Johann "Hans" Hölzel; 19 February 1957 – 6 February 1998), better known by his stage name Falco, was an Austrian singer and musician. He had several international hits including "Der Kommissar" (1981), "Rock Me Amadeus",[1] "Vienna Calling", "Jeanny", "The Sound of Musik", "Coming Home (Jeanny Part II, One Year Later)", and posthumously "Out of the Dark".
"Rock Me Amadeus" reached No. 1 on the Billboard charts in 1986, making Falco the only artist in history whose principal language was German, to score a vocal number-one hit in the United States. According to his estate, he has sold 20 million albums and 40 million singles, which makes him the best-selling Austrian singer of all time.
Also notable was his very early creation of a successful non-English language rap music song (Der Kommissar), recorded in December 1981
Most people know Falco for 'Rock me Amadeus' but admittedly I was well aware of him before that via Euro compilations that included his hit 'Der Kommissar'.
An excellent CD that really grows on you even if you only know 'Rock me Amadeus'. For those unfamiliar with his music, the songs are in Austrian (i.e. Standard German) with some songs having a "The Cars" sound and others a same period "Bowie" sound to them just to give you an idea of his diversity. Having said that, Falco is Falco and to sell him short by comparison to others is unfair. Listen to the sound bites of his songs and you will get an idea of how talented he is.
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