Fecó Balázs (born Ferenc Balázs;

Budapest Budapest is the Capital city, capital and List of cities and towns of Hungary, most populous city of Hungary. It is the List of cities in the European Union by population within city limits, tenth-largest city in the European Union by popul ...

, 2 March 1951 – 26 November 2020) was a Hungarian singer, songwriter, and keyboardist and the founder of popular Hungarian rock band Korál.

Biography

Balázs was born in Budapest and attended a music high school in his hometown. He created an orchestra already while learning, and in 1967 he joined the pop band

Neoton Família Neoton Família (also known in some countries as Newton Family) was one of the most successful Hungarian pop-bands, their career spanning several decades, with changes in line-up. Most active from 1977 to 1989, they released albums and singles an ...

(then simply called Neoton). In 1972 he left Neoton and co-founded the band Taurus EX-T 25 75 82, Hungary's first hard rock band and one of the country's first supergroups as its keyboardist and singer. After releasing two singles and unable to convince record label

Hungaroton Hungaroton is the oldest record and music publisher company in Hungary. Hungaroton was founded in 1951, when its only competitors in the Hungarian music market were record labels like Melodiya, Supraphon and from other socialist countries. P ...

to record an album, Taurus broke up in 1973 and Balázs spent two years abroad. He returned to Hungary in 1976 and joined the backing band of singer

Zsuzsa Koncz Zsuzsa Koncz (born Zsuzsanna Koncz) (, born 7 March 1946, Pély) is a Hungarian pop singer, whose lyrics (mostly written by János Bródy) were sometimes highly critical of the country's pre-1990 political system. Her career started after her ...

. In 1978 he founded the

rock band ''Rock Band'' is a series of rhythm games first released in 2007 and developed by Harmonix. Based on their previous development work from the Guitar Hero, ''Guitar Hero'' series, the main ''Rock Band'' games have players use game controllers mod ...

Korál, which became one of Hungary's most popular rock bands in the 1980s and toured abroad in

Bulgaria Bulgaria, officially the Republic of Bulgaria, is a country in Southeast Europe. It is situated on the eastern portion of the Balkans directly south of the Danube river and west of the Black Sea. Bulgaria is bordered by Greece and Turkey t ...

Yugoslavia , common_name = Yugoslavia , life_span = 1918–19921941–1945: World War II in Yugoslavia#Axis invasion and dismemberment of Yugoslavia, Axis occupation , p1 = Kingdom of SerbiaSerbia , flag_p ...

and the

Soviet Union The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR), commonly known as the Soviet Union, was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 until Dissolution of the Soviet ...

. In 1981 he wrote and sang on the band's biggest hit ''Homok a szélben'', which reached 3rd place on that year's Táncdalfesztivál. In 1986 Korál broke up and Balázs started a solo career as a singer and songwriter. In 2008 he won the Hungarian Music Awards, and in 2016 he was awarded the

Kossuth Prize The Kossuth Prize (, ) is a state-sponsored award in Hungary, named after the Hungarian politician and revolutionist Lajos Kossuth. The Prize was established in 1936, by the Hungarian National Assembly, to acknowledge outstanding personal and grou ...

. In August 2020, Balázs began a new tour through Hungary, but on 18 November, during the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic (also known as the coronavirus pandemic and COVID pandemic), caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), began with an disease outbreak, outbreak of COVID-19 in Wuhan, China, in December ...

, he was hospitalized and was in a serious condition due to

COVID-19 Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is a contagious disease caused by the coronavirus SARS-CoV-2. In January 2020, the disease spread worldwide, resulting in the COVID-19 pandemic. The symptoms of COVID‑19 can vary but often include fever ...

. He died from the disease on 26 November 2020, aged 69.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Balázs, Fecó 1951 births 2020 deaths Hungarian rock singers Hungarian pianists Hungarian songwriters Hungarian organists 20th-century Hungarian pianists 21st-century Hungarian pianists Hungarian keyboardists Rock pianists Musicians from Budapest Deaths from the COVID-19 pandemic in Hungary