Wolfgang Ambros was born in the Semmelweis Clinic in Vienna and spent his childhood years in Wolfsgraben. The father was the headmaster there and sent his son to a boarding school in Vienna. There he not only had to endure the military drill of the teachers, but also his classmates: “I was so pathetic, ignorant. The bad city kids, who knew all the waters, turned on me. I was cannon fodder for them”, Ambros looked back. At some point his mother said: “That’s enough,” as Ambros’ new book “A Mensch möcht i bleib’n” reads, the boy was allowed to change schools.
The “Hofa” started in 1971
Ambros later ended up in London for a year, worked in a record shop in downtown Vienna in 1971 and sang in front of the Theseus Temple in the Volksgarten in the evening – including “Da Hofa”, a poem set to music by his classmate and later long-time creative partner and friend Joesi Prokopetz. Through the mediation of a customer in the record business, it became a single that went to the top of the Austrocharts.
The 19-year-old was initially not satisfied with the recording. “That was probably due to my fundamental inability to recognize commercial potential,” he said at the age of 69. “I didn’t understand at the time that this song is so interesting because it’s not normal rumsti-bang-rock.”
The first album “Everything else doesn’t count anymore…” came out, sales were limited. Also in 1972 was the original version of the musical “Watzmann”, a collaboration between Ambros, Prokopetz and “Cafe Hawelka” acquaintance Fredi Tauch. In 1975 the album “Es lebe der Zentralfriedhof” landed at the top of the domestic charts. Ambros managed to do this five times in a row from 1980 until the middle of the decade: with the LPs “Weiss like Snow”, “Self-Confident”, “The Last Dance”, “The Meaning of Life” and “No. 13″. Songs like “Zwickt’s mi”, “Gezeicht fürs Leben”, “Die Blume aus dem Gemeindebau” and “Tagwache” – a scandal at the time – have long been classics, as has the anthem “Schifoan”.
“Suddenly we were a sought-after band”
For “Wie im Schlaf” (1978) Ambros sang songs by Bob Dylan translated into German – which was also well received in the neighboring country. A concert tour through Germany, on which the legendary double album “Live (Auf ana Langen, finster’n Stroß’n)” was recorded, was the first major tour, as Ambros said in retrospect: “From one day to the next we were one popular band. Until then we played somewhere and loitered around, as did thousands of others. Suddenly we were standing in front of thousands of people every day. Of course it was one of the most important and formative tours of my life.”
In 1982 Ambros married “his” Margit, their son Matthias was born a month later. In 2004 the couple divorced. In 1984, Ambros managed to sell out the Wiener Stadthalle three times. In 1986 he landed the hit “Slowly we’re together”. But a boat accident in Greece, in which one of the pop star’s passengers died, curbed the euphoria. In 1988 Ambros was acquitted of involuntary manslaughter. In 1989, “Wolferl” sang in front of 120,000 observers on Vienna’s Danube Island, he even spoke of 200,000: “That was unbelievable.” Encore: 150,000 visitors experienced Ambros “unplugged” at the Danube Island Festival in 1994.
Setbacks followed Austria 3
In the 1990s, the bard experienced another high with Austria 3, a charity project by Ambros, Rainhard Fendrich and Georg Danzer, which was followed by further joint appearances. At the beginning of the new millennium, the legend was awarded the Golden Decoration of Honor for services to the State of Vienna, and in 2015 the Great Decoration of Honor for services to the Republic of Austria.
In May 2010, Ambros and his new partner became parents of twins. Then hard times began: Ambros fell ill with cancer, suffered enormously from back pain, which worsened after an operation, was left by his girlfriend and thus separated from the children. Only after a second operation did things improve: Ambros could only walk with sticks, but the pain disappeared – and a new love flared up.
Ambros not only polarizes with his songs, but also with his sometimes grumpy appearance, which biographers describe as “authentic” and “not conformist”. “How to call into the forest … Some people weren’t particularly nice to me,” smiled the musician when asked about it in the APA interview.
The 50th stage anniversary is celebrated on June 15th
Even if the celebrant “can’t jump around” on stage anymore, he continues to perform with passion. What is important for him: “That you remain identifiable, that it is Wolfgang Ambros, who sang the same song 40 years ago, but was different – on the outside, but not on the inside.” On June 15, 2022 the 50th stage anniversary is celebrated in the Wiener Stadthalle.
Ambros does not want to commit to whether there will be a new studio album. “I’m still looking for something to get started. But it’s getting harder and harder,” he admits. He doesn’t think of old works in the style of Johnny Cash: “That would be too obvious. But then I’m the Johnny Cash of Austria – well!”