The musician, whose real name was Hans Blum, died on Friday at the age of 95, as his record company announced. “A long life marked by happiness and impressive creativity has come to an end,” his family said on Monday.
Valentino, alias Blum, died at home “as he wished”: “at night and completely peacefully.” Valentino was particularly famous for his hit “Im Wagen vor mir”, which he released in 1977 with his duet partner Uschi. The refrain with its characteristic “Rada rada radadadada, rada rada radadadada” quickly became a catchy tune.
Actually a composer
The musician was actually a man in the background of the hit industry – as a composer. The list of artists for whom he wrote songs was long – from Howard Carpendale (“The Beautiful Girl from Page One”) to Wencke Myhre (“Don’t Bite into Every Apple”) to Hildegard Knef (“The Old Wolf”) . His songs were entered into the Grand Prix Eurovision de la Chanson four times. Valentino had its heyday in the 60s and 70s.
Blum told the German Press Agency on his 90th birthday that he never actually wanted to be famous. The fictional character Henry Valentino was created when he mightn’t get a song sold to a record company. From then on, Hans Blum called himself Henry Valentino, put on a hat, wore a wide mustache and sang himself – with a disguised, grating voice. When he spoke normally, he actually had a very clear, gentle tone. He lived in Overath near Cologne. His birthplace was Hanover.
