Helena Vondrácková
Encyclopedia
Helena Vondráčková is a Czech
Czech people
Czechs, or Czech people are a western Slavic people of Central Europe, living predominantly in the Czech Republic. Small populations of Czechs also live in Slovakia, Austria, the United States, the United Kingdom, Chile, Argentina, Canada, Germany, Russia and other countries...

 singer whose career has spanned five decades.

Early life/career

Vondráčková spent her childhood years in the town of Slatinany
Slatinany
Slatiňany is a town in the Pardubice Region of the Czech Republic. It has around 4,000 inhabitants..Villages Kochánovice, Kunčí, Škrovád and Trpišov are administrative parts of Slatiňany.-External links:* *...

. She took piano lessons from an early age. In 1964 Vondráčková came to prominence when she won a national talent contest that April 27 then that September 3 she made her first recording: a Czech rendering of "Red River Valley
Red River Valley (song)
Red River Valley is a folk song and cowboy music standard of controversial origins that has gone by different names—e.g., "Cowboy Love Song", "Bright Sherman Valley", "Bright Laurel Valley", "In the Bright Mohawk Valley", and "Bright Little Valley"—depending on where it has been sung. ...

" entitled "Červená řeka" ("Red River Valley"). In 1965, the year she graduated high school, Vondráčková was voted the most popular singer in Czechoslovakia by the readers of the magazine Mladý svět earning the Golden Nightingale award. In the summer of 1966 Vondráčková competed in the Bratislava Music Festival subsequently making numerous appearances at music festivals worldwide including the Rio de Janeiro International Music Festival in November 1967 and the European Cup Festival in Knokke Belgium in 1969.

In September 1967 Vondráčková reached #1 on the Czechoslovakian hit parade with "Nedoufej" a rendering of the Sonny & Cher
Sonny & Cher
Sonny & Cher were an American pop music duo, actors, singers and entertainers made up of husband-and-wife team Sonny and Cher Bono in the 1960s and 1970s. The couple started their career in the mid-1960s as R&B backing singers for record producer Phil Spector....

 hit "Little Man": this was one of a number of Czech language cover versions Vondráčková cut for the Supraphon
Supraphon
Supraphon Music Publishing is a Czech record label, it is oriented mainly towards publishing classical music, with an emphasis on Czech and Slovak composers.- History :...

 label, others being ""Pátá"" ("Downtown
Downtown (Petula Clark song)
"Downtown" is a pop song composed by Tony Hatch which, as recorded by Petula Clark, became an international hit – No. 1 in the US and No. 2 in the UK – at the end of 1964.-Original recording:...

"), "Chytila Jsem Motýlka" ("I Only Want to Be with You
I Only Want to Be with You
"I Only Want to Be with You" is a rock-and-roll song by Mike Hawker and Ivor Raymonde. It was the first solo single released by British singer Dusty Springfield under her long-time producer Johnny Franz...

") and "Růže kvetou dál", a rendering of the Gilbert Becaud
Gilbert Bécaud
Gilbert Bécaud was a French singer, composer and actor, known as "Monsieur 100,000 Volts" for his energetic performances. His best-known hits are "Nathalie" and "Et Maintenant", a 1961 release that became an English language hit as "What Now My Love"...

 hit "L'Important c'est la Rose"; the last-named track served as the title cut for Vondráčková's 1969 debut album which was a compilation of her singles released from 1964 on.

The Golden Kids

Vondráčková had met up with singers Vaclav Neckář and Marta Kubišová
Marta Kubišová
Marta Kubišová is a Czech singer of iconic significance. By the time of the Prague Spring of 1968, with her song "Modlitba pro Martu" , she was one of the most popular female singers in Czechoslovakia.In 1967 she won Zlatý slavík award...

 through performing at the Rokoko Palace in Prague and had on occasion collaborated with one or both of them since December 1965, Vondráčková and Kubišová having reached #2 on the Czecholslovakian hit parade in the summer of 1966 with their recorded duet "Oh Baby Baby". In January 1968 Vondráčková performed as a group with Neckář and Kubišová at a Czech music showcase presented at the MIDEM
Midem
-MIDEM:Short for Marché International du Disque et de l'Edition Musicale, MIDEM is the world's largest music industry trade fair, which has been held annually at and around the Palais des Festivals in Cannes, France, since 1967...

