King Size Dick (born Heinz Ganss; 29 December 1942) is a German rock singer who mainly sings in the Colognian dialect.

Biography

King Size Dick, a truck driver by profession, began his musical career in the 1960s in his home town of

Cologne Cologne ( ; ; ) is the largest city of the States of Germany, German state of North Rhine-Westphalia and the List of cities in Germany by population, fourth-most populous city of Germany with nearly 1.1 million inhabitants in the city pr ...

in several smaller musical bands. The first band he was a member of was called "Dick & The Shade". Whilst serving in the armed forces in Wales, he was a guest singer in a band called Brian Poole & The Tremeloes. In the 1970s, he performed together with the Bläck Fööss, whilst also working as their truck driver. He usually took on the role of singing the band's successful song "Linda Lou", which has since been inextricably associated with the name King Size Dick. At the end of the 1970s, he joined the "Formation Dick & Alex", together with guitarist and songwriter Alex Parche. They played German rock music songs such as ''Schweine in weißen Westen'' (which translates to 'pigs in white vests').

Awards

King Size Dick is the bearer of the 2002 Willi Ostermann medal, the highest official award of the Cologne Carnival.

Origin of stage name

While Ganss was stationed in Wales with the German armed forces, he was asked to perform locally at social events, such as birthdays, which were potluck. In Cologne, overweight people are at times given the nickname ''Dick'', from the German adjective which means 'fat'. Another example of the use of the German adjective as a nickname is for the comedy duo of

Laurel and Hardy Laurel and Hardy were a British-American double act, comedy duo during the early Classical Hollywood cinema, Classical Hollywood era of American cinema, consisting of Englishman Stan Laurel (1890–1965) and American Oliver Hardy (1892–1957) ...

, which Germans often refer to as "Dick und Doof", meaning 'fat and stupid'. Thus the adjective ''dick'' became a nickname for Ganss. During one of the social gatherings in Wales, someone asked Heinz Ganss his name. He replied "Dick", referring to the German adjective for 'fat', or 'large', or 'bigger'. The person who asked him presumed that this was a German word and asked what the German word "dick" meant in English. Heinz Ganss replied: "large". "Oh", replied the Welshman and paraphrased: " king size". Ganss stuck to that and thus his stage name remained "King Size Dick" ('big and fat'), with no intended phallic connotation. In the Colognian dialect, the German adjective translates to as opposed to ''Dick'' which in Colognian, like in English, is also regarded a variation of the Christian name "

Richard Richard is a male given name. It originates, via Old French, from compound of the words descending from Proto-Germanic language">Proto-Germanic ''*rīk-'' 'ruler, leader, king' and ''*hardu-'' 'strong, brave, hardy', and it therefore means 'st ...

". Back home, his nickname and stage name remained "Dick", even in the Colognian dialect.

Discography (selection)

Albums

* ' (1979) * ' (1981) * ' (1990) * ' (1991) * ' (1993) * ''Kölsche Spezialitäten '' (1995) * ' (1996) * ' (2003) * ''Weihnacht'' (2009)

Singles

* ''Macho-girl'' (1990) * ''Wapapapa u.a.'' (1991) * ''Kölle my love'' (1995) * ''Halleluja'' (1995) * ' (1997) * ' (1997) * ' (1998) * ' (2001) * ''Kölsche Evergreens'' (2007) * ' (2010)

References

External links

King Size Dick – official website

King Size Dick at Musicline.de
*
Agentur Ahrens – Profile of King Size Dick from his Agent

Musical Video Clips featuring King Size Dick
{{Authority control German rock musicians German comedy musicians Musicians from Cologne 1942 births Living people