Biography

Johann Hölzel (19 February 1957 – 6 February 1998), better known by his stage name Falco (from Falko Weißpflog), was an Austrian singer and musician. He had several international hits, including "Der Kommissar" (1981), "Rock Me Amadeus", "Vienna Calling", "Jeanny", "The Sound of Musik", "Coming Home (Jeanny Part II, One Year Later)", and posthumously "Out of the Dark". "Rock Me Amadeus" reached No. 1 on the Billboard charts in 1986, making Falco the only artist in history to score a number-one hit with a German language song in the United States. According to his estate, he has sold 20 million albums and 40 million singles, which makes him the best-selling Austrian singer of all time. Also notable was his very early, first notable, creation of a successful non-English language rap music song ("Der Kommissar"), recorded in December 1981. It was covered a year later by the British rock band After the Fire, hitting the US Billboard Hot 100 on 22 February 1983. Hölzel died of severe injuries received on 6 February 1998, at age 40, when his Mitsubishi Pajero collided with a bus on the road linking the towns of Villa Montellano and Puerto Plata in the Dominican Republic. At the time of his death, he was planning a comeback, which was successful with the posthumously released album Out of the Dark (Into the Light). His body was returned to Austria and buried at the Vienna Central Cemetery.