 trade fair in Cannes
Cannes
Cannes is one of the best-known cities of the French Riviera, a busy tourist destination and host of the annual Cannes Film Festival. It is a Commune of France in the Alpes-Maritimes department....

 with a resultant month long gig for the trio at the Olympia Theatre in Paris. On November 1, 1968 Vondráčková, Neckář and Kubišová officially consolidated as an act known as the 'Golden Kids', the group recording two albums and making extensive live and televised appearances in Czechoslovakia and Germany before being forced to disband in February 1970 as Kubišová was banned from performing due to her outspoken opposition to the Communist regime in Czechoslovakia. On November 3, 1994 the members of the Golden Kids reunited for a concert at the Lucerna Palace in Prague which was filmed for television broadcast with a concert album also being released.

Later career

In November 1970 Vondráčková participated in the inaugural World Popular Song Festival (Tokyo) with a resultant signing by the Japanese division of Polydor Records
Polydor Records
Polydor is a record label owned by Universal Music Group, headquartered in the United Kingdom.-Beginnings:Polydor was originally an independent branch of the Deutsche Grammophon Gesellschaft. Its name was first used as an export label in 1924, the British and German branches of the Gramophone...

 for whom she made her first recording not singing in her native Czech language with the album Isle of Helena a 1971 release sung in English: she has subsequently added French, Polish, Slovak, German, Russian, and Japanese to her repertoire. Vondráčková headlined her first concert: Helena 71, in 1971 and spent the majority of the decade touring the world, visiting countries in Europe, Asia, and North and South America. Further festival credits inclued the Golden Stag Festival (Brasov) - placing second - in March 1971, the Festival Coupe d'Europe and the Knokke Festival in 1972, the Golden Orpheus Song Festival and (as a non-competing performer) the Intertalent Contest (Prague) in 1973, and - most significantly - the Sopot International Song Festival
Sopot International Song Festival
The Sopot International Song Festival is an international song contest held in Sopot, Poland. It was the biggest Polish music festival altogether with the National Festival of Polish Song in Opole, and one of the biggest annual song contest in Europe...

 held in August 1977 at which Vondráčková took the grand prize with "Malovany dzbanku" consolidating her stardom in Poland (from 1977-80 the Sopot International Song Festival was officially known as the Intervision Song Contest
Intervision Song Contest
The Intervision Song Contest was the Eastern Bloc equivalent to the Eurovision Song Contest. Its organiser was the Intervision, the network of Eastern Europe television stations. It took place in the Forest Opera in Sopot, Poland....

). Although Czechoslovakia's Communist status precluded the nation being represented in the Eurovision Song Contest
Eurovision Song Contest
The Eurovision Song Contest is an annual competition held among active member countries of the European Broadcasting Union .Each member country submits a song to be performed on live television and then casts votes for the other countries' songs to determine the most popular song in the competition...

, Vondráčková did make an unsuccessful bid to represent Germany at Eurovision 1978
Eurovision Song Contest 1978
The Eurovision Song Contest 1978 was the 23rd of its kind, and was held on 22 April 1978 in Paris. With Denise Fabre and Léon Zitrone as the presenters - the first time more than one presenter hosted the contest - the contest was won by Izhar Cohen & the Alphabeta who represented Israel, with their...

, her song "Männer wie du" placing twelfth in a field of fifteen at the German national preliminary for Eurovision 1978
Germany in the Eurovision Song Contest 1978
Germany was represented by Ireen Sheer, with the song '"Feuer", at the 1978 Eurovision Song Contest, which took place on 22 April in Paris. "Feuer" was chosen as the German entry at the national final on 20 February, and was the second of Sheer's three Eurovision appearances; she had previously...

. In 1979 Vondráčková returned to the Tokyo Pop Festival..

Vondráčková began the eighties much like she spent the seventies, on tour – this time in Canada
Canada
Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...

. As the eighties gave way to the nineties, and all of Europe was in the throes of change, she reached the milestone of selling a million albums, performed in the Czech concert Helena 90, and took on the role of Fantine in Les Misérables
Les Misérables (musical)
Les Misérables , colloquially known as Les Mis or Les Miz , is a musical by Claude-Michel Schönberg, based on the novel of the same name by Victor Hugo....

. In 1993, Vondrackova released two Broadway-themed musical albums, one in Czech and one in English, each entitled the Broadway Album.

