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Hannelore with Heino (2019 at a Bertelsmann party in Berlin): "Love is the gold of life" was the title of a joint album
Photo: Annegret Hilse / Sven Simon / IMAGO
The fact that Heino had cancelled all appointments due to a serious illness of his wife Hannelore was reported by »Bild« at the end of last week. Now Hannelore Kramm has died at the age of 82 at home in Kitzbühel, Austria, as Heino's manager Helmut Werner told the German Press Agency on Wednesday. Previously, the »Bild« newspaper had reported on her death.
Hannelore died on November 8 at home in her own bed. "Heino is devastated and in deep mourning," said Werner. "That was the worst day of his life."
Hannelore Auer, born in Linz in 1940, began a singing career at the age of 15 in her native Austria. At the end of 1959 she got a recording contract with Electrola in Germany, for whom she released several singles. The most successful was "What happened in Athens" in 1962 – her version of the song reached number 32 in the German charts, placing better than Nana Mouskouri's version. In 1968, Hannelore Auer released an album with the record company Metronome called »Ein Busserl aus Wien«.
As a singer, Hannelore Auer also appeared in feature films, later she had character roles in Heimatfilms, she was supported by director Franz Antel. In 1968, the singer and actress married Prince Alfred Auersberg, known as Alfie. In 1972 she suffered a serious car accident, the long-term effects of which are said to have affected her even in her old age.
During the filming of the film »Blau blüht der Enzian«, Hannelore Auer and the German pop and folk music singer Heinz Georg »Heino« Kramm got to know each other at the »Miss Austria« election in Kitzbühel's »Tenne«. According to information on Heino's website, both sat on the jury. The couple married in 1979 after both dissolved their previous marriages.
Heino and Hannelore made a name for themselves as a couple. They recorded music together, the singles »Halt dich fit – wander' mit!« (B-side "Two Hearts and Four Hiking Boots") and "I Don't Want to See You Cry Again"; an album entitled "Love is the Gold of Life" was also released in 1984. Heino also appeared on TV shows together with Hannelore. In addition, the wife also became the singer's manager. From 1996 to 2012, the couple ran "Heino's Town Hall Café" on the market square in Bad Münstereifel.
In 2004, Hannelore Kramm suffered a heart attack. Heino temporarily interrupted his career to help her. According to »Bild«, he was recording a TV show with Andrea Kiewel in Berlin when he received the news of his wife's death.
feb/dpa