Georg Franz Danzer (7 October 1946, in Vienna – 21 June 2007, in Asperhofen, Lower Austria) was an Austrian singer-songwriter. Although he is credited as one of the pioneers of Austropop (most famous are his comic songs "Jö schau" (about a streaker at the Café Hawelka) and "Hupf' in Gatsch", both in Viennese German), he always refused to be part of this genre.
Danzer was successful as a solo artist, but also in the group Austria3, along with Wolfgang Ambros and Rainhard Fendrich. Besides his music, he translated two books from Spanish into German, and was strongly involved in highlighting social inequalities, opposing racism and any form of societal discrimination, and the lifestyle of the bourgeoisie for all his life. Danzer was romantic, funny, socially engaged – and often a misfit. Having been a strong smoker for decades, he abstained from smoking after being diagnosed with lung cancer, but nevertheless died from the disease. His legacy includes some 400 songs.
Early life and education
Georg Danzer was the son of a communist Viennese magistrate. After his Matura (high school leaving certificate) he hitchhiked through Germany, the Netherlands and Italy. In autumn 1966 he applied for admission to the Academy of Fine Arts Vienna, but was not accepted; so instead he started studying Philosophy and Psychology in Vienna. In a 1968 ORF-Interview he stated his intention to study Journalism, to which moderator Gerhard Bronner replied: "Shift to music soon, young man“.
Career
Beginnings; „Jö schau“, 1967–79
In 1967 Danzer had started to write and play music after he returned from a longer hitchhiking tour of Crete, Hamburg, and Sweden. The next year he released his first single, Vera, and appeared on Austrian broadcast, but did not get a contract. Hitradio Ö3 editor Eva-Maria Kaiser took notice of him in 1970, and suggested that he could make a living by writing lyrics for "almost everybody in Vienna". During the next three years he wrote texts for Marianne Mendt, Margot Werner, Erika Pluhar, André Heller, Wolfgang Ambros and the singer Wilfried. With Heller, Mendt and other young musicians, „Schurli" often met in Gerhard Bronner's Cabaret Fledermaus.
During this time, singer-songwriters began to sing in Viennese German or even slang, exemplified by hits such as Wia a Glock'n (Marianne Mendt 1970; lyrics: Gerhard Bronner) and Da Hofa (Wolfgang Ambros 1971; lyrics by Joesi Prokopetz. For a while, Danzer was a member of the band The Madcaps and wrote a couple of their songs, among them Schneemensch, Sommer is, John Wayne.
In 1973, Danzer released the album Honigmond, which Danzer partially financed himself and flopped. In 1974, the concept album Der Tätowierer und die Mondprinzessin was released together with a book whillich he ustrated. In 1975 Jö schau, a comic song about a streaker at the Café Hawelka, became a No 1 in the Austrian charts and stayed there for 20 weeks. In the same year the album Ollas leiwand (Slang for "Everything's all right") was released.
1976 brought good news for Danzer: his first daughter, Daniela, was born, and he got a contract with a major label Polydor. Furthermore, English Music Week "Star of the Year", and five of his songs formed the soundtrack for the first Kottan ermittelt TV series.
Danzer moved towards Germany. In Berlin, the album Unter die Haut was produced in 1977.
Popularity and crisis, 1979–1990
In 1979, the "Georg Danzer Tournee 79" included 32 shows, all of which had sold out. A double live album appeared in the following year. More successful albums soon followed (Traurig aber wahr 1980, Ruhe vor dem Sturm 1981). Even Austrians began to realize that Danzer was more than Jö schau. The ORF produced a 45-minutes feature, Danzer Direkt. In 1981, Danzer played 47 concerts solo (Live-Album Direkt), followed by an Open-Air-Tournee with Ludwig Hirsch, Konstantin Wecker, Chris de Burgh and Georges Moustaki. in 1982 he published Die gnädige Frau und das rote Reptil, a book with lyrics and prose. In 1983, Danzer was among the first German-language musicians who created a CD-album (…und so weiter).
In the summer of 1984, Danzer dissolved his band and went to Munich to produce Weiße Pferde. During the production of its video clip by Rudi Dolezal in Andalusia, he suffered a serious bike accident and had to be flown back to Vienna because of heavy injuries. In 1985, his wife Dagmara filed for divorce, his former manager disappeared, he got in trouble with the financial revenue services, and his contract with Polydor came to an end.