Rainhard Fendrich

Rainhard Jürgen Fendrich (born 27 February 1955, in Vienna) is an Austrian singer, composer, entertainer, and actor. He is one of the most successful Austropop musicians, and his songs are written in Viennese German. He is very popular in Austria, but less so in other German-speaking countries. In non-German-speaking countries he is little known. His song from 1990, "I Am from Austria" (its lyrics, except for the title, are in Viennese German) is still popular in Austria.

Rainhard Fendrich
Fendrich in concert with Austria3 in 2006.
Background information
Birth nameRainhard Jürgen Fendrich
Also known asRaini
Born (1955-02-27) 27 February 1955
OriginVienna, Austria
GenresPop, folk rock, new wave, austropop
Occupation(s)Musician, composer, actor, entertainer
InstrumentsGuitar
Years active1980–present
Associated actsAustria3
Websiterainhard-fendrich.at (in German)

Early life and education

Fendrich's mother was a Sudeten German while his father's family originated from Serbia. His father was a mechanical engineer, his mother a model.[1] He has a brother, Harald Fendrich, who is six years younger than him and also a musician who played the bass guitar in his band and is now part of WIR4 (Ulli Bäer, Gary Lux, Harry Stampfer).[2] At the age of ten, Fendrich was sent to a Catholic boarding school, where he lived until the age of 17. At the boarding school he was an altar boy and sang in the choir. His piano lessons were cancelled because he was too bad at mathematics.[3] According to his own statements, he thought he was "chubby" and not very attractive as a child.[4] When he got a guitar at the age of 15, he taught himself the chords and also began to write lyrics. Frustrating experiences with girls at that time find their expression later, for example in the songs Cyrano (1991) or Frieda (2001). He dropped out of law school in order to finance acting and singing lessons by working various jobs.

Career

In 1980, Fendrich performed in the musicals Die Gräfin vom Naschmarkt, in 1982 in Jesus Christ Superstar, Chicago (Billy Flynn, 1998), and he played Jeff Zodiak in the musical Wake Up, which he co-wrote with Harold Faltermeyer (and which failed) in 2002 (all of those in Vienna, Austria). He has appeared in numerous Austrian and German movies.

As an entertainer, he followed Rudi Carrell in the ARD TV show Herzblatt, was the first host of Die Millionenshow, the Austrian version of Who Wants to Be a Millionaire, and for a while had his own TV comedy show, Nix Is Fix, produced by ORF and ARD.

Fendrich received the Austrian Golden Romy award for TV entertainment. In 1994, 1995 and 2000, he was nominated for the Amadeus Austrian Music Award four times before winning it in 2002. Austrian NEWS magazine readers voted him "Best Entertainer of the Decade" in same year.

Donauinselfest, Vienna, 2007

In 1997, he gathered his friends, the Austrian singer-guitarists, Georg Danzer and Wolfgang Ambros for a beneficial concert to benefit homeless people. Their success was overwhelming, and the three individualists showed up on stage as Austria3 from that day, until they decided to stop that project in 2006. However, at Georg Danzer's comeback concert in Vienna on 16 April 2007, they met again for a few songs, and even "thought" in public about re-uniting in 2008. This can not happen, as Danzer died of lung cancer on 21 June 2007.

The concert on Donauinselfest which Fendrich gave "instead and for Georg Danzer" who a few weeks before the event had to refuse because of his rapidly progressing disease, attracted 200.000 fans on 23 June 2007.