In the aftermath of the Velvet Revolution
Velvet Revolution
The Velvet Revolution or Gentle Revolution was a non-violent revolution in Czechoslovakia that took place from November 17 – December 29, 1989...

 of 1989, Vondráčková and other veteran Czech pop stars underwent a career decline due to being associated by the citizens of the newly-created Czech Republic with Czechoslovakia's period of Communist oppression. After several years the Czech public was able to view Vondráčková and her contemporaries objectively and with appreciation: from 1997 Vondráčková was frequently showcased on TV Nova
TV Nova
TV Nova is a Czech commercial television station. It began broadcasting in 1994 as the first privately held nation-wide Czech TV station. Its first CEO was Vladimír Železný...

 and in 2000 she returned to the mainstream recording scene with Vodopád a fifteen track album of Czech original dance tracks which, spearheaded by the single "Dlouhá noc", reached Platinum status selling 35,000 copies.

Over the course of the first decade of the new century, Vondráčková continued to release records to commercial acclaim – she is the best selling ever singer in the Czech Republic (and Czechoslovakia before it) – as well as performing in a number of well-received concerts. Vondrackova's extensive career got the box set treatment in 2005, with the 4CD set The Golden Collection (Universal Music) seeing release that year, as well as publication of her memoir entitled I Remember and I Don't Regret Anything. On October 18, 2005 Vondráčková headlined a gala in Prague celebrating forty years of performing: the event was filmed for broadcast by TV Nova that December 26. In 2006, Vondráčková remained active, appearing in the Slovak version of television talent reality show Dancing With the Stars
Dancing with the Stars
Dancing with the Stars is the name of several international television series based on the format of the British TV series Strictly Come Dancing, which is distributed by BBC Worldwide – the commercial arm of the BBC. Currently the format has been licensed to over 35 countries...

, and a year later appearing in the Polish version. A 2007 compilation 2CD Jsem jaká jsem... Best of ("I am... The Best of"), was then released, and managed a top ten placing in the Czech charts. A 2009 live DVD+CD Helena Live was managed a number 2, after Madonna's Celebration. In 2007 she was awarded the Diamond Record for half million sold records in 2007.

Vondráčková has written several books, mostly autobiographical.

Eurosong 2007

In February 2007 Helena Vondráčková was confirmed as having accepted the invitation of Česká televize
Ceská televize
Česká televize is the public television broadcaster in the Czech Republic, broadcasting four channels.- Czechoslovak Television :Television in Czechoslovakia started to take its first steps before World War II. However, before visible results could be achieved, all activities were interrupted by...

 (ČT), the Czech Republic's Eurovision
Eurovision Song Contest
The Eurovision Song Contest is an annual competition held among active member countries of the European Broadcasting Union .Each member country submits a song to be performed on live television and then casts votes for the other countries' songs to determine the most popular song in the competition...

 (ESC) sponsor, to compete in Eurosong 2007, the national preliminary round for the Czech Republic in Eurovision 2007
Czech Republic in the Eurovision Song Contest 2007
Czech Republic made its inaugural Eurovision Song Contest appearance at Eurovision 2007 as represented by Kabát with the song "Malá dáma": the result was a 28th place finish in the semi-final.-Entrants/ Results:...

, the Czech Republic making its ESC debut at Eurovision 2007
Eurovision Song Contest 2007
The Eurovision Song Contest 2007 was the 52nd edition of the Eurovision Song Contest. It was won by first-time appearance as an independent country Serbia and was held at the Hartwall Areena in Helsinki, Finland from 10 May to 12 May. The host broadcaster was YLE.Finland earned the right to host...

. Vondráčková was the only name which ČT confirmed as a Eurosong 2007 entrant prior to the official February 15, 2007 announcement of Eurosong 2007 entrants: this annnouncement stated that Vondráčková would be competing with a track from her October 23 2006 album release Zastav Se (...A Poslouchej) entitled "Samba". Although the Eurosong 2007 final was not broadcast by ČT until March 10 2007 the competing songs were made available for listening from the time of their announcement with voting - done by SMS
SMS
SMS is a form of text messaging communication on phones and mobile phones. The terms SMS or sms may also refer to:- Computer hardware :...

 - open from February 23 2007: around the last-named date ČT announced the disqualification of "Samba" citing the track had been recorded too far in advance to be considered as a possible entrant for Eurovision 2007. Vondráčková, given the prerogative of competing in Eurosong 2007 with a more recent song, did submit the track "Ha ha ha" but soon withdrew from Eurosong 2007 citing her disenchantment with the winner being chosen by SMS voting.

