Dieter Thomas Heck
| Dieter Thomas Heck | |
|---|---|
 |
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| Born |
29 December 1937 Flensburg, Germany |
| Occupation | Television presenter, singer and actor |
Dieter Thomas Heck (born Carl-Dieter Heckscher, 29 December 1937) is a German television presenter, singer and actor. He is known as the presenter of the TV program ZDF-Hitparade, featuring German Schlager music, in the 1970s and 1980s. As an actor, he starred in the TV play Das Millionenspiel in 1970.
Heck was born in Flensburg, Germany and grew up in Hamburg. In April 1943, when he was five years old, he developed a stutter after being trapped under a staircase after a nighttime British bombing raid during World War II. The stutter went away after he received training in classical singing at age 16. After completing "Mittelschule" and a technical "Oberschule" he was trained as a "Technischer Kaufmann" by Borgward in Hamburg and worked afterwards as a salesman. He left the company before it went bankrupt in 1961.
In 1959, Heck appeared on Peter Frankenfelds talent show toi, toi, toi, singing Hippe-di-hipp, mein Mädchen. In 1961, he participated in the preliminary round of the Grand Prix Eurovision de la Chanson (now Eurovision Song Contest). After employment as a car salesman, Heck worked for a record company. He visited the radio station Südwestfunk in Baden-Baden on 23 November 1963 and was asked to be interviewed because a scheduled guest did not show up. The moderator asked clumsy questions so Heck took over conducting the interview himself. As a result, Herbert Falk offered him the job of hosting a 90-minute "Sendung" broadcast every Saturday. Heck then worked for Radio Luxemburg from 1965 to September 1966. It was customary there to use only a first name, and as "Dieter" was already taken, Heck asked readers of the youth magazine Bravo for an alternative name. The readers chose "Thomas", and he has used it since. He collaborated with Frank Elstner and they became friends.
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