

February 21, 2017, 10:39 pm

≫ Next: AnaJuwelana: Hot New Girl Group from Germany

≪ Previous: Andrea Berg: New Look, New Tour, Same Solid Schlager Sound

More than 2 years ago, when Vanessa Mai became the lead singer for Southwest Germany's Wolkenfrei, the Chicago Schlager Music Review was the first publication to showcase her talents in the English-speaking world.

Vanessa Mai

Her videos were remarkably primitive, back then, when she was accompanied 2 journeymen musicians, in the group, Wolkenfrei.

Back then, Chicago Schlager Music Review, presciently predicted that her talents and poised persona, were such, that she would very soon go solo.

She put out a few further more videos with Wolkenfrei, that were, primitive, but a trifle less so.

Then she romantically hooked up with one of the boys from the Ferber family, which manages schlager superstar, Andrea Berg - he got her a contract with Sony-EU records, and - just as we predicted, she dumped the musicians who gave her, her first break.

Well, after all, isn't that the same cutthroat move that Madonna made, early in her career?

So, we were certainly right. In short order, she soon abandoned the two older journeymen, SW German musicians, Marc Fischer and Stefan Kinski - who gave her - her first break with their group Wolkenfrei- and Vanessa Mai unceremoniously dumped them and went out on her own.

Since then, Vanessa Mai’s popularity seems to have increased substantially in her native Germany and, to a lessor extent, in the smaller Austrian and Swiss music markets. The new Vanessa Mai fan club, tells CSMR that they now boast a somewhat substantial fan base in those music markets.

At the televised Schlager Champions Music Show held in January 2017 Vanessa Mai won, the Die 1 der Besten, award, that is: One of the Best Newcomers.

To gain that award at the competition, The Baden-Wurttemberg native, Vanessa Mai, sang her Ohne Dich (For You), a cover of an 80’s song by the famous and mellifluous Bavarian pop group, Münchener Freiheit.

She continues to do somewhat well on schlager music charts and could quite possibly become a leading light on the schlager music circuit.

This, despite the fact that, some Southwest German schlager fans, still resent her cavalier abandonment of the two seasoned performers, who embraced the young Italo-German girl, and gave her her first chance.

Here's Vanessa Mai's throbbing schlager/dance song “Ich sterb für dich” (I'm dying for you) The Italian-German girl looks really great, here, after she became a bleached blonde:

Here's Vanessa Mai's new, rather sleepy ballad, " Ohne Dich" (Without You):

You can get more info on Vanessa Mai at our previous Chicago Schlager Music Review articles on her:

http://chicagoschlager.blogspot.com/2014/06/vanessa-mai-wolkenfrei-picking-up-steam.html

http://chicagoschlager.blogspot.com/2014/01/andrea-berg-incs-new-concoction.html

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AnaJuwelana: Hot New Girl Group from Germany

March 15, 2017, 5:33 pm

≫ Next: Ella Endlich in English with Faith Hill's "There You'll Be" Theme to "Pearl Harbor"

≪ Previous: Now Solo, Vanessa Mai Getting Big in German Music Market

This is AnaJuwelana.
AnaJuwelana

OK, we don't know a whole lot about this new girl group from Germany, other than that when we first saw them, we were amazed at their energy and vibrance.

And we instinctively liked them, as most Americans naturally would.

They're 3 hot chicks, reasonably talented, named Michelle, Vanessa and Pia and are all from Northern German cities: Hamburg, Bremen and Hannover, respectively.

Their handlers tell us that they work as dancers, actresses and secretaries. They've been signed to a minor record label.

This is AnaJuwelana's only video to date - but it is a totally fun schlager/dance song and they are girls who are definitely worth keeping an eye on.

Here's AnaJuwelana in their first video Lebensbeat (Love Beat) - if you're around college age, they are definitely the kind of girls you'd like to party with.

We can't refer you to their website, or email address - since they don't have one. They are a manufactured group - just like the manufactured boy-bands in the US, during the 90s.

But they are cute - and maybe they'll be around for a while. We'll see.

This is AnaJuwelana and if they ever get a website, we'll let you know.

