Andrea Berg (56) has her hands full at home in Aspach near Stuttgart (D): her legendary home game concerts are already over, now the German hit queen is planning to record her Eurovision show “30 Years Andrea Berg”, which will air on August 6 will run on SRF (8:10 p.m.) as well as on ZDF and ORF (each at 8:15 p.m.). “There’s a lot going on right now,” says the singer at the interview with a view of Lake Zug. “It’s nice here,” says Berg. “I’m a total naturalist. I mightn’t live long in the city.”
Blick: In your place of residence, the 9,000-inhabitant municipality of Aspach, you are celebrating your 30th anniversary at the end of the month. Why do you share the limelight with so many stars?
Andrea Berg: On the new album “I’d do it once more”, which will be released this Friday, and at the anniversary show, there are many dear friends and companions. In addition, I have also fulfilled my big wishes with some titles, for example I sing his title “Sharazan” with Al Bano.
Why was that a wish of yours?
I was a huge Al Bano and Romina Power fan in the mid 80’s. And for once I wanted to be the Romina at his side. Last year I finally asked Al Bano if he would be part of such a project on my album. He even went one step further and told me that I should sing part of my story in German. And that’s how the collaboration came regarding.
A medley with DJ Bobo closes the album.
Rene is part of my family. He has been at my side as creative director for over ten years, we write songs together and inspire each other. And privately, too, he and his family have become very dear to me. We watched each other’s children grow up, I’m always with him on Lake Lucerne and he with me in “Dörfle” in Aspach.
They used to be in Florida together often. Was that also possible recently, despite the Corona measures?
Yes, in spring we flew to America together once more and wrote eight songs for my album there. I appreciate it very much, that’s where our creative oasis is, our place of strength.
With Beatrice Egli, the Swiss Schlager Queen is also represented on your album. How was working with her?
I really like Beatrice since I’ve known her from the time at “DSDS”. I sing “Mosaik” with her, a title that is very close to our hearts. It says that you can also make a beautiful pattern out of a heap of broken glass. “I am free. No ifs and buts. Whistle on the nagging and gossip,” we sing in it. Everything should be said with this.
Beatrice Egli was and is always exposed to body criticism. What is your experience with it?
I have distanced myself from it. Out of 500 comments online, maybe two are nasty and below the belt, but those are the ones you focus on when you read them. I had to learn to see the big picture. This made me more relaxed.
You said in an interview with Blick that you still feel sexy at 53. How is it today?
It’s getting worse! (laughs) I’m very happy with myself. I’ve only just lost ten kilos and I feel completely fine.
You have ten kilos lost in ten weeks. How did you do that?
I knew that a new album, my home game concerts in Aspach and my anniversary shows were coming up, and extra costumes were made for me. For my 30th anniversary, I wanted to feel in top shape and well and had a goal in mind, which helped me enormously. With a lot of sport and a balanced diet I reached my desired weight. That I managed to do that feels incredibly good.
The day following the recording of your anniversary show, you will be on stage at the Open Air Flumserberg. How does it work?
This is really tightly timed and would not have happened at all without Corona postponements. I actually get my makeup done at home and then, already styled, fly with the helicopter to Flumserberg and give my concert. It’s not really my style, but it wouldn’t work any other way. I look forward to seeing my fans in Switzerland once more.
You often sign autographs for your fans following concerts. Other musicians of similar fame simply disappear backstage. Why is being close to the fans so important to you?
Because of my past as a nurse, I still see myself as a caregiver, but now as a caretaker of the souls of my fans. My song “Star Dreamer”, which I also sang in a duet with Gölä, is a perfect example of this. My followers find comfort in it and can identify with what is being sung. I can’t just disappear behind the stage following a performance. I like to take the time for contact and for personal encounters.
Where do you see the advantage in this for yourself?
The fans understand me better and I can be who I am. I’m a very authentic person. For example, I would never have let anyone impose an image on me. That would only work well for a short time, following that the mask would fall because you have to remember far too many things.
Your schedule is jam-packed following the Corona period without performances. Doesn’t it sometimes get too much?
I was never bored during the lockdowns, I have a lot to do besides music. Above all, I really missed meeting people. Parties, concerts and celebrating life – I’m glad that this can finally take place once more.
As a musician and with your hotel, you were affected twice by the measures. How did you experience that?
For me it was a turning point in which I might reflect on myself. As a human being, you suddenly have to endure that when you’re alone. Or when there is almost no outside noise in a relationship and you are on your own. It can be a great experience where you grow together.
Did you also experience this in your marriage to your manager Uli Ferber?
Uli and I have now been married for 15 years and have been through, endured and experienced a lot. And the bottom line is that I have to say: Yes, there is something to it. We’re a great team.
You are a trained nurse and also work for your own hospice. How has the Corona period affected the work there?
This is a very important issue. For the survivors of the deceased, this time brought an enormous burden. Many have to live with the knowledge that they might not be with their loved one at the time of death. A lot of people carry that with them, that they mightn’t hold hands. The feeling that you mightn’t help and wasn’t there.
What advice can you give there?
I believe that the only way to overcome these thoughts is to believe that love never ends. And try to make an emotional connection beyond death. This is the only way you can console yourself by looking for a conversation.
Doctor’s assistant and hit queen
Andrea Berg (56) was a doctor’s assistant when she was discovered as a singer in the early 1990s. Her first “Best of” album sold over two million copies in 2001. Since then she has been considered the hit queen. In 2008, Berg was awarded the German Cross of Merit for her many years of hospice work. The hit singer has a daughter named Lena-Maria (25) and lives with her husband, sports manager Uli Ferber (62), in a small town in Baden-Württemberg, where they run an adventure hotel.
Andrea Berg on the stage of her “Mosaic” tour in January 2020.
imago
Andrea Berg (56) was a doctor’s assistant when she was discovered as a singer in the early 1990s. Her first “Best of” album sold over two million copies in 2001. Since then she has been considered the hit queen. In 2008, Berg was awarded the German Cross of Merit for her many years of hospice work. The hit singer has a daughter named Lena-Maria (25) and lives with her husband, sports manager Uli Ferber (62), in a small town in Baden-Württemberg, where they run an adventure hotel.
Have you also experienced such situations in your work as a nurse and in the hospice?
Yes, that was really bad. I have seen people crying in front of a door, not knowing whether they will see their loved one once more following a serious operation. In addition, during the Corona period, I also saw many older people in the retirement home who became lonely because they were not allowed to visit. At the same time, young people have lost two years of social contacts. So it’s important to come back so that young people can see what it’s like to meet new people, for example while eating ice cream and going out, and that life also happens outside of the smartphone.
What positive things are you taking away from the lockdown period?
Living together with the family. As painful as it was that there were no guests in our hotels, I spent a full Christmas with my loved ones for the first time. I had built a huge miniature Christmas landscape complete with train and sprinkled snow. This gave me a quality of life that I did not have before due to the professional commitments in our family business.
When are the next family celebrations planned?
On August 6th we will meet at home to watch the anniversary show together. Then I go on safari to Africa with my mother and my daughter. I was already on Kilimanjaro with Lena in 2018, now we are going to Botswana. Then we are in the tent, with only 15 kilos of luggage – without lipstick – on the road. Just people and nature. That’s great, you can hear the lions roar at night. The Africa trip 2018 was the most beautiful thing I have experienced in my life. And this year it will definitely be great once more.
Andrea Berg will perform at the Open Air Flumserberg on July 31, 2022 and at Interlaken Airport on June 22, 2023. Tickets for the performance on the Flumserberg is available at Ticketcorner.
