Harry Winter

Harry Winter (24 September 1914 – 3 December 2001), born Horst Winter, was a German-Austrian singer, musician and band director.

Biography

Born in Beuthen, Upper Silesia (present-day Bytom, Poland), his family moved to Berlin after the Silesian Uprisings in 1921. He studied violin and clarinet at the Academy of Music and played in jazz and swing dance orchestras to earn a living, later becoming a bandleader. During the Nazi era, Winter adjusted to the regulations given by the Reichsmusikkammer and concentrated on singing and light dance music. As a Wehrmacht soldier, he was taken prisoner by American forces in late World War II.

Released from captivity after the war he proceeded to Vienna, where he first performed at the Konzerthaus and founded his own dance orchestra in 1946. His swing concerts became increasingly popular in Allied-occupied Austria. Winter could sign a recording contract and his orchestra was a guest in several Austrian radio shows. In 1948 he recorded the song Und jetzt ist es still, composed by Hans Lang, which, translated into English by Bert Reisfeld (It's Oh So Quiet), was covered by Betty Hutton in 1951 and popularized by Björk in 1995.