Peter Maffay Fortune

Short introduction

Peter Maffay is a German singer, music producer and guitarist.

Earlier life

Peter Maffay was born in Romania, the son of a mother from Transylvania and a Hungarian German father. When Maffay was 14, the family emigrated to Germany. As a child he was interested in music and learned to play the violin. His first band “The Beat Boys”, later renamed “The Dukes”, was founded by Peter Maffay in 1964. The band played cover songs and performed in the local restaurant “Weißer Hirsch”. At that time Maffay acted as a guitarist, he did not sing until later. During his school years, Maffay switched from junior high school to high school. After he was not transferred for the second time, he had to leave school in 1968. Maffay then completed an apprenticeship as a chemical graph. This year (1968) Maffay founded the folk beat duo “Peter & Margit” with his former schoolmate Margit. In this constellation he also appeared as a singer for the first time. As with Maffay’s former band, the duo also sang cover songs. The two musicians sang the songs in various languages, including German, English, French, Hungarian and Russian.

Career

The German songwriter Michael Kunze became aware of Maffay in 1969. A short time later, in January 1970, Maffay released his first single “Du”, which Kunze had produced. Two months later, Maffay made his first appearance on the popular music show “ZDF-Hitparade”. This appearance made the singer known throughout Germany. In the following years Maffay was able to further expand his career and played country and rock’n’roll songs and ballads. At the end of the 1970s, his musical style changed from country to German rock. In addition to this genre, Maffay created the fairy tale character “Tabaluga” together with other companions in the 80s. In the following years, a musical and an animated series were created around this figure. In 2015 the last album “Tabaluga – Long live friendship” was released.

Career highlights

His first hit “Du” was an enormous success for Maffay, who paved the way for his great career. In 1970 the song was the biggest German-language song hit of the year. Maffay’s single has been sold over a million times. The hit was also placed in the high charts in the Netherlands, Switzerland, Norway, Belgium and Austria. In 1979 he again achieved an enormous success with his album “Steppenwolf”, which sold 1.6 million copies. With the next album “Revanche”, especially the song “You have to walk across seven bridges”, the sales record was broken once again: The album sold 2.1 million copies. The record “Tattoos”, which he recorded in the course of his 40th anniversary on the stage, continued the success. The album, which contained mostly its biggest hits, reached number 1 on the charts. Maffay was able to achieve this placement for the 14th time, making him the record holder in Germany.

Famous quotes

“I’m not afraid of age and I think every wrinkle on my face is a story from my life.”

“Whoever has more dreams than reality can destroy is strong.”

“I feel richly endowed with life and therefore feel an obligation to volunteer.”

“I don’t make my music with a slide rule. Before I put the guitar down because it’s not in vogue right now, I’d rather stop altogether. ”

Amazing facts

Peter Maffay is politically and socially committed, for example he is committed to the peace movement and donates to various foundations. He received many awards for his commitment, including the Federal Cross of Merit (1996) and the 2006 World Vision Charity Award. Maffay is also the patron of the Tabaluga Foundation and ambassador of the “German José Carreras Leukemia Foundation”. He also supports the “Amadeu Antonio Foundation”, which works against racism and for more tolerance. In three films, the musician also acted as an actor: In “The Joker” (1986), 1999 in “Prisoner in Yemen” and “The Polar Bear”, Maffay was able to convince with his acting.