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Ella Endlich in English with Faith Hill's "There You'll Be" Theme to "Pearl Harbor"

March 26, 2017, 11:00 pm

≫ Next: Chicago Schlager Music Review's 6th Anniversary: Best Schlager Videos of the Year

≪ Previous: AnaJuwelana: Hot New Girl Group from Germany

By Tom Faber
CSMR Editor

CHICAGO, USA -- After her recent embrace of mainstream Germanic schlager/pop, keynoted by her very successful Adrenalin single, the eclectic Ella Endlich has reverted to make another foray into English-language pop.

Ella Endlich

This time it's with her version of the theme song to the 2001 Hollywood movie, Pearl Harbor, There You'll Be.

(The film was a critical disaster, yet a commercial success. A romantic/historical treatment of the early days of US involvement in WWII - it was as long on romance as it was short on historical accuracy.)

The East-German born, 33 year old, Endlich, has performed songs from the American "Adult Contemporary" pop charts, in English, on more than a few previous occasions, with mixed artistic success.

Over the past two years, she made an, odd selection, but interesting enough cover of the gay anthem fromLa Cage aux Folles, I am what I am, and a preposterous cover of Frank and Nancy Sinatra's, Somethin' Stupid.

This time around, her entry into American pop, which she released 10 days ago, is There You'll Be.

Faith Hill in "Pearl Harbor" video

Clearly it's the best of this ilk that we have seen her do. Endlich reaches her full Streisand-like, vocal virtuosity in this song, which, of course was not possible, in her recent schlager/pop releases, due to the inherent musical constraints of the genre.

There You'll Be, a romantic ballad of lost love, was recorded by American "New Country" C&W star, Faith Hill in 2001, who took it to #10 in the US, #3 in the UK and #1 in Canada.

Interestingly, the original Faith Hill recording was on the US Warner Brothers recording label, and Ella Endlich is signed to Warner Brothers - Europe, which may explain Endlich's choice of this particular English language song.

Below, we juxtapose videos of Ella Endlich's and Faith Hill's respective treatments of the romantic ballad, There You'll Be, as well as a new German language offering from Endlich's, Live Studio Sessions, Ein Goldener Kafig (A Golden Cage).

(Nici McRied contributed to this article from London, England)

Here's Ella Endlich's new, There You'll Be - from her "Live Studio Sessions"

Here's the original version of There You'll Be, by US C&W star, Faith Hill which first appeared on the 2001 Pearl Harbor movie musical soundtrack album. The video was produced by Michael Bay, who directed the Pearl Harbor film:

Ella Endlich's true vocal power is again apparent in a recent German language release from her "Live Studio Sessions,"Ein Goldener Kafig (A Golden Cage):

You can get more on Ella Endlich at any of our many Chicago Schlager Music Review articles on her, by typing her name into the search field in the upper right corner of the CSMR home page.

You can get more info on Faith Hill by looking at what CSMR has done on her in the past:

https://chicagoschlager.blogspot.com/2014/10/country-western-music-with-schlager.html

Or at the official Faith Hill website:

http://www.faithhill.com/

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Chicago Schlager Music Review's 6th Anniversary: Best Schlager Videos of the Year

April 3, 2017, 2:57 am

≫ Next: Romina Power and Albano Carrisi Celebrate America and Frank Sinatra

≪ Previous: Ella Endlich in English with Faith Hill's "There You'll Be" Theme to "Pearl Harbor"

By Tom Faber
CSMR Editor

Chicago, USA -- As in all the years past, we today write our annual anniversary issue.

Actually, our anniversary is March 12th - but we held off a bit on this for 2017, because we were on the cusp of hitting 1 million all-time readers. And on March 29th, we did just that.

Another Championship Year!

One million English-speaking readers on schlager music - AMAZING!

When we formed this little venture on a cold, grey Chicago Saturday in 2011 - we thought it just a whim. We had no, even vague conception that schlager music would be so popular in the English-speaking world as to someday reach 1 million readers - but it did.

And we thank you all for bringing that about.

We also thank our very talented writers from innumerable cities in the United States, from the UK, Australia, Germany and Austria - for their keen insights and good writing that made this all possible.

I Wish They All Could Be (like) Chicago Girls!

