Peter Kraus

Born on March 18, 1939, in Munich as Peter Siegfried Krausenecker, Peter Kraus ranked among the earliest performers to introduce American-styled rock & roll to German listeners. Parental enthusiasm for music prompted singing lessons throughout his childhood, and he stepped into acting with his 1954 appearance in the comedy Das Fliegende Klassenzimmer. Additional screen roles, most of them built around musical numbers and including Die Freundin Meines Mannes, soon followed, while his recordings simultaneously established him as a teen idol who drew thousands of youthful followers at concerts throughout the country. Popularity faded in the 1970s, yet renewed visibility through German television and film appearances, together with multiple greatest-hits compilations and lifetime achievement awards, produced a clear resurgence for the singer as the new millennium opened.