With his performance at the Berlin Wall in 1989, David Hasselhoff was forever inscribed in German history. The singer and actor from the USA turns 70 on Sunday. He is still active – and in no other country is he as popular as in Germany. Hasselhoff was born in Baltimore in 1952. His paternal ancestors emigrated to the USA from near Bremen in 1865.
According to Hasselhoff, he was a bad student, but discovered his love for acting early on and took part in numerous school plays. He later did acting training. He had his first leading role from 1975 in the US soap opera “The Young And The Restless”, which is titled “Shadow of Passion” in this country.
“I was a bad actor, but I was good-looking,” he later says. Hasselhoff made his worldwide breakthrough in 1982 with “Knight Rider”. The action series, in which he and his talking robot car KITT fight for law and order, falls short with many critics, but is shown in over 50 countries and is now considered a cult.
At the same time, he started a musical career. His debut album had only moderate success in his home country. In Austria, however, it climbs to the top of the charts. Hasselhoff recorded “Looking for Freedom” with producer Jack White in 1989 – and landed the big hit with it. The song sells in Germany following an appearance on “Wetten, dass…?” sometimes more than 70,000 times a day and stays at number one in the European charts for weeks. In his homeland, however, his music receives little attention.
According to the singer, “an anthem of freedom” was “looking for freedom” for many East Germans. Then comes the fall of the Berlin Wall, and a few weeks later Hasselhoff is standing on a crane over the Berlin Wall in a leather jacket with flashing lights and singing his biggest hit over the heads of hundreds of thousands of people. Life began for him in 1989, when he sang at the Wall, says Hasselhoff. However, he rejects the later often ironically quoted myth that he himself caused the building to collapse.
His leading role as lifeguard Mitch Buchannon in “Baywatch” helped him to become even more famous in the 90s. Although the series flopped following the first season, Hasselhoff continued to produce it and made it the most successful US television series of the 20th century with around one billion viewers in over 140 countries.
Berlin remained connected to “The Hoff”, as he is often just called, throughout his life. In 2013, for example, he demonstrated with thousands of Berliners once morest the partial demolition of a section of the Wall.
The father of two daughters left “Baywatch” in 2000 following ten seasons. Roles in various television and cinema productions follow, but he can no longer build on the great success of the 80s and 90s. It’s the same with his musical career.
Hasselhoff unintentionally made headlines in 2007 with a video that showed him trying to eat a burger when he was very drunk. Hasselhoff later stated that leaving Baywatch was the trigger for his alcohol addiction. According to his own statements, he has them treated successfully.
The singer, who lives in California with his third wife, has had cult status for a long time. Years later he is back in business in this country: in 2018 he will play to sold-out houses in Germany, in 2021 he will release the album “Party Your Hasselhoff” – and a big tour is planned for the coming year. “I wish for nothing more than to celebrate my 70th birthday with 50,000 people at a concert,” says Hasselhoff.