Stage career

In 1992 Vondráčková made her stage musical debut as Fantine in a production of Les Misérables
Les Misérables (musical)
Les Misérables , colloquially known as Les Mis or Les Miz , is a musical by Claude-Michel Schönberg, based on the novel of the same name by Victor Hugo....

in Prague: she has since acted in several musical productions in Czechoslovakia and the Czech Republic (Hello, Dolly!
Hello, Dolly! (musical)
Hello, Dolly! is a musical with lyrics and music by Jerry Herman and a book by Michael Stewart, based on Thornton Wilder's 1938 farce The Merchant of Yonkers, which Wilder revised and retitled The Matchmaker in 1955....

, Cats
Cats (musical)
Cats is a musical composed by Andrew Lloyd Webber, based on Old Possum's Book of Practical Cats by T. S. Eliot...

, Mona Lisa and Miss Saigon
Miss Saigon
Miss Saigon is a musical by Claude-Michel Schönberg and Alain Boublil, with lyrics by Boublil and Richard Maltby, Jr.. It is based on Giacomo Puccini's opera Madame Butterfly, and similarly tells the tragic tale of a doomed romance involving an Asian woman abandoned by her American lover...

).

Helena in Carnegie Hall

She has had two sold out concerts in Carnegie Hall
Carnegie Hall
Carnegie Hall is a concert venue in Midtown Manhattan in New York City, United States, located at 881 Seventh Avenue, occupying the east stretch of Seventh Avenue between West 56th Street and West 57th Street, two blocks south of Central Park....

(New York). First in 2000, and second in 2005.

1960s

  • 1969 – Růže kvetou dál (Supraphon)
  • 1969 – Micro magic circus – with Golden Kids (Supraphon)

1970s

  • 1970 – Golden Kids 1 – with Golden Kids (Supraphon)
  • 1970 – Ostrov Heleny Vondráčkové (Supraphon)
  • 1971 – Isle of Helena (Aritia & Supraphon)
  • 1972 – Helena, Helena, Helena (Supraphon)
  • 1972 – Helena`72 (Nippon Columbia)
  • 1974 – Helena a Strýci (Supraphon)
  • 1975 – Film melodies (Aritia & Supraphon)
  • 1976 – Immortal film themes (Nippon Columbia)
  • 1977 – S písní vstříc ti běžím (Supraphon)
  • 1978 – Unter der Asche meiner Liebe ist noch Glut (Teldec & Telefunken & Decca)
  • 1978 – Paprsky (Supraphon)
  • 1979 – Unter der Asche meiner Liebe ist noch Glut II (Amiga)
  • 1979 – Doch in der Nacht (Teldec & Telefunken & Decca)

1980s

  • 1980 – Múzy (Supraphon)
  • 1980 – Music (Supraphon)
  • 1980 – Golden movie hits (Teldec & Telefunken & Decca)
  • 1981 – Sblížení (Supraphon)
  • 1981 – Helena Singt Billy Joel (Supraphon & Teldec)
  • 1981 – Písně Billyho Joela (Supraphon)
  • 1982 – Přelety (Supraphon)
  • 1982 – Zrychlený dech (Supraphon)
  • 1982 – A ty se ptáš, co já... – The Winner Takes It All... (Supraphon)
  • 1984 – Ode mne k tobě (Supraphon)
  • 1985 – Sprint (Supraphon)
  • 1985 – I'm your song (Supraphon)
  • 1986 – Sólo pro tve oči (Supraphon)
  • 1986 – Helena zpívá Ježka (Supraphon)
  • 1988 – Skandál (Supraphon)

