pop singer
“There’s a young girl driving in the car in front of me”: Henry Valentino is dead
Until his death, Hans Blum, aka Henry Valentino, did what he loved: music
© Henning Kaiser / DPA
Almost everyone will have had a catchy tune from Henry Valentino’s biggest hit: “Rada Rada Radadadada” he sang in 1977 in a deep, grating voice. It was a one hit wonder that made Valentino famous. He has now died at the age of 95.
When Henry Valentino wanted to become Henry Valentino, he did it like a policeman or a conductor – he put on work clothes. Then he put on a magnificent mustache and a hat. It was a transformation that enabled him to croak the line that made him famous: “There’s a young girl riding in the car in front of me.”
This is how he will be remembered. Because Henry Valentino died at the age of 95. His record company announced this to the German Press Agency. “A long life marked by happiness and impressive creativity has come to an end,” his family said on Monday.
Problematic text with a catchy melody: “In the car in front of me” becomes a mega hit for Henry Valentino
There was a simple reason why Henry Valentino was a pop singer who climbed onto the stage wearing a masquerade and a disguised voice: he was a fictional character. His real name was Hans Blum and his main profession was a composer. But when he couldn’t quite get his song “I’ve seen your knee” with a record company in the mid-70s, he decided to become a pop star himself. He didn’t really want to be famous, as he always said later – and yet he became one. Of all things, in a role that one would probably frown at today.
Because “Im Wagen vor mir”, which he sang with his duet partner Uschi at the end of the 1970s, was quite something. On the one hand, the song was and is an incredible catchy tune (“Rada rada radadadada, rada rada radadadada”). On the other hand, from today’s perspective, one cannot deny that it has a certain stickiness. In it, Uschi was a “beautiful girl” who was approached by an older man in the car – and could hardly contain himself (“Such soft hair!”). The story ended with Uschi hiding behind hedges to get rid of the man in the rearview mirror. But the melody immediately put you in a good mood.
However, if you met Hans Blum at home in Overath near Cologne, you quickly had to throw all derivations from the text and meta-thoughts about MeToo overboard. Then you met a very polite, very warm and almost quiet man who also had a model marriage with his wife Ingetraut. The two had learned to love each other when they were both part of the so-called Hansen Quartet in the 1950s. In 1956 they entered into a marriage that lasted into old age.
“Nothing gets started among colleagues!” that was a maxim of his career, Blum emphasized on his 90th birthday. However, he broke the principle once – for his bride. His family reports that his long and happy marriage was the “source of his almost unbelievable life and work energy.” The couple had an incredibly loving relationship with each other. Ingetraut died a few years before her husband. The family said he missed his wife “so much” during this time. The marriage resulted in three children and five grandchildren.
For artists for whom he wrote hits is long
Blum’s house in Overath had everything he needed for his work. He didn’t have an email address, but he did have one of those dark green telephones from the old Federal Republic and a surprisingly large answering machine – it was one of the first models. His natural place of work, however, was his large grand piano. The instrument seemed to attract him magnetically. “That’s where it all came from,” he said then. This “everything” – it wasn’t just Henry Valentino. The foundation for Blum’s career – he was born in Hanover – was laid in the last years of the war at the army music school; his main instrument was the double bass.
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The list of pop singers for whom he wrote hits in the background was almost endless. Just a small selection: “The Beautiful Girl from Page One” by Howard Carpendale, “Don’t Bite into Every Apple” by Wencke Myhre, “Sugar in Coffee” by Erik Silvester, “The Old Wolf” by Hildegard Knef, “El Lute ” by Boney M. and “Gypsy Boy” by Alexandra. His songs were also entered into the competition several times at the Grand Prix Eurovision de la Chanson.
Admittedly, Blum never completely let go of his life as Henry Valentino throughout his life. Even in his old age, he still had his work clothes in his closet. Ingetraut had saved the fake beard as a precaution. You never know.