View source for Heino

{{short description|German schlager singer}}
{{for multi|the town in the Netherlands|Heino, Netherlands|other uses}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=April 2021}}
{{expand German|topic=bio|date=December 2021|Heino}}
{{Infobox musical artist
| name                = Heino 
| image               = 2015 Heino - by 2eight - DSC8839.jpg
| image_upright       =
| caption             = Heino in 2015
| image_size          = 
| background          = solo_singer 
| birth_name          = Heinz Georg Kramm
| alias               = 
| birth_place         = [[Gau Düsseldorf]], [[Nazi Germany|German Reich]]
| birth_date          = {{Birth date and age|df=yes|1938|12|13}}
| death_date          = 
| origin              = 
| genre               = [[Schlager]], [[Volksmusik]]
| years_active        = 1961–present
| website             = {{URL|heino.de}}
<!--| religion        = [[Catholic Church|Roman Catholic]]-->
}}

'''Heinz Georg Kramm''' (born 13 December 1938), known professionally as '''Heino''', is a German singer of [[Schlager music|Schlager]] and traditional [[Volksmusik]]. Having sold a total of over 50 million records, he is one of the most successful German musicians of all time.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.rollingstone.de/news/meldungen/article376097/heino-vs-campino-ich-habe-50-mio-platten-verkauft-das-schaffen-die-nicht-mehr.html |title=Heino vs. Campino: Ich habe 50 Mio Platten verkauft – das schaffen die nicht mehr - Rolling Stone |publisher=Rollingstone.de |date=21 February 2013 |access-date=15 August 2013}}</ref>

Heino is known for his baritone voice and trademark combination of light blond hair and dark sunglasses (which he wears due to [[exophthalmos]]). He lives in the town of [[Bad Münstereifel]], where he owned a [[café]] until June 2012.<ref>[http://www.rp-online.de/panorama/leute/zu-besuch-bei-heino-und-hannelore-aid-1.2873253 Heino closes his cafe]</ref> His interest in music started at age 10 when his mother gave him an [[accordion]] in 1948, although his family could barely afford it.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.heino.de/index.php?action=bio |title=Home |publisher=Heino.de |access-date=15 August 2013 |archive-date=17 June 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180617115800/http://www.heino.de/index.php?action=bio |url-status=dead }}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://mentalfloss.com/article/28961/stories-10-people-featured-historically-bad-album-covers |title=The Stories of 10 People Featured on Historically Bad Album Covers |publisher=Mental Floss |date=10 October 2011 |access-date=15 August 2013}}</ref>

== Early life==
Heino was born on 13 December 1938 in [[Düsseldorf-Oberbilk]], Germany, to Heinrich and Franziska Kramm. His father was a [[Catholic Church|Roman Catholic]] dentist, his mother a [[Protestant]]. His grandfather was the [[organist]] at the Cathedral of [[Cologne]]. He also had two cousins who were Catholic priests. Heino's father was drafted into the German army during World War II, and was killed on 2 August 1941 during the invasion of the [[Soviet Union]].<ref name="Official Web Site">{{cite web|title=Heino - official web site - Biography|url=http://www.heino.de/index.php?action=bio|access-date=8 January 2012|archive-date=17 June 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180617115800/http://www.heino.de/index.php?action=bio|url-status=dead}}</ref>

Until 1945, Heino lived with his mother and his older sister Hannelore in Pomerania. In 1945 he began school in [[Großenhain]] ([[Saxony]]). After 1952 he went to Düsseldorf where he initially trained as a baker and [[confectioner]].<ref name="Official Web Site"/> 

==Career==
[[File:HeinoSittard.jpg|thumb|upright=0.85|Heino in 2009]]
His stage name comes from his sister Hannelore's difficulty pronouncing his given name "Heinz Georg".<ref name="Official Web Site" />

In 1961, he first appeared in the trio OK Singers. Heino achieved fame in the mid-1960s and has charted numerous times since then in the [[German music charts]]. He also appeared regularly in German television shows such as ''[[ZDF-Hitparade]]'', ''[[Musikantenstadl]]'' and ''[[ZDF-Fernsehgarten]]''. Most of his recordings were pop versions of traditional folk songs; for example in "Blau blüht der Enzian" (''"Blue Blooms the Gentian"''), one of his signature songs and an adaptation of the folk song "Das Schweizermädel" (''"The Swiss Maiden"'').

