Jürgen Ludwig Drews (German pronunciation: [ˈjʏʁɡn̩ ˈluːtvɪç ˈdʁeːfs]; born 2 April 1945) is a German schlager singer.

Jürgen Drews
Jürgen Drews 2019
Background information
Birth nameJürgen Ludwig Buttlar
Born (1945-04-02) 2 April 1945 (age 79)
Nauen, Germany
GenresSchlager music
Occupation(s)Singer, musician, songwriter
Instrument(s)Vocals, banjo, guitar
Years active1960–present
LabelsPolydor (Universal), Ariola Records
Websitejuergen-drews.de

Life

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Drews' Bistro in Mallorca

Drews was born in Nauen near Berlin,[1] and brought up in Schleswig.[2] His father's family is descended from Huguenots, but has lived in Brandenburg for two generations; the mother was the daughter of the head director and opera singer Georg Buttlar. After finishing school, he went on to study medicine at the University of Kiel, but dropped out of medical school to work as a singer. At age 15 he received an award as Best Banjo Player of Schleswig-Holstein, while playing in jazz band the Schnirpels. At school he played in "The Monkeys". In 1967 he was solo guitarist in the Kiel based psychedelic rock band "Chimes of Freedom", later renamed by its manager to "Die Anderen" (The Others).[3] In that same year, Drews took on his first acting role as a student and musician in the German film comedy Zur Hölle mit den Paukern.[4] He sang for the 70's pop group the "Les Humphries Singers" and started a solo career. He had a German number one hit in 1976 with "Ein Bett im Kornfeld",[1] an adaptation of the Bellamy Brothers' "Let Your Love Flow" which was also a German number one.[5]

In the U.S., he had only one moderate hit with "Don't Want No-Body" on the Billboard Hot 100 in January 1981. The single was credited to J.D. Drews and it peaked at #79.[6] As "Nobody", it was released as a single by Toni Basil.

Drews' first marriage was to German actress and model Corinna Drews (née Gillwald) from 1981 until 1985, with whom he has one son.[7] Since 1995 Drews has been married to German actress and model Ramona Drews (née Mittendorf), with whom he has one daughter, Joelina Drews. He lives in Dülmen-Rorup in Germany and spends a lot of his time working on the Spanish island Majorca, where he styles himself as the King of Majorca ("König von Mallorca") since being called that on prime-time German television by Thomas Gottschalk in the show Wetten, dass..?.[8]

Drews opened a restaurant in Santa Ponsa, Majorca in January 2011.[9] It was called "König von Mallorca – Kultbistro" and is decorated with memorabilia and awards from Drews' music career. It had to be closed due to COVID-19 pandemic in August 2020.[10] Drews is suffering from polyneuropathy and announced to reduce his activity as a professional musician because of this disease in May 2022.[11]

Awards

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Drews performing in 2016

Selected filmography

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Film

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Television

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  • 3×1 in Noten (3×1 in music notation)
  • Die deutsche Schlagerparade (The German Schlager parade, 1988–1993)
  • Strip! (1999–2000)
  • Die Drews – eine furchtbar nette Familie (The Drews – a terribly nice family, from 2003)
  • Cash Crash (2013)

References

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  1. ^ a b "Jürgen Drews | Alle News über den König von Mallorca & seine Lieder!". Schlager.de (in German). Retrieved 7 January 2021.
  2. ^ Peter Unfried (28 March 2015). "Der König von Ramona". taz am Wochenende (in German). Retrieved 14 June 2022.
  3. ^ "Jürgen Drews: smago! Serie "Schlager-Rückblick "Vor 40 Jahren" von Stephan Imming – Teil 61: "Ein Bett im Kornfeld" (1/2)!". smago.de (in German). 12 July 2016. Retrieved 14 June 2022.
  4. ^ "1. Trimester: Zur Hölle mit den Paukern (1968), Jürgen Drews: Musiker". IMDb. Retrieved 14 June 2022.
  5. ^ Christian Thome (3 August 2021). "Vinyl der Woche: Ein Bett im Kornfeld – Jürgen Drews: Als Jürgen Drews zum Reh wurde". volksfreund.de (in German). Trierischer Volksfreund. Retrieved 14 June 2022.
  6. ^ "Don't Want No-Body – J.D. Drews". billboard.elpee.jp. Retrieved 14 June 2022.
  7. ^ ""Corinna soll meinen Namen ablegen!"". bunte.de (in German). 21 January 2014. Retrieved 14 June 2022.
  8. ^ "Jürgen Drews So wurde er durch Gottschalk zum "König von Mallorca"". express.de (in German). 12 April 2022. Retrieved 14 June 2022. Thomas Gottschalk hatte spontan eine rettende Idee: "Aber wir haben ja Ersatz. Wir haben sie ja da, die heimlichen Könige von Mallorca", so Gottschalk 1999. Gemeint waren natürlich Drews und Cordalis im Publikum. "Das war die Geburt vom 'König von Mallorca'", so der Schlagerstar. Zurück in Deutschland verschwendete der Sänger keine Zeit: Im heimischen Tonstudio nahm er den Song "Ich bin der König von Mallorca auf".
  9. ^ Katrin Voigt (25 August 2020). "Jürgen Drews: Sein Kult-Bistro muss schließen!". schlager.de (in German). Retrieved 14 June 2022. seit Januar 2011 konnten sich Fans und Anhänger des Sängers in dem Bistro einfinden und ihrem Idol ganz nah sein.
  10. ^ Michael Wrobel (25 August 2020). "Kultbistro von Jürgen Drews muss schließen". mallorcazeitung.es (in German). Retrieved 14 June 2022.
  11. ^ dpa (31 May 2022). "Jürgen Drews sagt Auftritte ab: "Nicht mehr so belastbar"". Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung (in German). Retrieved 14 June 2022.
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