We are highly appreciative of all of our devoted readers, who have spanned the breadth of the English-speaking world, from the Melanesian Islands to Sri Lanka, and with Australia, Canada, Ireland, the USA and Great Britain in between.

Also, hats off to our great Chicago Schlager Music Review, English-speaking readers, from Germany, Austria, France, Italy, Russia, Holland, the Ukraine and other parts of Continental Europe, who have been an important and integral part of our readership.

It's been great fun, this past year - so let's celebrate!

As in years past, we are now publishing the best schlager music videos of the past year.

Let's Go!

In January, we published an article on the beautiful, and highly talented Tyrolean schlager singer, Laura Bianca Fuchs. She's a single mom and a strong-minded entrepreneur who runs an annual schlager festival at her parents' hotel which is in the shadows of the Austrian Alps. We published her video, "Pure Phantasie" which is part of her new 2017 CD and we think it one of the best of the year:

Early in the year, we published the beautiful Helene Fischer's Ist Doch Kein Wunder (It's no wonder - that I love you). We caught a lot of flak, because this was one of her schlager songs from a few years back - but it shows Helene at her native schlager music best, and it turned out to be one of the most popular videos that we put up all year:

In mid-summer, we ran an article which discussed whether or not there was American schlager music. We argued that there was - and that it was American C&W music. We juxtaposed this video of Shania Twain performing in Chicago (next to a video of Helene Fischer performing in Berlin) and it proved to be one of our most popular videos of the year:

At Christmastime, we had to put up some Weihnachten music, and Laura Kamhuber from Austria - along with her little neighborhood friends, provided the best - it was one of our best videos of the year:

And in the late fall, we put up a story on the beautiful East-German, Ella Endlich's decision to embrace schlager music after all her years of flirting with various European arty music forms. Well this year, she did finally embrace schlager, and we were delightfully surprised to see her "Adrenalin" performance, which ranked as one of our best videos of the year:

So that's it for our 6th year, for 2016. Thanks to all of you for sticking with us, and we promise to keep the schlager coming, here at the world's only source of information on Germanic schlager music in the English language - The Chicago Schlager Music Review.

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Romina Power and Albano Carrisi Celebrate America and Frank Sinatra

April 10, 2017, 2:13 am

≫ Next: IL Volo - Making Euro Schlager Hip

≪ Previous: Chicago Schlager Music Review's 6th Anniversary: Best Schlager Videos of the Year

Albano Carrisi and Romina Power are clearly back together, professionally, although romantically - no one is quite sure.

Albano Carrisi and Romina Power Today

After a marriage of 29 years, the internationally successful schlager power couple divorced in 1999 due to the stress from the mysterious 1994 disappearance of their daughter, Ylenia, in New Orleans.

In the intervening years, Albano appeared on stage reprising their hits, with women as diverse as his daughter, Cristel Carrisi and German schlager/pop star, Helene Fischer - filling in for Romina.

But in 2013, Albano and Romina first reunited on-stage. They first appeared together, only sporadically. But over the past 3 years, the pace has picked up considerably with joint appearances in places as diverse as Verona, Italy and New Jersey, USA.

As for a romantic reunion between Albano and Romina, it seems to be anyone's guess. Italian tabloids, of questionable veracity, have suggested as much, but there is no conclusive proof.

During their 70s heyday

Romina Power, the daughter of American movie idol, Tyrone Power, and a Mexican mother, resides in Arizona where she has been involved in environmental concerns.

In fact, if you look closely at the following videos, you'll see that Romina is wearing turquoise jewelry - something that is quite specific to the American Southwest.

Albano Carrisi and Romina Power, despite, perhaps, having lost a bit of vocal clarity (as did Frank Sinatra in the 90s), seem as powerfully attractive today, as ever.

