Dutch postcard, sent by mail in 1964. Photo: His Master's Voice.
Danish singer and film actress Gitte Hænning (1946) rose to fame as a child star in the 1950´s. As Gitte she became one of the most famous Schlager (hit music) singers of the German and Danish languages.
Gitte was born as Gitte Haenning-Johansson in 1946 in Århus, Denmark. At the age of eight, she made her debut on Danish television together with her father, singer-composer Otto F. Hænning. She sang the song Giftes med farmand (I Marry Daddy). In 1956 she made her film debut in the Danish family film Den kloge mand/The Wise Man (1956, Jon Iversen). She moved to Sweden in 1958. Her first hit in Swedish was Tror du jag ljuger (Do You Think I Lie to You?) from 1961. As a teenager, Gitte sang popular hits in German, English, Italian and Danish, going on to top the Danish and Swedish charts in the 1960´s, and eventually in Germany with the huge hit single, Ich will 'nen Cowboy als Mann (I Want a Cowboy for My Husband). The recording sold 1.05 million copies by mid 1965, earning Gitte a gold disc. Because her name was relatively unique, she was known primarily without a surname in Europe. She sang her songs in several Schlager films such as the German Schlagerparade (1960, Franz Marischka) and the Austrian Liebesgrüße aus Tirol/Love Greetings From Tyrol (1964, Franz Antel) with Peter Weck. She also starred in the Danish films Ullabella (1961, Ole Walbom), Prinsesse for en dag/Princess for a Day (1962, Finn Henriksen) and Han, Hun, Dirch og Dario/He, She, Dirch and Dario (1962, Annelise Reenberg). In 1962 Gitte attempted to compete for Denmark in the Eurovision Song Contest with Jeg Snakker med mig Selv (I Talk To Myself) but was disqualified because the composer Sejr Volmer-Sørensen had whistled the song in the canteen of the DR. Her success continued after famous duets with Rex Gildo as 'Gitte & Rex', including the Numer 1 hit Vom Stadtpark die Laternen (The Lanterns of the Park). Together they also appeared in such popular films as Jetzt dreht die Welt sich nur um dich/The World Turns Just Around You Now (1964, Wolfgang Liebeneiner) and the TV-film Mit dreißig Schlagern um die Welt/With 30 Hits Around the World (1967, Charles Kerremans). In 1973 she competed for Germany in the Eurovision Song Contest with the song Junger Tag (Younger Day). Gitte made an attempt to represent Luxembourg in the Eurovision Song Contest in 1978 with the song Rien qu'une femme but she lost out to the group Baccara.
Gitte Haenning was among the most popular Schlager singers of the post-war era, and continued to be popular in Germany and Denmark even as American music increasingly dominated the airwaves in the 1970´s. Surprisingly at the time, she recorded a jazz album with The Kenny Clarke-Francy Boland Big Band in 1968. Through the ensuing decades her singles still reached the German charts, but never with the same success she enjoyed in the 1960´s. In the early 1980´s, she changed her image and sang more serious songs such as Freu dich bloß nicht zu früh, the German version of Andrew Lloyd Webber's Take that look of your Face, or Ich will alles (I want everything), making her an icon of emancipation in Germany. Since the late 1950´s, the Danish singer has appeared in more than 300 TV shows (incl. some personality shows) in several European countries (most in Germany and Denmark). Her last film appearance was in Baltic Storm (2003, Reuben Leder), a British-German thriller starring Greta Scacchi and Donald Sutherland. Since 2004, she has been on tour (Gitte Wencke Siw) together with Norwegian singer Wenche Myhre and Swedish singer Siw Malmkvist. Gitte Haenning has been married once: to Jo Geistler from 1972 till their divorce in 1974. After living together with director Pit Weyrich in the 1980´s, she has been the longtime companion of musical producer Friedrich Kurz. Although Gitte Haenning is a successful singer of popular music, her true passion has always been singing jazz. A number of compilation albums of Gitte have been recently released in Germany, among them a biographical DVD, all to commemorate one of the most famous singers of the German and Danish languages.
Sources: GitteHaenning.info, Wikipedia and IMDb.
