Bernd Gerhard Clüver (April 10 1948) was a German Schlager singer who enjoyed a great deal of popularity in the 1970s. Throughout his decades-spanning career, he released a total of 17 studio albums, sold over 10 million records, and won several prizes. Born in the city of Hildesheim, he studied law at the University of Heidelberg and then made his debut as a singer at a talent show in the 1971 radio exhibition in Berlin. This led to a recording contract with Hansa, which released his first Number 1 hit single “Der Junge mit der Mundharmonika” in 1973. Follow-up single “Der kleine Prinz” did just as well, snatching the top spot on the German charts and selling over a million copies. In the following years, Bernd Clüver sparked a controversy with the single “Mike und sein Freund” (1976), becoming the first German pop singer to openly sing about homosexuality. Despite reaching Number 44 on the German charts, the track was banned from the music TV shows ZDF HitParade and Disco. During the 80s, he made two failed attempts to represent Germany at the Eurovision Song Contest and won the Goldene Stimmgabel award in 1981 and 1985. Subsequently, he founded his own record label Phenomenia Records in 2002 and released the album Offen & Ehrlich in 2006. Bernd Clüver passed away after falling from a staircase at his home in Mallorca on July 28, 2011.
