For many years, Heino, Hannelore and Bad Münstereifel seemed to belong together like bad luck and brimstone. But that's in the past. As the folk music star reveals, the Austrian Kitzbühel is now his preferred domicile. To be more precise: the preferred domicile of his wife.
At the age of 83, Heino has once again moved the center of his life. The folk music and pop star is now mainly at home in Kitzbühel in Austria - for the sake of Hannelore, as he explains.
"Hannelore feels more comfortable in Austria," said Heino, referring to his wife in Düsseldorf, where he was born in 1938. The famous couple lived in Bad Münstereifel for a long time, where Heino has been an honorary citizen since 2019. Two years ago, however, the couple moved to their second home in Kitzbühel, due to a complete renovation of the historic spa building there, where Heino and Hannelore last lived. It should now remain so, apparently. Also because the climate for his wife in Kitzbühel is simply better, as Heino made clear.
"If I were in charge alone, I would move to Düsseldorf," explained the blond bard with the dark sunglasses, whose real name is Heinz Georg Kramm. There, as a child, he collected junk on Oststrasse and turned it into money to go to the cinema to watch films with his idol at the time, John Wayne.
In addition to the Christ Church in Düsseldorf, where he will appear in a few weeks, he was born in 1938, the singer revealed. In the church that was bombed during the war, he climbed up the half-destroyed tower as a child. His friends would have rung the bells up there on New Year's Eve. "It was life-threatening - but that's how it was back then," said Heino. "I immediately feel at home when I'm here."
His old football club Schwarz-Weiß 06 was "not the best, but the funniest," the singer recalled. "We played music into the night after every game."
Heino will be on tour again in a few days. After his excursion into the realms of rock music, he now dedicates himself to sacred music, with which he will give 16 concerts in churches in Austria and Germany in the run-up to Christmas.
Heino sees himself in the best family tradition. "My grandfather played the organ in Cologne Cathedral. Two of my cousins became pastors," he explained.
"The heavens glorify" is the title of the tour. Heino's baritone will sound to pieces by Mozart, Schubert, Beethoven and Brahms. "And maybe also to 'boy' from the doctors and 'Sonne' from Rammstein," said Heino. He will be accompanied on the organ by Franz Lambert.
