| Reinhard Mey | |
|---|---|
Reinhard Mey Live in Hamburg, 1974 |
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| Background information | |
| Birth name | Reinhard Friedrich Michael Mey |
| Also known as | Frédérik Mey (in France)[1] Alfons Yondrascheck[1] |
| Born | December 21, 1942 Berlin, Germany |
| Genres | Folk, chanson, skiffle |
| Occupations | Musician, songwriter |
| Years active | 1965–present |
| Labels | EMI |
| Website | www.reinhard-mey.de |
Reinhard Friedrich Michael Mey (born December 21, 1942, Berlin) is a German singer-songwriter, known to fans as "Liedermacher". In France he is known as Frédérik Mey.
Mey has released 27 German albums so far by 2009, and consistently releases a new album approximately every two years; his first album was Ich wollte wie Orpheus singen (1967); the most recent studio album is Mairegen (2010). His biggest success to date was Mein Achtel Lorbeerblatt (1972). His most famous song by far is "Über den Wolken" (1974), which has been covered by numerous German artists. Mey is known to embark upon an extensive concert tour every two or three years, with a live album released from each tour.
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Reinhard Mey was born on December 21, 1942, in Berlin, Germany, where he spent his childhood. At the age of twelve, he had his first piano lesson, and at the age of fourteen, he got his first guitar. He taught himself how to play the trumpet. During his school years he gained performance experience by playing Skiffle music with friends. In 1965, Mey was offered the chance to perform at a Liedermacher festival at Waldeck Castle, a converted castle ruin. This led to his first recording contract. In 1961, he became part of the group Les Trois Affamés, with Schobert Scholz.
In 1963, Mey graduated from the French Gymnasium in Berlin, receiving the German Abitur as well as the French Baccalauréat, and thereafter began vocational training as an industrial trader at Schering AG Berlin. He broke off his university studies in economics in order to dedicate himself fully to songwriting and singing, and has been a successful performer in Germany, in France, and in the Netherlands ever since. He has written songs in German, French, Dutch, and Greek. He records his French material under the name of Frédérik Mey. In 1967, he married a French woman named Christine. Their marriage was dissolved in 1976.
Today, Mey lives in Berlin-Frohnau in his second marriage (since 1977) to Hella Hennies (born in Hannover), and had three children in the marriage: Frederik (born November 20, 1976), Maximilian (born January 28, 1982), and Victoria-Luise (born November 19, 1985).
On September 7, 2009 Reinhard Mey revealed in an interview on a German TV talk show that his son Maximilian had been in a persistent vegetative state since March 13, 2009. Undiagnosed severe pneumonia led to a cardio-pulmonary arrest, from which Max was resuscitated after eight minutes of hypoxia. Reinhard Mey and his family remain hopeful about a possible recovery and are focusing their energy on trying to coax Max out of his unresponsive state.
Mey writes both sensitive and humorous songs, with subject matter taken mostly from his everyday life and surroundings.[2] His themes include life on the road, his hobbies (e.g., flying),[3] childhood memories, his family life and surroundings, and occasionally politics.[2] Many of his songs are humorous and demonstrate Mey's extraordinary linguistic versatility. Mey's songs are characterized most by their expressiveness of language and their penetrating melodies.
Mey's politics tend to be moderate to left-leaning. He speaks out in particular for freedom and non-violence, and not only in his songs (for example, he participated in a demonstration at the beginning of 2003 against the coming war in Iraq). Strongly influenced by the French chanson, Mey's political songs were relatively scarce among his works at the beginning, but they have increased in quantity over time, such that there is usually at least one song on each new album that concerns itself with politics. His 2004 album, Nanga Parbat, for example, includes "Alles OK in Guantanamo Bay", a song critical of the U.S. detention facility on the island of Cuba.
For years, Mey has been an avid vegetarian,[2] and also has been active in the German chapter of the organization People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA). Several of his songs deal with the theme of prevention of cruelty to animals, the most famous one being "Die Würde des Schweins ist unantastbar" (roughly, "a pig's dignity is inviolable.", echoing the first sentence of the first article of the German constitution)