Camillo Felgen

Camillo Felgen – born on November 17, 1920, in Tétange, Luxembourg – was a schlager singer, songwriter, lyricist, and entertainer who is remembered for representing Luxembourg in two different Eurovision Song Contests: 1960 and 1962. He was also a disc jockey and television presenter during the latter part of his career. Perhaps his most well-known work – albeit under the pseudonym Jean Nicolas - was transcribing two Beatles songs into German and then teaching the band how to sing them phonetically. The songs – “Komm, Gib Mir Deine Hand” (“I Want to Hold Your Hand”) and “Sie Liebt Dich” (“She Loves You”) – were the only complete songs that the Beatles recorded in a foreign language. Camillo Felgen’s career began in 1946 when he became a chorus singer and French-language reporter for Radio Luxembourg. Within three years, he had completed theater and opera studies and scored his own first hit single, “Bonjour les amies” in 1951. He began recording songs in German in 1953, which expanded his audience. He represented Luxembourg at the 1960 Eurovison Song Contest with the song “So laang we’s du do bast”, the first time a performer from Luxembourg had performed a song using their native language. Although he did not fare well during that competition, he came in third place two years later with his performance of “Petit bonhomme”. Some of Camillo Felgen’s German hits included “Ich hab Ehrfurcht vor schneeweißen Haaren" and "Sag warum", which featured translated lyrics for the Teddy Bears’ “Oh Why”, which was penned by Phil Spector. Camillo Felgen became popular for writing German lyrics for covers of international songs – his translations can be heard on recordings by artists such as Connie Francis, Caterina Valente, and the Beatles. While continuing to have hits, he also served as host and commentator for German broadcasts from the mid-1960s to the early ‘70s. Camillo Felgen died on July 16, 2005, at the age of 84.

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