As performed live in Verona, Italy, Romina Power, daughter of the American movie star, Tyrone Power, and now a resident of Arizona, sings her very pretty paean to the USA, America, America with her longtime husband and artistic partner, Albano Carissi, looking on:

And here Romina Power and Albano Carissi - from the same concert in Verona, Italy - collaborate on an Italian language version of the great American/Italian superstars, Frank and Nancy Sinatra's 1966 hit, "Somethin' Stupid":

And here, in the same Verona concert, Romina and Albano reprised their classic San Remo Song Festival winning hit, Ci Sara (What will be) :

Here in October of last year, they performed on a televised German ARD-TV schlager music special, their classic hit Felicita (Happiness) which hit #1 in Italy and #6 in Germany in 1982:

You can get more on Albano Carrisi and Romina Power at our previous Chicago Schlager Music Review articles on them:

http://chicagoschlager.blogspot.com/2011/10/italian-schlager-stars-albano-carrisi.html

http://chicagoschlager.blogspot.com/2013/08/romina-power-and-albano-carrisi.html

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IL Volo - Making Euro Schlager Hip

April 17, 2017, 3:00 am

≫ Next: Ella Endlich Back in US Pop Mode: Does a Great Cover of Streisand

≪ Previous: Romina Power and Albano Carrisi Celebrate America and Frank Sinatra

By Carolyn Bamberger
CSMR Correspondent

Madison, WI, USA -- If you can imagine the renowned Italian 3 tenors, in a hip millennial generational mode- then you've got the Italian trio, IL Volo.

These guys have been taking the world by storm.

IL Volo

They won the Italian San Remo music festival in 2015 and represented Italy in the Eurovision Song Contest, that same year. They only hit 3rd place there - but actually came in 1st in the ESC on-line and telephonic voting.

(This is something that CSMR has addressed earlier as younger contestants - like Italy's IL Volo and Austria's Laura Kamhuber, have been shortchanged by the ESC's Luddite voting methods.)

These guys have been all over the place.

They have been on American Public Broadcasting - they have performed in venues as widely dispersed as Frankfurt, Germany - Vienna, Austria - Chicago, USA - and even sang the US national anthem at Dodgers' Stadium at an American baseball game in Los Angeles.

They sang at the Columbus Day parade in New York City in 2015. In 2011, when very young, they sang a Christmas song on the NBC Tonight Show, with Jay Leno in Hollywood.

They sing predominately in Italian, but sometimes in Spanish (a similar Romance language,) and occasionally in English.

They have wildly powerful voices, (they have accompanied one of the 3 tenors, Placido Domingo) and they have put their own music to some really hip videos.

Who are they?

They are Gianluca Ginoble, Piero Barone and Ignazio Boschetto.

Barone and Boschetto are Sicilians and Ginoble is from the Southern mainland of Italy - just east of Rome.

They first got together on an Italian televised talent show in 2009. And they were so wildly acclaimed that, one year later, they were invited to compose their first CD at the Abbey Road recording studios in London (founded and funded by the Beatles.)

There seems no stopping these boys. They are genuinely engaging, incredibly talented - and a really hip addition to the schlager music realm.

Keep an eye on IL Volo.

They're going to be around for a while.

(Rhonda Wyse from Chicago IL, USA, contributed to this article.)

Here is IL Volo in one of their best, recent videos, Grande Amore (Great Love):

Here is IL Volo's release from a bit over a year ago. L'Amore si muove (Love moves on). The video has a passionate, gritty quality that you don't often see in Euro schlager music:

And here, as performed last month at Radio City Music Hall, in New York City, IL Novo reprise the great American/Italian, Frank Sinatra's, My Way:

You can get more on IL Volo, their CDs, downloads and upcoming concert appearances in the USA and Europe, at their official website:

http://www.ilvolomusic.com/

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Ella Endlich Back in US Pop Mode: Does a Great Cover of Streisand

April 24, 2017, 12:07 am

≫ Next: France Gall - Pop Legend in France and Germany

≪ Previous: IL Volo - Making Euro Schlager Hip

By Tom Faber
CSMR Editor

Chicago, USA -- One of our correspondents from London, wrote us and told us about the German pop singer - Ella Endlich's cover of American Country and Western music.

Ella Endlich Reverts to American Pop

In the course of researching that - we also discovered that Ella Endlich also just did a cover of US pop music legend, Barbra Streisand's '73 hit, The way we were.

We have been big fans of Ella Endlich for 5 years now (although ambivalently, at times, because the communist-born East German has not been friendly to our American writers.)

Ella Endlich has a remarkably powerful voice, and an incredible vocal range.

