Camillo Felgen

Camillo Felgen
Born	Camillo Jean Nicolas Felgen (1920-11-17)November 17, 1920 Tétange, Luxembourg
Died	16 July 2005(2005-07-16) (aged 84) Esch-sur-Alzette, Luxembourg
Occupation	Singer, songwriter
Years active	1946-2005
Musical career
Genres	Schlager
Instruments	vocals
Labels	Electrola
Musical artist

Camillo Jean Nicolas Felgen (17 November 1920 – 16 July 2005) was a Luxembourgish singer, lyricist, disc jockey, and television presenter, who represented Luxembourg in the Eurovision Song Contest 1960 and in 1962.

Biography[]

Felgen started his career as a teacher. During the Second World War, Felgen was a translator for the German occupiers, and then a reporter with a French-language newspaper. He studied theater and opera in Brussels and Liège; in 1946, he joined Radio Luxembourg as a chorus singer and a French-language reporter. In 1949, the mastering of his baritone completed his theatre and opera studies. In 1951, he had his first international hit record, "Bonjour les amies" ("Hello Friends"). The song went on to become the theme song for his national broadcaster. In 1953, he recorded his first German-language record, "Onkel Toms altes Boot" ("Uncle Tom's Old Boat"), in Berlin. He represented his home country in the Eurovision Song Contest 1960 with "So laang we's du do bast", becoming the first Luxembourger and the first male contestant to represent Luxembourg and the first participant to sing in Luxembourgish. He finished last with only one point. Two years later he entered the contest again, this time doing much better by finishing in 3rd place with the song "Petit bonhomme". He did at times do the commentary in German, too.

One of the greatest hits of Felgen was "Ich hab Ehrfurcht vor schneeweißen Haaren" ("I Respect Your Grey Hair"), a cover of singer-guitarist and entrepreneur Bobbejaan Schoepen. Another was "Sag warum", in 1959, based on a melody by Phil Spector.

Camillo Felgen also wrote German lyrics for cover versions of international songs, using the pseudonym Jean Nicolas (writing for Connie Francis, Caterina Valente, Greetje Kauffeld and Lill-Babs, among others). It is sometimes incorrectly stated that he also used the name "Lee Montague" , but that was the pen-name of another person, Lawrence “Larry” M. Yaskiel, a Londoner who worked as a Sunday-school teacher and encyclopedia salesman before becoming involved in pop music in Germany in the 1960s, working first for Deutsche Vogue, then for various production companies, and for A&M Records, before retiring to the Canary Islands.^[1]

As Jean Nicolas, Felgen also translated the only two songs recorded by The Beatles in German, "I Want to Hold Your Hand" and "She Loves You", in 1964. Felgen, then working as a programme director at Radio Luxembourg, was given just 24 hours to finalize the translated lyrics, fly to Paris, and coach the band on German phonetics.^[2]

From 1965 until 1973, Felgen was the host and commentator for the German broadcasts of Jeux sans frontières (Spiel Ohne Grenzen)^[3]

Death[]

He died in Esch-sur-Alzette on 16 July 2005, at the age of 84.

Footnotes[]

• Camillo Felgen at IMDb

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