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André Heller

Born: 22 March 1947, Vienna

Austrian chanson singer, performance actor, composer, actor, writer and cultural manager.

In his early years, he was attracted by Vienna's literature scene, where he met Helmut Qualtinger and H.C. Artmann. In 1967 he started to work at the freshly started Austrian radio station Ö3 as radio presenter for the alternative show Ö3 Musicbox. One year later, in 1968 he released his first LP, mostly singing his own lyrics and combining them with typical viennese music and jazz. First success came with his second album Platte in 1970. In his career he worked with Astor Piazzolla, Freddie Hubbard and Chaka Khan, just to name a few. He also collaborated with the greatest singers and musicians of Austria and Germany, including Helmut Qualtinger, Ingfried Hoffmann and Peter Wolf. From 1970-1984 he was married to Erika Pluhar, who also released a couple of records with Hellers lyrics. In 1982, he stopped his musical career due to too much success, cause he didnt want to perform for audiences just because they had paid for it and not getting at the same time anymore fun out of it for himself. He released 14 albums. Afterwards he focused on theatre, what he had started parallel to his singing career. He activly played in several movies and theatre productions, as well realized own projects. He also founded "Zirkus Roncalli", designed "Swarovski Kristallwelten", created sculptures for the "World Cup 2006 in Germany" and worked on projects worldwide in countries like India, Israel, Morocco, Hongkong and Japan.

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