Over lunch, I recently told my Chicago lawyer, that if there was any person in all of Europe, who was comparable to Barbra Streisand -- it was Germany's Ella Endlich.

And in a recent CSMRarticle, we wrote that she had a Streisand-like vocal quality.

We won't go so far as to call ourselves prescient - or clairvoyant - but lo and behold, Ella Endlich just did a cover of Streisand's '73 smash hit, "The Way We Were."
Barbra Streisand

And she really wasn't far off the mark.

Barbra - you're out in California - and getting old. Look out! A girl from Germany just might be gaining on you!

One of the things you will note in this Ella Endlich video, is that her command of the English language, is significantly better than that of schlager superstar, Helene Fischer's. Also, Ella Endlich injects jazz-like accents into the end of the song.

She hasn't quite attained Barbra Streisand's talent level. But she's not all that far behind.

What a truly remarkable voice!

(Nici McRied and Dr. David Mann MD contributed to this article from London, England and Denver, Colorado, USA - respectively)

Here's Germany's Ella Endlich in her English language version of Marvin Hammlisch's 1974 Grammy award winning hit, The Way We Were:

Here is Barbra Streisand's original version of "The Way We Were." It was from the 1973 movie, of that same name. The song won 2 Grammy Awards for its composer, Marvin Hammlisch, and was voted the #8 US film song of all-time by the American Film Institute, in Washington, D.C.:

You can get more on Ella Endlich at our numerous earlier Chicago Schlager Music Review articles on her:

http://chicagoschlager.blogspot.com/2012/09/the-beautiful-multitalented-ella-endlich.html

http://chicagoschlager.blogspot.com/2013/02/a-little-mid-winter-summer-breeze-from.html

http://chicagoschlager.blogspot.com/2014/06/ella-endlich-turns-30-still-crazy-after.html

Or at her official Ella Endlich website:

http://www.ellaendlich.de/

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France Gall - Pop Legend in France and Germany

April 30, 2017, 11:10 pm

≫ Next: Christa Fartek's Musical Makeover: Blending Schlager and Country Music

≪ Previous: Ella Endlich Back in US Pop Mode: Does a Great Cover of Streisand

By David Mann M.D.
CSMR Correspondent

PARKER, CO -- USA -- France Gall is one of a number of non-German singers, who having moved into the Germanic schlager realm, achieved substantial commercial and popular success there -- just like Italians, Gigliola Cinquetti, and Albano Carrisi and Romina Power.
France Gall

France was born, Isabelle Geneviève Marie Anne Gall, in 1947 in Paris. In her teens, she recorded a series of popular French yé-yé songs starting at age 16.

Soon thereafter, she attained pan-European stardom in 1965, when she won the Eurovision Song Contest, representing Luxembourg, with Poupée de cire, poupée de son ("Wax Doll, Rag Doll") written by the legendary French songwriter Serge Gainsbourg.

Listening to the recording, one might very easily agree with her musical mentor and lover at the time, Claude François, that she sang a bit off key.

François, is best known to Americans for the song Comme D'habitude -- which in America was adopted by Frank Sinatra, after Paul Anka adapted the lyrics into English to become the classic My Way.

Francois subsequently split up with Gall, apparently unable to handle a singer (and mistress) whose success could transcend his own career - which it eventually did..

Despite France Gall's unique, non-traditional, little girl's voice, her '65 ESC winning song became a big hit, selling half a million records in her native country and propelling her to pan-European fame.

Young France Gall's professional relationship with her songwriter, Serge Gainsbourg brought her both fame and trouble. Gainsbourg, was known for his racy lyrics filled with sexual innuendo and double entendres.

He wrote a song entitled Les Sucettes ("The Lollipops") which the innocent teen aged France performed without realizing the obvious reference in the lyrics to unconventional sexual practices.

Later on France Gall admitted to being embarrassed and humiliated when she found out the true meaning of the song. Unfortunately this and other missteps (usually involving Gainsbourg's bizarre songs) led to a diminishing of her popularity in France.

France Gall in Go-Go mode

Consequently, she turned her attention elsewhere -- to the, then growing, German pop/schlager market.