Discography

Studio albums
Date Title Chart positions
GER
[5]		 AUT
[6]		 SWI
[7]
1980 Ich wollte nie einer von denen sein - 16 -
1981 Und alles is ganz anders word'n - 1 -
1982 Zwischen eins und vier - 1 -
1983 Auf und davon - 2 -
1985 Wien bei Nacht - 1 16
1986 Kein schöner Land - 3 -
1988 Voller Mond - 12 -
1989 Von Zeit zu Zeit - 3 -
1991 Nix is fix 44 1 -
1993 Brüder 64 1 -
1997 Blond 51 1 21
2001 Männersache 30 1 62
2002 Wake Up Cast Album - - -
2004 aufLeben 43 1 -
2006 hier+jetzt 43 1 -
2010 Meine Zeit 55 1 -
2013 Besser wird's nicht 38 1 56
2016 Schwarzoderweiss 28 1 69
2017 Top 3
(with Wolfgang Ambros and Georg Danzer)		 - 43 -
2019 Starkregen 17 1 39

Live albums
Date Title Chart positions
GER
[5]		 AUT
[6]		 SWI
[7]
1983 Open Air
(with Wolfgang Ambros)		 - 4 -
1985 Alle Zeit der Welt - 9 -
1989 Das Konzert 27 5 21
1992 Wiener Festwochen
(with the Vienna Symphony Orchestra)		 - 1 -
1998 Schwerelos - 36 -
2002 Ein Saitensprung - 6 -
2009 Best of Live – 30 Jahre Rainhard Fendrich - 9 -
2018 Für immer a Wiener - Live und akustisch 57 2
[8]		 -

Compilation albums
Date Title Chart positions
GER
[5]		 AUT
[6]		 SWI
[7]
1987 Rainhard Fendrich's Hitparade - 12 -
1992 Das Beste von Rainhard Fendrich - 39 -
1993 Strada ... Austria - 10 -
1994 Lieder mit Gefühl 70 7 -
1995 Recycled - 2 -
2001 Raritäten
(containing rare Duets with Reinhard Mey and Marianne Mendt)		 - 4 -
2005 So weit, so gut ... Die größten Hits aus 25 Jahren 83 2 -
2006 So ein Theater - Die schönsten Balladen und Liebeslieder - 51 -
2009 Best Of – Wenn das kein Beweis is ... - 20 -
2015 Auf den zweiten Blick - 5 -
Zwischen heute & gestern – Die ultimative Liedersammlung - 6 -
Zwischen gestern & heute – Die ultimative Liedersammlung - 7 -

Austria 3
  • 1998: Austria3 - Live (with Wolfgang Ambros and Georg Danzer)
  • 1998: Austria3 - Live Vol. 2 (with Wolfgang Ambros and Georg Danzer)
  • 2000: Austria3 - Die Dritte (with Wolfgang Ambros and Georg Danzer)

DVDs
  • 2002: Ein Saitensprung
  • 2004: Jetzt

Singles
Name Year Austria
"Zweierbeziehung" 1981 16
"Strada del Sole" 1
"Schickeria" 1982 1
"Razzia" 9
"Oben ohne" 1
"Es lebe der Sport" 7
"Erobict, sierobict" 1983 9
"Ich bin ein Negerant, Madame" 1984 10
"Weus'd a Herz hast wia a Bergwerk" 3
"Wien bei Nacht" 1985 19
"Heimatlied" 16
"Vü schöner is des G'fühl" —
"Tränen trocknen schnell" 1987 15
"Der Wind" 1988 24
"Macho, Macho" 1
"Tango Korrupti" 5
"Von Zeit zu Zeit" 1990 17
"I Am from Austria" 6
"Blond" 1997 1
"Little Drummer Boy, Stille Nacht" 16
"Entsetzlich hetero" 2001 47
"Wir sind Europa" 2007 49
  • "Little Drummer Boy" with Eric Minsk, and "Stille Nacht" with Andrew Edge.

References
  1. "Audio Interview". Retrieved November 23, 2020.
  2. ""Er hat sich selber in die Scheiße geritten": Harald Fendrich über seinen großen Bruder". news.at. Retrieved November 23, 2020.
  3. "Audio Interview". Retrieved November 23, 2020.
  4. "Fendrichs intime Lebensbeichte" (PDF). Retrieved August 27, 2014.
  5. "Discographie von Rainhard Fendrich". GfK Entertainment. Retrieved 27 September 2019.
  6. Austriancharts.at: Rainhard Fendrich
  7. Hitparade.ch: Rainhard Fendrich
  8. http://oe3.orf.at/charts/stories/oe3austriatop40longplay/


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