Rock Me Falco

When I posted that I couldn't get Falco's song Rock Me Amadeus out of my head, I wasn't kidding.

Falco is the stage name for Johann Hölzel, who was born in Vienna in 1957.

He was classically trained as a pianist at the Vienna Musical Conservatory, but also played bass guitar in a couple of heavy metal and punk bands.

He launched his solo career in Berlin, with his music being a blend of punk, rap and pop. Rock Me Amadeus was his most significant international hit, and is possibly the first rap song to reach number 1 in the US (4 years before Ice Ice Baby). In the US, he's usually considered a one-hit wonder, but he had a long and fairly successful career in Austria and Germany.

He died in a car crash in the Dominican Republic in 1997 at the age of 40.

There is now a public staircase in Vienna named after him: Falcostiege.