10 years after his death Udo Jürgens' granddaughter moves audience to tears at tribute show
An evening dedicated to Udo Jürgens: ARD paid tribute to the legendary singer with an emotional show. His granddaughter Jasmin moved the audience to tears.
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- ARD paid tribute to Udo Jürgens, who died in 2014, with "Udo Jürgens Forever".
- The most emotional moments of the evening were provided by the appearances of the legendary singer's family.
- Udo Jürgens' granddaughter Jasmin played one of his songs on her grandfather's piano, moving the audience to tears.
- Howard Carpendale also remembered his colleague - and revealed that the mood between the two was not always so rosy.
This evening was actually supposed to be all about Udo Jürgens (1934-2014). As this year would have been the 90th birthday of the musician as well as the tenth anniversary of his death, ARD dedicated an almost two-and-a-half-hour Eurovision show to him just before Christmas. However, "Udo Jürgens Forever" - the tribute gala was broadcast on December 23 at 8.15 p.m. on "Das Erste" - opened with a dig at another great show.
"We'll make sure we're right on time," promised Michelle Hunziker (47) with a view to the documentary "Udo!", which was scheduled to be broadcast immediately afterwards. Her fellow presenter Sasha (52) promptly teased: "Well, you've always overdone it with Gottschalk. But with me, we get straight to the point."
Hunziker herself couldn't resist a little jibe at her former "Wetten, dass...?" co-presenter Thomas Gottschalk (74): "I'm also happy that I get to work with you - then I don't have to argue about a curling iron all the time."
Granny feelings for Michelle Hunziker
No, Hunziker didn't have to argue. However, the presenter fought back tears on stage several times - for example when John Jürgens (60) greeted the audience: "Dad would first say: 'Thank you all for coming into our living room today'."
Udo Jürgens' daughter Jenny (57) was also "highly emotional" and explained that it had been "a great gift to be Udo's daughter". Her father was never strict, the musician's children revealed, "he wasn't up for it at all".
Jasmin (25), the singer's adult granddaughter, remembered Udo Jürgens as a warm-hearted grandfather: "He was very loving with us, attentive, funny." At Easter, he "hid Easter eggs and looked for them with us".
Michelle Hunziker had to take another deep breath - because: "I know that," explained the 47-year-old, "I've just become a grandma too. Your heart is bursting with love. It's so beautiful with grandchildren."
However, Jasmin's performance moved the entire audience to tears. Udo Jürgens' granddaughter sat down at her grandfather's glass grand piano and played "Was wichtig ist". Adel Tawil (46) sang the song lines and family photos played on the screen in the background - one of the emotional highlights of the evening.
A sniffle went through the audience, Jasmin received a standing ovation. Unlike her grandfather, however, the 25-year-old does not want to pursue a career in music. She is studying law and is about to take her state exams.
Alice Schwarzer remembers flirting with Udo Jürgens
There were plenty of emotional highlights on this musical television evening. Numerous artists performed the singer and composer's hits. At times, Götz Alsmann (67) told the audience about a happy birthday party with Jürgens, at others Conchita Wurst (36) struggled for composure after a virtual "duet" with the star, who died in 2014 and was now projected onto the screen ("Mi reisst's immer no her, i bin ganz ausser mir").
An anecdote by Alice Schwarzer (82) caused general amusement. In 1969, she traveled to Africa as a young reporter, said the feminism icon. On the way there, her colleague drew her attention to a prominent fellow traveler: "Suddenly Robert says to me on the plane: 'Tell me Alice, don't you notice anything? Udo Jürgens is running through the aisle for the fourth time and giving you fiery looks!"
After a brief conversation with the singer, they parted ways - until Jürgens approached the journalist out of nowhere two weeks later.
"Then I went into the sea with Udo," Schwarzer recalled. When a murmur went through the audience, she explained with a laugh: "He had traveled after me from the desert!"
Photos of the encounter showed Jürgens giving the activist a peck on the cheek. Schwarzer: "Of course you like to be flirted with by Udo."
Nevertheless, "the day didn't end the way he had perhaps hoped", Schwarzer clarified with a wink. "I wasn't there for pleasure."
Howard Carpendale: "You don't always have to pretend that we all love each other"
Howard Carpendale (78) also talked from the sewing box. In the 70s, he and Jürgens were "actually quite good together", reported the South African singer. But then the relationship deteriorated: "From the beginning of the 80s, when my halls started to fill up, there was a bit of tension."
In his eyes, however, "a bit of competition" is "healthy", Carpendale emphasized: "You don't always have to pretend that we all love each other."
At a meeting shortly before Jürgens' death, however, he was conciliatory. "His reaction was very warm. I often thought: funny that this happened three weeks before he passed away," Carpendale recalled.
The 78-year-old revealed what he had always particularly appreciated about his late colleague's work: "What I liked so much about that evening: It's so nice to hear lyrics again that are grown-up, that move people, that are emotional."
The contrast to current songs is immense, the 78-year-old raged to applause from the studio audience: "I think Udo has spun in his grave a few times when he's heard the lyrics over the last ten years. It really is a tragedy."
With a rewritten version of "Ich war noch niemals in New York", Carpendale finally paid tribute to Austria himself, visibly moved, and addressed words to Jürgens that aptly summed up the evening: "All your songs - they're here to stay."
