FALCO

Falco was the most internationally successful pop

 artist ever to come out of Austria, best known

 for his 1986 chart-topping hit "Rock Me

 Amadeus." Born Johann Holzel in Vienna on

 February 19, 1957, he was a classically trained

 child prodigy, but after graduating from the

 Vienna Conservatoire, he relocated to West

 Berlin and began fronting a jazz-rock band.

 Rechristening himself Falco in honor of the

 German skier Falko Weissflog, he returned to

 Vienna in time to play bass on the punk outfit

 Drahdiwaberl's 1979 album Psycho Today,

 penning their best-known song, "Ganz

 Wein." Falco began his solo career in 1982 with

 the LP Einzelhaft; his "Der Kommissar," which

 fused techno-pop with rapped German lyrics,

 became a major European hit and a club favorite

 in the U.S., with a cover version by the

 group After the Fire reaching the Top Five in

 1983.

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