Georg Danzer - Popularity and Crisis

Popularity and Crisis

"Georg Danzer Tournee 79“ had 32 shows, and all of them had sold out. A double live album from this tour appeared in the following year. More successful albums soon followed (Traurig aber wahr 1980, Ruhe vor dem Sturm 1981). Even Austrians began to realize that Danzer was more than Jö schau. The ORF produced a 45-minutes feature, Danzer Direkt. In 1981, Danzer played 47 concerts solo (Live-Album Direkt), followed by an Open-Air-Tournee with Ludwig Hirsch, Konstantin Wecker, Chris de Burgh and Georges Moustaki. Die gnädige Frau und das rote Reptil, a book with lyrics and prose, appeared in 1982. In 1983, Danzer was among the first German-language musicians who created a CD-album (…und so weiter).

In the summer of 1984, Danzer dissolved his legendary band and went to Munich to produce Weiße Pferde. During the production of its video clip (by Rudi Dolezal), he had a serious bike accident in Andalusia, and had to be flown back to Vienna because of heavy injuries. In 1985, his wife Dagmara filed for divorce, his former manager disappeared, he got in trouble with the financial revenue services, and his contract with Polydor came to an end.

In 1986, he was signed by Teldec (belongs to the Time-Warner group), and went to Spain to study Spanish, among other reasons. In 1988, he moved to Hamburg, travelled to Egypt and Kenia and became infected by Malaria. The next year saw Danzer and his new life partner, Bettina, move to a Farm in Werl-Holtum (Westfalen), where he spent most of his time until 1994, and where he translated two works of Spanish author Manuel Vicent.