Michael Kunze
| Michael Kunze | |
|---|---|
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Michael Kunze
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| Background information | |
| Birth name | Michael Rolf Kunze |
| Also known as | Stephan Prager |
| Born |
9 November 1943 Prague, Czechoslovakia |
| Genres | Musical theatre, Pop Music, Books |
| Occupation(s) | Librettist, Songwriter, Author |
| Years active | 1965 to present |
| Website | Michael Kunze.info |
Michael Rolf Kunze (born 9 November 1943 in Prague) is a foremost German musical theater lyricist and librettist.
He is best known for the hit musicals Elisabeth (1992), Dance of the Vampires (1996), Mozart! (1999), Marie Antoinette (2006), and Rebecca (2006).
He has also written the lyrics for a number of hit songs (under the pseudonym Stephan Prager), including the number one Billboard hit Fly, Robin, Fly (1976) and was one of the top 1970s record producers, including songs for musical acts Silver Convention, Penny McLean, and Sister Sledge. Kunze has won a Grammy Award, ECHO Lifetime Award and holds 79 Gold and Platinum records.
Born in Prague, Kunze is the son of actress Dita Roesler and Walter Kunze, a writer, cartoonist and journalist, who worked for the German language newspaper Prager Tagblatt. He grew up in Southern Germany and attended Klenze Oberrealschule in Munich. He studied law, philosophy and history at the Ludwig-Maximilian University in Munich.
Kunze started writing music and lyrics during his high school years in the early sixties. The Hamburg folklore group, City Preachers, recorded an LP with some of those early songs. The record was anything but a commercial success, but it made the music business aware of Michael Kunze. The first song Kunze produced with Peter Maffay, a 17-year-old newcomer, was called "Du" (English Translation: "You"). It topped the German charts in the summer of 1970 and went gold.
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