Aged 6, young Bert was hit by a car and, fortunately, didn't have any major injuries.. The insurance company paid some 500 Deutsche Mark to Bert's mother and she must have "felt" that a "musician first class" was "hiding" inside little Berthold because.... with the money from the insurance she bought a piano. Bert Kaempfert : "I remember playing a lot on the instrument, but I wasn't to keen on actually "learning" how to play...." "I just played 'listening to my feeling and mood of the moment." But the "music virus" must have lingered on, because, a few years later, Bert took lessons not only in playong the piano but also the clarinet, saxophone, and accordion. This combination of reeds and keyboards gave him a versatile skill set from which to draw as an instrumentalist. Working first in the then "big bands" of Germany, and in Denmark (where he was taken as a prisoner of war) Bert developed an interest in arranging for dance music. At the same time, he had an interest in African music, which would prove to be useful later in his career. He formed his own dance band to play catchy tunes at danceable tempos in Europe and in the late 1950s he was signed as an "AandR" man for Polydor records.
In this capacity he produced vocal hits for several Polydor artists, including the 1959 international hit"Morgen" originally sung by Ivo Robic. While Elvis Presley was stationed in Germany , Kaempfert helped him choose the appropriate music for the film "GI Blues" including the song "Wooden Heart" which became a big hit for Presley in Europe (maybe be because it was based upon the Tyrolian song "Muss I denn". Accidentally, Bert's name appeared on the list of composers of the song- something completely untrue and even up to this day, nobody really can explain what exactly happened during those days. At that time Bert was also producing a British singer called Tony Sheridan and at a certain moment, be needed to find a new background group for the singer. Kaempfert then spotted an English groupwhich had just started their career- playing in German nightclubs and then used "The Beatles" as back-up vocalists for Sheridan. But the Beatles did not want to appear on the record sleeve as "Tony Sheridan and the Beatles so Kaempfert re-named the group as "Tony Sheridan and the Beat Brothers". Whatever name was used,this was the actual first professional recording in their illustrious career ! The truth is that neither Sheridan, nor the Beatles themselves had enough money to return to England and so Polydor combined the two then unknown "acts" hoping the sales of the record(s) would generate enough money for them, so that they could go home. "My Bonnie" and "When the saints", two steady standards of the time were chosen as the A and B side of the 45" record but it was to no avail.. the record didn't climb to the top of the hitparades so when Brian Epstein - a famous UK talent scout and producer wrote a letter to Bert Kaempfert "under which circumstances he would release the group" the answer came much sooner than expexted : Bert released them from
the exclusive one year contract and the rest .... is "Beatlemania" ! A couple of months later, Bert started to compose and arrange music and the recordings he made with some of the best studio musicians available at that time, made the "bosses" at Polydor realize that they had "some true gold" in their hands.... But soon, very soon, other "talent scouts" also picked-up the news about this "German guy that made people wanna dance". One of them was the legendary American record man, Milt Gabler.
The coming together of these two men (Bert Kaempfert bringing a song called "Wonderland By night" in his suitcase when flying to the US) would eventually lead to one of the most successful collaborrations in the world of easy listening and mood music.....(To be continued)