1990s

  • 1990 – Přejdi Jordán a další hity (Supraphon)
  • 1990 – I'm your song (Polskie Nagrania)
  • 1992 – Kam zmizel ten starý song (Supraphon)
  • 1992 – Šíleně smutná princezna (NeaNe Records)
  • 1992 – Les Misérables
  • 1993 – Golden Kids – with Golden Kids (Supraphon)
  • 1993 – The Broadway album (Supraphon)
  • 1993 – The Broadway album (Supraphon)
  • 1995 – Golden Kids Comeback, Live Concert – with Golden Kids (Supraphon Records)
  • 1995 – Christmas with Helena 1 (Polydor)
  • 1996 – To je šoubyznys (Bonton)
  • 1996 – Vánoce s Helenou 2 (Polydor)
  • 1996 – Ten, koho ráda mám (Bonton) – Collection of Helena Vondrackova 1
  • 1996 – Podívej, kvete růže (Bonton) – Collection of Helena Vondrackova 2
  • 1997 – Movie Classics (West&EastMusic)
  • 1997 – Helena v Lucerně Live – největší hity 1 (Polydor)
  • 1997 – Helena v Lucerně Live – největší hity 2 (Polydor)
  • 1997 – To se nikdo nedoví (Bonton) – Collection of Helena Vondrackova 3
  • 1997 – Music Box No.1 – with Golden Kids (Bonton)
  • 1998 – Ostrov Heleny Vondráčkové (Bonton) – Collection of Helena Vondrackova 4
  • 1998 – Helena, Helena, Helena (Bonton) – Collection of Helena Vondrackova 5
  • 1998 – Nevzdám se hvězdám (Universal)
  • 1998 – Paříž, má láska (Multisonic)
  • 1999 – Helena a Strýci (Bonton) – Collection of Helena Vondrackova 6
  • 1999 – Helena Gold (Universal)

2000s

  • 2000 – Miláčku (Bonton) – Collection of Helena Vondrackova 7
  • 2000 – Veselé Vánoce a šťastný nový rok (Universal)
  • 2000 – Helena Gold (Universal)
  • 2000 – The Queens of Pop at the Opera (Kralovny Popu v Opere)
  • 2000 – Vodopád (Universal)
  • 2001 – Film melodies – S písní vstříc ti běžím (Bonton) – Collection of Helena Vondrackova 8
  • 2001 – Paprsky, Múzy (Bonton) – Collection of Helena Vondrackova 9
  • 2001 – Christmas with Helena 4 (Universal)
  • 2001 – Helena 2002 (Universal)
  • 2002 – Sblížení (Bonton) – Collection of Helena Vondrackova 10
  • 2002 – The Broadway album (Universal)
  • 2002 – Helena Platinum (Universal)
  • 2002 – Concert Stars
  • 2003 – Zrychlený dech (Supraphon) – Collection of Helena Vondrackova 11
  • 2003 – Helena Platinum (Universal)
  • 2003 – Helena Vondrackova – Cas je proti nam a dalsi hity...
  • 2003 – Helena Vondrackova – Podivej, kvete ruze (Portrety ceskych hvezd)
  • 2003 – Hádej ...! (Universal)
  • 2003 – Helena Vondráčková & Karel Gott – Live (Goja & Universal)
  • 2004 – Ode mne k tobě (Supraphon) – Collection of Helena Vondrackova 12
  • 2004 – 2DVD Prelety (Supraphon & Czech Television)
  • 2004 – Sprint (Supraphon) – Collection of Helena Vondrackova 13
  • 2004 – Rendez Vous (Universal)
  • 2005 – Sólo pro tvé oči (Supraphon) – Collection of Helena Vondrackova 14
  • 2005 – Gold Collection 4CD Deluxe Edition (Universal & Supraphon)
  • 2005 – DVD Helena Gold (Universal)
  • 2006 – Skandál (Supraphon) – Collection of Helena Vondrackova 15
  • 2006 – Helena zpívá Ježka (Supraphon) – Collection of Helena Vondrackova 16
  • 2006 – Zastav se, ... a poslouchej (Universal)
  • 2007 – Helena Vondráčková & Jiří Korn – Těch pár dnů (Supraphon)
  • 2007 – DVD Helena Vondráčková & Jiří Korn – Těch pár dnů (Supraphon)
  • 2007 – Ha, ha, ha – special limited edition (Universal)
  • 2007 – Jsem jaka jsem (Universal) – 2CD Best Of
  • 2008 – 24 Golden Hits – with Golden Kids (Supraphon)
  • 2008 – Blázen, kdo se lásky zříká – Hity a rarity (Supraphon)
  • 2009 – 4CD Zlata Kolekce – Gold Collection (Universal & Readers Digests)
  • 2009 – Helena Live DVD+CD (Universal)
  • 2009 – Zustavaš tu se mnou (Universal)
  • 2010 – 2CD Live Cencert(Universal)
  • 2011 - DVD Ja pujdu dal (Universal)
  • 2011 - DVD Tangled (W. Disney) - as Mother Gothel
  • 2011 - Tangled / Soundtrack (W. Disney) - as Mother Gothel
  • 2011 – DVD Helena on Broadway – Live Concert in Prague Opera – Greatest songs for Musicals


External links

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