At 93 years old
Discoverer of Udo Jürgens – music manager Beierlein died
Hans R. Beierlein is dead. The music manager died at the age of 93. photo
© Marc Mueller/dpa
The discoverer of Udo Jürgens is dead: music manager Hans R. Beierlein died at the age of 93. His prominent protégés also included Florian Silbereisen, Stefanie Hertel and Stefan Mross.
The music manager Hans R. Beierlein died at the age of 93. This was announced by Beierlein’s company Montana Musik in Munich. The manager once made Udo Jürgens a star and promoted the careers of Stefanie Hertel and Stefan Mross, among others. According to an obituary published on the Montana website, Beierlein died on August 5 at his Munich apartment.
At his side was Bizzi Nießlein, Beierlein’s adopted daughter and Montana managing director. Previously, among other things, the “image” had reported on Beierlein’s death.
Beierlein was regarded as the mastermind with a special flair for hits, folk music and marketing. The “Spiegel” called him, among other things, the “Bavarian Goldfinger” and the “White Shark in Wonderland”. Beierlein liked titles like that: “I like shark. If you called me an industry earthworm, I would go on the barricades,” he once said.
A successful duo for years
Born in Nuremberg, he was best known as the maker behind pop legend Udo Jürgens. In 1963 he had discovered the then relatively unknown Austrian singer. Three years later, Jürgens won the Grand Prix Eurovision de la Chanson with the song “Merci Chérie” and became a star. At the end of the 1970s, the successful duo Jürgens and Beierlein broke up and the men argued in court. 17 years later they reconciled.
One of his favorite subjects was folk music. It was music for the people, he decided. After the fall of the wall, he signed child star Stefanie Hertel and made the young singer big. Beierlein later also worked with Stefan Mross and Florian Silbereisen. As early as 1986 he established the Grand Prix of Folk Music. He also introduced French stars such as Charles Aznavour and Johnny Hallyday to Germany and also traded football rights.
“I did what I wanted”
Looking back, he once said of his career: “I’ve never been employed a single day in my life. I didn’t want anyone to ask me, can I do that. I did what I wanted.” In 2014, Beierlein stepped down and reportedly sold the rights to around 5,000 tracks that Montana owned to the music company BMG.
According to the obituary, the adopted daughter Bizzi Nießlein had Beierlein’s ashes buried quietly in the cemetery in Markt Schliersee, Upper Bavaria. Beierlein, who always enjoyed success and luxury, owned a villa there.