Elfi Graf (born ''Elfriede Sepp''; 20 November 1952 in

Dornbirn Dornbirn () is a city in the westernmost Austrian state of Vorarlberg. It is the administrative centre for the district of Dornbirn, which also includes the town of Hohenems, and the market town Lustenau. Dornbirn is the largest city in Vorarlb ...

Vorarlberg Vorarlberg ( ; ; , , or ) is the westernmost States of Austria, state () of Austria. It has the second-smallest geographical area after Vienna and, although it also has the second-smallest population, it is the state with the second-highest popu ...

) is an

Austria Austria, formally the Republic of Austria, is a landlocked country in Central Europe, lying in the Eastern Alps. It is a federation of nine Federal states of Austria, states, of which the capital Vienna is the List of largest cities in Aust ...

n Schlagersinger.

Biography

Graf was born in

and grew up there with her two siblings. She studied classical music, but did not complete the course. In 1971, she won the talent competition '' Show Chance'' and then the schlager singer

Gus Backus Donald Edgar "Gus" Backus (September 12, 1937 – February 21, 2019) was an American singer. He started his career as a member of The Del-Vikings and later became a successful Schlager singer in Germany. Life and career Backus was born on Lo ...

discovered her in '' Talentschuppen''. After working as a telephonist, Graf had her first hit in 1974 with ''Herzen haben keine Fenster'', which was rewritten in English as '' My Melody of Love'', which was a hit for

Bobby Vinton Stanley Robert Vinton (born April 16, 1935) is an American singer and actor, who hosted his own self-titled TV show in the late 1970s. As a teen idol, he became known as "The Polish Prince", as his music paid tribute to his Polish heritage. One ...

, and as ''Don't stay away too long'', which was a hit for

Peters and Lee Peters and Lee were a successful British folk and pop duo of the 1970s and 1980s, comprising Lennie Peters (born Leonard George Sargent, 22 November 1931 – 10 October 1992, Enfield, Middlesex) and Dianne Lee (born Dianne Littlehales, Febru ...

. Its Russian version "''Люди, улыбнитесь миру''" (lyrics by Igor Reznik) has been sung by

Edita Piekha Edita Stanislavovna Piekha (born 31 July 1937) is a Soviet and Russian singer and actress of Polish descent. The peak of her popularity in the countries of the former USSR was in the 1960s. Her most famous song is “Our Neighbor”. (Наш с� ...

since 1983.''Herzen haben keine Fenster'' was chosen by Jan Feddersen in 2008 as number three in a list of 'feelings charts'. Later in 1974, Graf won the '' Goldene Europa'' and the silver '' Bravo-Otto''. Graf had further hits with the songs ''Am schönsten ist es zu Hause'' (1976) and ''Mozartgasse 10'' (1977). Her daughter Heidi was born in 1982. In 1990, Graf competed in the German preliminary round of '' Grand Prix der Volksmusik'' with the song ''Einen Adam, einen Apfel und ein kleines Paradies'', and in 1995, she competed in the Austrian round with the song ''Lieber Leierkastenmann''. Graf lives in

Götzis Götzis is a town in the western Austrian state of Vorarlberg. The Alpine Rhine valley municipality belongs to the district of Feldkirch. Population Events The town is well known for its annual hypo-combined events meeting, the so-called ...

and continues to appear in schlager festivals.

Songs

*''Herzen haben keine Fenster'' 1973 *''Wer auf die Liebe warten kann'' 1974 *''Orphelias Traum'' 1974 *''Er ist ein Schatz'' 1975 *''Tango in der Bar von Fernando'' 1975 *''Am schönsten ist es zu Hause'' 1976 *''Mozartgasse 10'' 1977 *''Die Stunde der Wahrheit'' 1977 *''Sommerwind'' 1977 *''Hoffnungslos verliebt in dich'' (Hopelessly devoted to you) 1978 *''Sunday Girl'' 1979 *''Einen Adam, einen Apfel und ein kleines Paradies'' 1990 *''Rote Rosen lügen nicht'' 1992

Discography

CDs (incomplete): *''Herzen haben keine Fenster'' *''Jedes Herz braucht doch nur eine Heimat'' 1994 *''Wenn mei Herz a Fensterl hätt 1994 *''Versprich mir keinen Regenbogen'' 1994 *''Eine Hand voll kleiner Träume'' 1996 *''Aber Dich vergess ich nie'' 2001 *''Lieder und Geschichten zur Weihnachtszeit'' *''Ich hör dir zu'' 2006

References

External links

* 1952 births Living people People from Dornbirn 20th-century Austrian women singers Schlager musicians Aladin Records artists {{Austria-singer-stub