Legends: Bert Kaempfert - German Orchestra Leader And Hit Songwriter

Bert Kaempfert was a German orchestra leader and songwriter who was responsible for some of the biggest and most important songs of the pop era, including the signature hits of Frank Sinatra and Wayne Newton. And he had a major impact on the career of the Beatles too.

Kaemphert was born in Hamburg in 1923 and studied at the Hamburg School of Music. He formed an orchestra and had his first hit in 1960 with “Wonderland By Night”, which turned him and the orchestra into international stars. 

In 1961 he launched the recording career of the Beatles when he produced a song called “My Bonnie” for Tony Sheridan and hired the Beatles as the backing band. At the same session he recorded the Beatles first singles, “Ain’t She Sweet” sung by John Lennon, and “Cry For A Shadow”, a song composed by John and George Harrison.

Kaempfert composed the music to “Strangers In The Night” for Sinatra. Jimi Hendrix worked a bit of that song into his solo in “Wild Thing” at the Monterey Pop Festival in 1967. And Kaempfert wrote the music for the song “Danke Schoen”, which to this day is Wayne Newton’s best known song.

Kaempfert also wrote the music for the song “L-O-V-E” which was a hit for Nat King Cole, and “A Swingin Safari”, which became the theme song for “The Match Game” on TV.