Louie Austen

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Louie Austen (* 19th September 1946 in Vienna - Austria; born Alois Luef) is an Austrian classically-trained bar- and jazzcrooner with a Frank Sinatra voice, who's been active in the electronic music scene for a couple of years.

[edit] Biography

"Art must be a matter of life and death – otherwise it's not art" is the jazz & electro crooner's sincere conviction. And so is "I'll never retire, I'll probably die on stage but I don't care!"

In 1999, the Viennese Electro scene gives birth to a new idea: An electronic producer contrasts his experimental electronic tracks with Louie Austen’s voice. He had run into the classic jazz crooner in a studio and immediately proposed a collaboration.

Austen, then 53 years old, had already led an eventful life in various parts of the world and could look back on an equally eventful performing career. After immigrating to South Africa and Australia he had performed in clubs and on stages in New York, Pittsburgh and Las Vegas during the 70s. After his return to Vienna, the crooner entertained the guests at the Klimt-Bar of the Vienna Hilton before he took over the entire entertainment for the Marriott Hotel. Additionally, Austen wrote and produced shows like Viva Las Vegas or American Superstars, played parts in several movies and toured both Europe and the USA with show programmes.

Yet Austen is intrigued by the electronic beats and sounds of the young generation. When the first album "Consequences" (1999) is well received in the club scene and the first concerts turn out promising, Louie makes a courageous decision. "I decided there and then to resign from all other jobs and to completely dedicate myself to this new project for a period of two years", he recalls. "I reflected that, if I'd find myself in the street after those two years, I'd have to go back to my old jobs. But I wanted to try out this new direction under all circumstances – I simply had to."

Naturally Austen wasn't prepared to terminate the experiment after two years. Instead he collaborated with Viennese electronics pioneers on two more albums, "Only Tonight" (2001) and "Easy Love" (2003). Austen appreciates that his involvement with electronic music was a stroke of luck for him. "A very special phase of my career began when I was 53", he gratefully acknowledges, "from which my life has enormously benefited over the last years, since I can perform my own songs and find an audience for them."

His new music allows Austen a transformation from a pure entertainer, who assumes the roles of those he pays tribute to, into an artist in his own right, no less. "I'm quite grateful for having followed my instincts back then, despite the fact that some of my friends tried to dissuade me", he says retrospectively.

There's a lot going on in Louie Austen's life these days: Apart from touring all around the world, he has a singer part in a new adaption of Nestroy's play "Höllenangst" at the Viennese Burgtheater and is regularly still performing one or two times at month at the Cascade Bar of the Marriott hotel in Vienna. His latest album "Iguana" has been released on klein records in 2006 and he is currently working on another album and collaborations with other artists.

In spring 2007 Austen founded his own label LA Music - Louie Austen Music (a division of klein records) where he'll release his records on in the future such as the latest two releases, the "Summer Love EP" and the "Dreams Are My Reality EP", the later a coop with Senor Coconut.Summer 2008 will see the release of an EP Louie recorded with Vredeber Albrecht known from Commercial Breakup & keyboarder of former German Indie band Blumfeld. Of course mister Austen is already working on another full-length album for release in 2009.

Louie Austen has a cameo as gambler in Stefan Ruzowitzky´s "The Counterfeiters" movie, which won in the category best foreign movie at the 2008 Oscars.