Horst Jankowski

• Background — person • Name — Horst Jankowski • Born — 30 January 1936 • Birthplace — Berlin, Germany • Died — 29 June 1998 • Occupation — Musician • Label — * BASF • Metronome • MPS Records • Mercury

Born in Berlin, Jankowski studied at the Berlin Music Conservatory and played jazz in Germany in the 1950s. In 1953 and 1954 he was a member of Kurt Hohenberger's orchestra, then pianist for singer Caterina Valente until 1955. Jankowski's fame as a composer of easy listening pop peaked in 1965 with his instrumental "Eine Schwarzwaldfahrt", released in English as "A Walk in the Black Forest". The tune became a pop hit, reaching No. 1 on the US easy listening chart, No. 12 on the US Billboard Hot 100, No. 2 in Canada, and No. 3 on the UK Singles Chart. It sold over one million copies, and was awarded a gold disc. The track was featured on the BBC's review of the 1960s music scene, Pop Go The Sixties, broadcast on BBC One and ZDF, on 31 December 1969. It can be heard in a 1962 episode of Perry Mason (1957 TV series) (S5E23 "The Case of the Absent Artist"). This track has become a signature song at Plymouth Argyle F.C., being played at the end of each game as the fans leave the ground. The song also featured as a running joke in the episode "Radio Goodies" of the 1970s BBC TV series The Goodies, as the only record possessed by the group's radio station. The Genius of Jankowski album, released in 1965, was also a million seller. Jankowski went on to score a string of successful albums, but moved on in the 1970s to concentrate more on jazz, including covers of pop and rock hits. Between 1989 and 1994 Jankowski composed and performed easy listening music for Sonoton, Germany. Jankowski died of lung cancer in 1998, at the age of 62.