Petr Muk (4 February 1965 – 24 May 2010) was a Czech pop musician, composer, and performer, famous in the Czech Republic and Slovakia. Muk began playing music at the age of fifteen, performing with various underground punk bands including Dural and Gas, together with classmate and later bandmate Petr Kučera. From 1985 until 1993, he led the Czech

synth-pop Synth-pop (short for synthesizer pop; also called techno-pop; ) is a music genre that first became prominent in the late 1970s and features the synthesizer as the dominant musical instrument. It was prefigured in the 1960s and early 1970s b ...

group Oceán, after which he founded the synth-pop group

Shalom ''Shalom'' ( ''šālōm'') is a Hebrew word meaning ''peace'' and can be used idiomatically to mean ''hello'' and ''goodbye''. As it does in English, it can refer to either peace between two entities (especially between a person and God or b ...

(1992–1996). Both these ensembles were heavily influenced by the English synth-pop duo Erasure, a band whose UK tour Oceán had supported between 1989 and 1990. In 2004, Muk released a tribute EP to his idols. Since 1997, when he released his first solo album, Muk performed as a solo artist, often in musicals and operas such as ''

Rusalka In Slavic folklore, the rusalka (plural: rusalki; , plural: русалки; , plural: ''rusałki'') is a female entity, often malicious toward mankind and frequently associated with water. It has counterparts in other parts of Europe, such as th ...

'', ''Joan of Arc'' ( cs), Karel Svoboda's ''Golem'' ( cs), and Janek Ledecký's ''Galileo''. On his solo records he also covered songs by artists including Olympic,

Václav Neckář Václav Neckář (born 23 October 1943 in Prague) is a Czech singer and actor. He is best known for his performance as Miloš Hrma in '' Closely Watched Trains''. Between 1978 and 1979 he cooperated with Polish singer Anna Jantar during their per ...

, and Karel Černoch. In 2010, Muk was found dead by his wife in their home in

Prague Prague ( ; ) is the capital and List of cities and towns in the Czech Republic, largest city of the Czech Republic and the historical capital of Bohemia. Prague, located on the Vltava River, has a population of about 1.4 million, while its P ...

. The official cause of death was asphyxia from vomit inhalation, and an autopsy and blood work revealed he had medical drugs and alcohol in his blood. Muk had

bipolar disorder Bipolar disorder (BD), previously known as manic depression, is a mental disorder characterized by periods of Depression (mood), depression and periods of abnormally elevated Mood (psychology), mood that each last from days to weeks, and in ...

Awards

Český slavík Český slavík () is an award meant to recognize outstanding achievement and annual popularity in the Czech music industry. It was established in 1996 as the successor to the Zlatý slavík awards, which were established in 1962 in Czechoslova ...

– Silver (2002), (2003) *

– Bronze (2004) * TýTý television viewers' awards (2001), (2004) *

Anděl Awards The Anděl Awards () is a Czech music award ceremony organized by the Czech Academy of Popular Music. History It is a successor to the Annual Czechoslovak Music Award (Czech: ''Výroční československé hudební ceny'') established in 1991 ...

, several nominations

Discography

Solo

Studio albums * '' Petr Muk'' (1997) * '' Jizvy Lásky'' (2000) * '' Dotyky Snu'' (2002) * '' Osud Ve Dlaních'' (2005) * '' Muzikál a Film'' (2009) * '' V bludišti dnů'' (2010) EPs * ''Loď ke hvězdám'' (1997) * ''Ona se brání/Zrcadlo'' (2000) * '' Oh L'Amour'' (2004) – tribute to Erasure Compilations * '' Slunce / To Nejlepší'' (2007) * '' Outro'' (2011) – posthumous release * ''Od A do Z'' (2011) – posthumous release * ''Předtím...A Potom'' (2017) – posthumous release * ''Sny zůstanou (Definitive Best of)'' DVDs * ''Zrcadlo (Videoklipy 1992–2004)'' (2004) – collection of music videos * ''L'Amour Tour 2004'' (2005) – concert filmed in Prague on 12 December 2004

with Oceán

* ''Dávná zem'' (1990) * ''Pyramida snů'' (1991) * ''2 1/2'' (1992)

with Shalom

* ''Shalom'' (1992) * ''Brány vzkazů'' (1994)

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Muk, Petr Czech pop singers Czech guitarists 1965 births 2010 deaths 21st-century Czech male singers People with bipolar disorder People from Český Krumlov Alcohol-related deaths in the Czech Republic 20th-century Czech male singers