From the late 1960s to the mid 70s, France Gall was based in Germany.

There she achieved very great success in live performance and in recording. France Gall appeared on German television frequently, where she entered and frequently won various song contests.

Her success in Germany apparently helped restore her confidence, prompting her to return to France.

There, she married songwriter Michel Berger in 1976, and sang his songs exclusively from then on, which led to 24 albums and a long line of hits in France, which proceeded continuously until her retirement in 2004.

She also starred in a reasonably successful 1978 avant garde stage play, Made in France. In 2001, French television aired a well-received retrospective documentary on her career, France Gall Par France Gall.

Today she lives in Paris, where she has been involved in a variety of charitable endeavors.

Here is France Gall's 1965 Eurovision Song Contest-winning entry, Poupée de cire, poupée de son (Wax Doll, Musical Doll). It has a definite mid-60s Go-Go quality, albeit a bit off-key:

Here, from a German televised performance of the 1969 finals of the German Song Contest in Wiesbaden, Germany, France Gall performed Ein bißchen Goethe, ein bißchen Bonaparte (A bit of Goethe, a bit of Bonaparte):

Here's France Gall, from her German schlager/pop period, in 1969, singing, Ich Liebe Dich, So Wie du Bist (I love you the way you are). She seems to have held on to the waning mid-60s Go-Go sound, even though the Beatles broke up that year and Woodstock was happening that year in upstate New York:

France Gall got a little more au courant in 1971, with her Ali Baba Und Die 40 Räuber (Ali Baba and the 40 Thieves) which has a definite schlager backbeat:

You can get more on France Gall at a Facebook page maintained by her devoted fans:

https://fr-fr.facebook.com/francegall.net/

Or at the France Gall website:

http://francegall.biz/index.htm

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Christa Fartek's Musical Makeover: Blending Schlager and Country Music

May 8, 2017, 5:10 am

≫ Next: Helene Fischer's Battle of the Bulge

≪ Previous: France Gall - Pop Legend in France and Germany

It's been five years since we last took a look at Austrian Christa Fartek and she's done a lot since then.

Christa Fartek

She released 3 purely schlager albums in '08, '09 and '12 - and after a 4 year hiatus, another one in 2016.

They showcased her beautiful voice and got her plenty of radio play, however they met with mixed commercial success in the Austrian music market.

So in August of 2016, she teamed up with a new manager Werner Schneeweiss of the 3select Music label and he thought her formidable vocal talents best lent themselves to American-styled Country and Western music.

Subsequently, they produced a 14 cut C&W album entitled Don't Give Up, which certainly encapsulates Christa Fartek's overriding career philosphy.

It contains songs, sung in lightly accented English, with countrified titles and themes like, Guitars and Horses, Kansas Joe and I don't need a man.

Christa told CSMR that Canadian "new country" superstar Shania Twain was a motivating inspiration for her turn toward C&W.

The one-time seamstress from Graz also just cut an interesting C&W duet single, Liebe ist das stärkste Gefühl der Welt (Love is the strongest feeling in the world), with Euro country singer Jess Robin, which features Fartek singing in German and Robin responding in a Neil Diamond-like English voice.

Christa Fartek's switch over to Country has begun to bear fruit, as in October, she won the 2016 Austrian Country Music Federation's competition for "Newcomer of the Year." She recently took her new country act on the road with stage performances in Hungary and her native Austria.

We've been told before by several schlager artists, that C&W music has a somewhat limited popular appeal in the Germanic music market, a fact which prompted Germany's Schwesterherz to abandon it - despite a really top-notch country song in German - and to revert to pure schlager.

But times and tastes change and maybe, with her powerful voice and the quality songwriting apparent in her new Don't Give Up CD, Christa Fartek will finally make the major breakthough she's been tenaciously pursuing.

