The Berlin singer Stefanie Simon (71) suddenly storms the charts in the Far East
Singer Stefanie Simon (71) has been making hits for 50 years. Recorded over 150 tracks. But on Tuesday she received a message with a screaming factor!
“I entered the Japanese Singles Chart at number 31,” she says. “I can not believe it. Nobody in Germany wants to hear me.”
She found out via WhatsApp from the composer of her song “Men’s Hearts”. She re-recorded the song from 2016 last summer. “In a modern version with chingching, brrr, jongjong and toi, toi, toi,” she says. A real catchy tune: “The Japanese seem to like that.”
Simon studied musical at the University of the Arts. In the mid-1970s she was drawn to the hit world. She toured with all well-known greats such as Rudi Carrell, Paul Kuhn, Heino, Roberto Blanco and Peter Petrel. Their records rotated in all the jukeboxes.
Later she sang regularly on cruise ships. “My last big hit was in 1989 with Jürgen Marcus. With ‘How will you be?’ we were in all the hit parades,” says the Charlottenburg native.
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She never became rich with her hits. “Being in the charts in Japan means only fame and honor: I only earn money if the songs are downloaded, nobody buys records anymore.” That’s why she still appears on cabaret stages: “Sometimes only 15 fans come – but I sing anyway for her.”
Most recently, 20 concerts were canceled due to Corona. She hasn’t lost her sense of humor. Simon: “Maybe I’m a world star and don’t know it yet. I would fly to Japan immediately to perform there.”
And APP in the charts – that’s how it works
Young creative people around the world use music for their videos on TikTok, Instagram or Kuaishou. And when one of her short films goes viral, it catapults songs like “Männerherzen” into the charts.
One of the reasons for this is the algorithm of the apps: If videos are viewed often and for a long time, or if the stored song is used often, then such videos are displayed to many people in the app.
It is not uncommon for app users to download the song to their playlist, thereby ensuring it is placed in the charts.