Falco ( February 19, 1957 – February 6, 1998) was the stage name of the classical music prodigy turned Austrian rock star, Johann (Hans) Hölzel.
Born in Vienna, he studied at the Vienna Music Conservatory. Before becoming an international pop star, he was bass player in the Austrian hard rock band Drahdiwaberl. As a solo artist, Falco had taken an interest in the sounds and rhythms of rap music, and was one of the first Europeans to incorporate rap stylings into pop and rock music. He is best known internationally for the rap-styled " Rock Me Amadeus" (inspired in part by the Oscar-winning film Amadeus) from his album Falco 3, which became a worldwide hit in 1986 and reached #1 on the US charts (arguably the first "rap" song to achieve this feat, notwithstanding Blondie's success with their 1981 hit "Rapture" and the fact that "Ice Ice Baby" by Vanilla Ice from 1990 being cited as the first "true" rap record to top the Billboard Hot 100).
Falco's first hit was "Der Kommissar" (a partial rap song about drug consumption) from the 1982 album Einzelhaft. An English cover version of "Der Kommissar" by After the Fire became a Top 5 hit in the United States in 1983. That same year, Laura Branigan recorded a version of the song with new English lyrics, under the title "Deep In The Dark," on her album Branigan 2. 16 years later, a new version "Der Kommissar 2000" and two new remixes of the original put the song back on the charts.
Other well-known international hits were "Vienna Calling" and "Jeanny" from the album Falco 3. "Jeanny" was somewhat controversial when it was released in Germany and the Netherlands, because it was told from the point of view of a rapist. Several DJs and radio stations refused to play the song, although it became a huge hit in many European countries, and inspired two sequels on later albums.