Here's a live stage performance of Guitars and Horses from her new Don't Give Up album as sung before the Austrian Country Music Festival's gala in late October in Haag am Hausruck, where Christa Fartek won the "Newcomer of the Year" Award:

Christa Fartek and Jess Robin conjoin English and German in this brief snippet from their new release, Liebe ist das stärkste Gefühl der Welt

You can listen to the 14 cuts from Christa Fartek's new Don't Give Up album on MP3s at her website:

http://www.christa-fartek.com/index.php/christa-fartek-musikalben/

And you can get more on Christa Fartek at our earlier CSMR profile of her:

http://chicagoschlager.blogspot.com/2012/02/christa-fartek-consummate-tyrolean.html

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Helene Fischer's Battle of the Bulge

May 15, 2017, 9:13 pm

≫ Next: A Truly Talented girl From Switzerland: Nathalie Weider

≪ Previous: Christa Fartek's Musical Makeover: Blending Schlager and Country Music

The sycophantic German schlager music publications won't say this, but they have no real freedom of the press in Germany - and we do in the free USA, so we will say it.

Helene Fischer is getting fat.

Yes, we're talking about the really beautiful Rhinelander who over the course of nine years, has emerged from being a simple schlager singer to becoming the top pop music singer in the Germanic music market.

One thing that Americans have always thought about German women is that they are very cute in their teens and twenties and maybe even early 30's.

Helene Fischer's Battle of the Bulge

But for some peculiar reason - just like Mexican girls - after a certain age, they seem to balloon and become - shall we say - somewhat hefty .

Maybe, in the case of German girls, it's from all that good bier and bratwurst - who knows?

It doesn't happen so much to American girls.

Maybe because our girls just like the open air and the beach and have begun to turn cycling and jogging into near-religious exercises.

But now - lo, and behold, even the 33 year old German, Soviet-born, Germanic schlager/pop superstar, Helene Fischer, is now moving in the direction of becoming a fat German haus frau.

She's now wearing, rather elongated, baggy dresses to effect the fat-girl cover up.

This is kind of sad!

But still you wouldn't necessarily kick the gorgeous German schlager/pop superstar, Helene Fischer, out of bed for eating crackers.

But just make sure you have a super king size bed so that there might be some room left for you to fit in there.

Here is the new overweight Helene Fischer performing a medley of her hits from a Swiss TV show, aired last week :

You can get more on Helene Fischer at our numerous Chicago Schlager Music Review articles on her, by going to the search field on the upper right hand corner of the CSMR home page.

And here is Helene Fischer's home page:

http://www.helene-fischer.de/landingpage/

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A Truly Talented girl From Switzerland: Nathalie Weider

May 31, 2017, 1:53 am

≫ Next: Italy's Legendary Schlager/Pop Bad Girl: Mina Mazzini

≪ Previous: Helene Fischer's Battle of the Bulge

By Tom Faber
CSMR Editor

Chicago- USA - Switzerland is only the #12 pop music market in the world -- it is behind the huge #4 German music market, but a trifle ahead of the #14 Austrian music market.

And they are all light-years behind the huge #1 USA pop music market and the secondary UK and Japanese pop music markets.

Nathalie Weider

But we have little enclaves of Swiss/American settlements in the US -places like New Glarus, Wisconsin (which this writer has visited) and the Swiss/Americans do seem to be very nice people.

We only occasionally cover Swiss pop/schlager performers - and only when we find a good one - and we believe that we have done that once again: her name is Nathalie Weider.

Nathalie Weider is from a little Swiss suburban village - not far from Zurich.

Like so many schlager singers - her dad was a musical performer, and brought her up in a musical context.

She attended Prep school in Switzerland and later went on to collegiate studies in business and marketing.

But her true love was music - and in that she excelled. And WOW! Did she ever!

What makes her truly interesting is that she is a huge tennis fan and actually sang at the Polish/Swiss tennis finals in Kreuzlingen, Switzerland, a few years ago and her song conjoined German and Polish lyrics - what a truly amazing and multi-talented girl!

She's not really schlager - but kind of rock/pop - but she is cute - and we really like her - so you can decide for yourselves.

Here's Nathalie Weider in her totally au courant pop/rock Drei Worte (Three Words) - She told CSMR that the grafitti that she put up with a magic marker on the elevator walls was all sent in by email from her fans:

Here's Nathalie Weider singing in both German and Polish at the Davis Cup tennis tournament road show in Kreuzlingen, Switzerland:

You can get more on Nathalie Weider - downloads, CDs and other information at her official website:

https://twitter.com/nathalieweider?lang=en

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