It has long been clear that he will leave the Höhner. Now, however, Henning Krautmacher's exit is even earlier than expected. The reason is that his wife is seriously ill. She has a tough road ahead of her, "which we want to walk together," explains the singer.
Actually, Höhner singer Henning Krautmacher wanted to start the carnival session on November 11th. step on the gas again - and then retire at the end of the year. But now the farewell to the stage suddenly comes very quickly: the front man of the Cologne mood band no longer wants to perform "until further notice". The reason is a serious illness of his wife, explains the 65-year-old.
"My place is now at my wife's side. She has a lengthy, stressful chemotherapy ahead of her," says Krautmacher. "It will be a tough road that we want to walk together." Krautmacher and his second wife Anke have been married since 2011.
The Höhner, who are celebrating their 50th band anniversary this year, are known nationally above all for their carnival songs. People in the extreme north and south of Germany also sing and dance to hits like "Viva Colonia", "Echte Fründe" or "Die Karawane Moves On". Krautmacher with his twisted mustache has been the singer and face of the band for 36 years.
He had already announced in February that he would be no longer a musician at the end of this year. Now successor Patrick Lück will follow in Krautmacher's footsteps sooner than expected. But it won't be a complete jump in at the deep end for Lück: He joined the Höhner a year ago and has been preparing for his role as the new singer ever since.
"The internal handover took place a long time ago," says Krautmacher. That's why he's convinced that the group will get along well without him, despite his short-term exit. The bandmates would have reacted very understandingly to his decision.
In the next few days, the Höhner are booked for numerous carnival performances, and by the end of the year they will also be giving around 20 concerts in various cities. Krautmacher actually wanted to say goodbye to his fans at a concert in the Cologne stadium on December 23 - but it's still uncertain whether that will happen: "We're currently driving on sight."
He and his wife only found out about the illness about three weeks ago. He firmly believes that the treatment works, says Krautmacher. "We still have many goals that we want to achieve," he explains, adding: "For example, we want to finish the Way of St. James, and we've never been to Greece." In the coming weeks, the couple wants to concentrate entirely on therapy - and otherwise "do lots of beautiful, life-affirming things".
