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Reinhard Friedrich Michael Mey (born December 21, 1942, Berlin) is a German singer-songwriter, also known as a Liedermacher. In France he is known as Frédérik Mey.
Reinhard Mey was born on December 21, 1942 in Berlin, where he spent his childhood. At the age of 12 he had his first piano lesson and at the age of 14 he got his first guitar. He taught himself how to play on a trumpet.
During his school years he gained stage experience by performing Skiffle music with friends. In 1965 Mey was offered the chance to perform at a Liedermacher festival at Burg Waldeck, a converted castle ruin. This led to his first recording contract. In 1961 the group "Les Trois Affamés" with Schobert Scholz was formed.
In 1963 Mey graduated from the French Gymnasium in Berlin, receiving the German Abitur as well as the French Baccalauréat, and thereafter began vocational training as an industrial trader at Schering AG Berlin. He broke off his university studies in economics in order to dedicate himself fully to songwriting and singing, and has been a successful performer in Germany, in France and in the Netherlands ever since. He has written songs in German, French and Dutch. He records his French material under the name of Frédérik Mey.
In 1967 he married a Frenchwoman named Christine. Their marriage was dissolved in 1976.
Today, Mey lives in Berlin-Frohnau in his second marriage (since 1977) to Mrs. Hella Hennies (born in Hannover), and the marriage has produced three children: Frederik (born 1977), Maximilian (born November 20, 1982) and Victoria-Louise (born November 19, 1985).
Mey writes both sensitive and humorous songs, with subject matter taken mostly from his everyday life and surroundings. His themes include life on the road, his hobbies (e.g., flying), childhood memories, his family life and surroundings, and occasionally politics. Many of his songs are humorous and demonstrate Mey's extraordinary linguistic versatility. Mey's songs are characterized most by their expressiveness of language and their penetrating melodies.
Mey's politics tend to be moderate to left-leaning. He speaks out in particular for freedom and non-violence, and not only in his songs. (For example, he participated in a demonstration at the beginning of 2003 against the coming war in Iraq).
Strongly influenced by the French chanson, Mey's political songs were scattered among his works at the beginning, but they have increased in quantity over time, such that there is usually at least one song on each new album that concerns itself with politics. His 2004 album, Nanga Parbat, for example, includes Alles OK in Guantanamo Bay, a song critical of the US detention facility on the island of Cuba.
For years, Mey has been an avid vegetarian, and also has been active in the German chapter of the organization People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA). Several of his songs deal with the theme of prevention of cruelty to animals.
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