In February 2013, Heino released a new album, called "Mit freundlichen Grüßen" (''With Friendly Greetings''), which topped the German album charts. It was the first Number-one-album for him in Germany. The record is a collection of cover versions of popular German songs from [[Die Ärzte]], [[Peter Fox (musician)|Peter Fox]], [[Rammstein]] and others. It is as such a Pop-Rock/Metal-record instead of Heino's typical Schlager and Volksmusik style. The album earned Gold for being sold over 100,000 times.

In December 2014, Heino released a new album, "Schwarz blüht der Enzian" (''Black blooms the [[Gentiana|Gentian]]''), referring to one of his greatest hits "Blau blüht der Enzian" (''Blue Blooms the Gentian'') and to the Rock-/Metal style of the record in which some of his own songs and traditional German [[Volksmusik]] are covered.

In November 2016, Heino announced the release of his new Christmas album, "Mit weihnachtlichen Grüßen" (''With Christmas greetings''), which includes a duet with fellow singer Sarah Jane Scott.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.heino.de/index.php/aktuelles/96-mit-weihnachtlichen-gruessen.html |title=Mit weihnachtlichen Grüßen |publisher=Heino.de |access-date=17 November 2016 |archive-date=2 August 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170802170814/http://www.heino.de/index.php/aktuelles/96-mit-weihnachtlichen-gruessen.html |url-status=dead }}</ref>

After a 50-year career, Heino announced on 30 September 2018 his final tour in 2019 and the release of his final album "...und Tschüss, das letzte Album" (''...and bye, the final album''). The album consists of 36 songs which are mainly his traditional German folk songs which made him famous.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.heino.de/index.php |title=und Tschuess - Das letzte Album |publisher=Heino.de |access-date=30 September 2018 |archive-date=3 September 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190903222459/http://www.heino.de/index.php |url-status=dead }}</ref> However, he later announced a tour for the autumn of 2020 in which he performs classic music.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.swr.de/swr2/musik-klassik/heino-goes-klassik-100.html |title=Heino geht 2020 mit Schubert, Brahms und Mozart auf Tour - SWR2 |date=3 December 2019 |access-date=10 May 2020 |archive-date=29 November 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201129031205/https://www.swr.de/swr2/musik-klassik/heino-goes-klassik-100.html |url-status=dead }}</ref>

==Personal life==
[[File:Heino und Hannelore Kramm im Heino-Fanshop.jpg|thumb|upright=0.85|Heino with his wife Hannelore in 2008]]
In June 1959 he married 18-year-old Henriette Heppner. They had one son, Uwe, born in 1962, and subsequently divorced. He married his second wife, Lilo Kramm, in 1965; their marriage ended in divorce in 1978. Lilo died of cancer on 28 January 2010.

In 1968, he became the father of an illegitimate daughter named Petra after an affair with a woman named Karin. Petra had schizophrenia, for which she received treatment in."She was trapped in her own world and could no longer participate in normal life." She committed suicide by suffocation in 2003, as her mother had in 1988. <ref>{{Cite web|last=Klugmayer|first=Lisa|date=27 July 2021|title=Heino hat den tragischen Tod seiner Tochter noch nicht verarbeitet - Sie nahm sich das Leben (Heino has not yet come to terms with the tragic death of his daughter - she took her own life)|url=https://www.extratipp.com/schlager/schlager-heino-trauer-tochter-freitod-nicht-verarbeitet-bad-muenstereifel-zr-90157966.html}}</ref>

Heino met his third wife, [[Hannelore Auer|Hannelore Auersperg]], in 1972 at the Miss Austria contest in Kitzbühel. They were married in April 1979, and she became his manager. The couple lives in Bad Münstereifel. In 2004, Hannelore suffered a heart attack, which was one reason Heino curtailed his career. The marriage lasted until her death in 2023.

