Our guest on 08.02.2012 Gunter Gabriel, Country Musician

German country singer Gunter Gabriel is known as a tough guy and a graduate of the school of hard knocks. After his success as a pop singer in the 70s, he suffered four failed marriages, two heart attacks, alcoholism, and financial ruin. Now he’s back on stage and better than ever.

Gunter Gabriel was born Günther Caspelherr on June 11, 1942 in the town of Bünde in western Germany. His mother died when he was a young child. He and his younger sister were raised by their father, a violent and abusive man – an experience that would come to shape Gabriel’s later life.

Gunter Gabriel achieved musical success in the 70s singing about hard times and the lives of ordinary people. But a series of bad investments, a bout with alcoholism, and four failed marriages finally spelled financial ruin. He stopped drinking and paid off his debts by playing over 500 concerts in the homes of his many fans between 2007 and 2009. The gravel-voiced singer made his big comeback in 2009 with the ambitious and critically acclaimed "German Records," based on the "American Recordings" of his great friend and role model, country legend Johnny Cash. Today Gunter Gabriel is appearing on Johnny Cash in a new stage musical, and a film about his often turbulent life is also in the works. For the past ten years, Gunter Gabriel has been living in a houseboat in Hamburg, his adopted home.

(First broadcast 06 March 2011)