Music: Gentle pop star with charm – Patrick Lindner is 65

Young charm is one of Patrick Lindner’s trademark. The pop star has been enchanting his fans for decades. On September 27, the entertainer turns 65. He celebrates at the Oktoberfest. “My birthday falls into the Oktoberfest season,” he says in the interview of the German Press Agency. “Of course, celebrating in a marquee is ideal.”

For the 65th, the party will be a little bigger, he says. Around 25 close friends are invited. As a Munich Kindl, he naturally appreciates the enjoyment of a freshly tapped extent. The first sip of an Oktoberfest beer is “pure joy.”

In general, it seems that Friedrich Günther Raab, as the pop star is called in bourgeois, has kept his meaning for the beautiful things of life. He was in pure with himself, private and professionally. Of course it wasn’t that.

Like every other artist with a career that lasts over several decades, Lindner also experienced some low. There was a rash down when a newspaper in 1999 took over his outing as a homosexual: that was “a resounding slap in the face”. A personal injury that could also be read in CD and ticket sales: “As a result, I have suffered enormous financial damage.”

It’s been a long time. The success curve has long been going up again. He felt and realized that he was loved and appreciated by his fans even after more than 35 years in the show biz. A realization that, the once shy, young man, made him tires a sovereign stage and television entertainer. When he takes the stage today, he can enjoy these moments. He feels free – and also privileged to practice a profession that meets him artistically and creatively.

From the cook to the pop star

That wasn’t always the case either. Because he started as a cook. As a talented cook-after all, he made it into the star cuisine of the Luxury Hinterge Bayerischer Hof. Later he took over a managerial position in an insurance canteen. Even today, Lindner likes to spend time at the stove to handle pots and pans at professional levels.

If it had gone to his father, he would never have done anything else in his professional life. Probably not the only indication of his incomprehension for his sensitive, artistically ambitious son. “My father didn’t believe me, he always badly talked about my musical career,” he says, and still sounds sad.

Who knows, maybe it was exactly his father’s categorical negative attitude that Lindner became the greatest motivation? “That can be very good,” he says, “at least I really wanted to show him. He prove that I have been having it.” He has that.

Hits, prices and a foundation

Lindner’s record catalog shows a variety of hits and golden albums, he tried as an actor (“Soko 5113” and “Dream Ship”), brought it into the seventh round at “Let’s Dance” and got several television formats tailored to him (“Patrick Lindner Show” on ZDF).

In addition, he received numerous awards; Including the “Bambi”, the “golden tuning fork” and in 2024 the “Bavarian Order of Merit”. He received the latter for his previous career, his connection with Munich and-last but not least-for his Patrick Lindner Foundation, which supports queer life, among other things.

The singer maintains a special connection to some colleagues. Above all: to Roland Kaiser. Since the two went together on ZDF “hit parade tour” around 25 years ago, they have made friends. “That welded us together,” he says, “since then we have maintained this friendship.”

Musically, Lindner tried his career on various terrains. After the start of the 1980s as a folk singer, the former cook was for the first time in 1997 with the album “Himmelweit” modern pop food. A sound that he has remained true to today – with exceptions.

In 2005, the fan of Frank Sinatra and Michael Bublé took a trip to Swing-Geme with the album “Gigolo”. A commercial flop – but not a wrong decision that he would regret. “Never,” he wastes, “I had a lot of fun production with the Thilo Wolf Big Band. In addition, I can always incorporate one or the other swing title in my concerts.”

Patrick Lindner lives together with his husband and manager Peter Schäfer in Munich. Together with his former partner, he adopted an orphan born in St. Petersburg in 1998.