Heino has noticeable [[exophthalmos]] due to [[Graves' disease]].<ref>{{cite web|url=http://einestages.spiegel.de/external/ShowAuthorAlbumBackground/a1291/l0/l0.html?sp=a1291&sp=l0&sp=l0#featuredEntry |title=Die hässlichsten Albumcover - Gruselkabinett im Plattenschrank - SPIEGEL ONLINE |publisher=Einestages.spiegel.de |access-date=15 August 2013}}</ref> For this reason, he always wears very dark glasses in public, which have become part of his trademark appearance. In a 2014 German newspaper story Heino was quoted as saying that he feels "naked" without them and that he had put in his will that he was to be buried with them on.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.t-online.de/unterhaltung/stars/id_70289534/heinos-letzter-wille-tod-mit-brille-.html |title = Heino aüßert seinen letzten Willen: "Tod mit Brille"| date=17 July 2014 }}</ref> Due to his light hair and skin, some initially believed he wore the glasses due to [[Albinism in humans|albinism]].

==Select list of songs==
* "Jenseits des Tales" <ref>This was originally a [[ballad]], composed, with a slightly different text, about [[1900]] by the German poet [[Börries von Münchhausen]], who became a [[nazi]] later.</ref>(1966)
* "Wenn die bunten Fahnen wehen" (1967)
* "Wir lieben die Stürme" (1968)
* "Zu der Ponderosa reiten wir" (1968)
* "Bergvagabunden" (1969)
* "Bier her, oder ich fall um" (1969)
* "Wenn die Kraniche zieh'n" (1969)
* "Karamba, Karacho, ein Whisky" (1969)
* "In einer Bar in Mexico" (1970)
* "Hey Capello" (1970)
* "Mohikana Shalali" (1971)
* "Blau blüht der Enzian" (1972)
* "Carneval in Rio" (1972)
* "Tampico" (1973)
* "La Montanara" (1973)
* "Edelweiß" (1973)
* "Schwarzbraun ist die Haselnuss"
* "Das Polenmädchen" (1974)
* "Die schwarze Barbara" (1975)
* "Komm in meinen Wigwam" (1976)
* "Bier, Bier, Bier" (1980)
* "So'n Kleiner Garten Vor Der Stadt" (1981)
* "Traumschiff nach Hawaii" (1983)
* "Barcelona" (1985)
* "Schade Christin" (1986) 
* "Der Schornsteinfegermeister Und Die Schöne Bäckersfrau" (1988)
* "Enzian" (1989)
* "Haselnuss" (1989)
* "Freiheit Und Gerechtigkeit" (1990)
* "Freiheit Ist ..." (1993)
* "Junge" ([[Die Ärzte]] cover, 2013)
* "[[Sonne (Rammstein song)|Sonne]]" ([[Rammstein]] cover, 2013)
* "Schwarz Blüht der Enzian" (2014)
* "Das Model" (2018)
* "Holiday am Wörthersee (2021)
* "El Zecho und Don Promillo" ,featuring Dorfrocker (2022)
* "Geh mal Bier holen" (2023)

==References==
{{Reflist}}

==External links==
{{commons category|Heino}}
*[http://www.heino.de/ Heino's official website]

{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Heino}}
[[Category:1938 births]]
[[Category:Living people]]
[[Category:Musicians from Düsseldorf]]
[[Category:Musicians from the Rhine Province]]
[[Category:German pop singers]]
[[Category:German male singers]]
[[Category:German folk singers]]
[[Category:German schlager musicians]]