People News
He is a veteran of German music: political and yet dreamy. Udo Lindenberg moves with the times but has always remained the same.
May 18, 2026, 3:28 amMay 18, 2026, 3:28 am
Udo Lindenberg has been a German superstar for decades – and yet some people probably find it difficult to tell what color the singer’s eyes actually are. No wonder, after all, he is only known in his hat and sunglasses. Plus tight jeans and a protruding lower lip.
This is Udo Lindenberg as he lives and still lives.Image: EPA/DPA
Many media outlets describe the fact that he lived to be 80 as a miracle. 26 years ago he almost drank himself to death and didn’t survive for the first time. “I drank half a bottle of absinthe – and I don’t know anything anymore,” he later said about it. And that he was revived thanks to hospital sex. He had previously had a heart attack and in the 80s his lover even wanted to stab him. It hit him in the head and left a scar: “I’ve been wearing a hat ever since!”
Udo Lindenberg in the film “Panic Times” without a hat without glasses: That was in 1980.Image: imago stock&people
Lindenberg the rebellious rock poet
Lindenberg was always a strange guy. Also musically. At a time when German songs only existed as embellished homeland songs and pop kitsch, he decided to do it differently. He sang about what concerned people in real life: love, war, unemployment or loneliness. So that it spoke from their hearts and still sounded beautiful. Like a mumbled rock ‘n’ roll poem.
The eternal rebel says: “I do my thing, no matter what the others say.” He did the same in the 80s when he released one of his most famous songs, “Sonderzug nach Pankow”. It came about because he wanted to perform in the GDR but wasn’t allowed to. In a letter he wrote to the GDR politician Erich Honecker:
“Let a real German plain-text rocker rock in the GDR. Show off your relaxed, humane and flexible side. Don’t look at it all so narrowly and narrowly, Comrade Honey, and give your okay for my GDR tour.”
Better late than never
Udo Lindenberg never seems to have really grown up. He remains a dreamer – in the best sense of the word. Politically active and informed, but always full of hope. He supports young musicians and thus remains relevant himself. In 2023 he reached the top of the German charts for the first time in his career – and set another record. The song “Komet” with Apache 207 stayed at number 1 in the German single charts for a full 19 weeks. Longer than any other German-language song before.
Udo Lindenberg during a performance in 2016.Image: imago stock&people
In the same year he was made an honorary citizen of Hamburg. And as such there would actually be an elegant Senate breakfast for the big birthday. But not for Lindenberg. The reason: “The Senate breakfast doesn’t really fit in with Udo Lindenberg’s daily routine,” said a spokesman. Sure, the singer is anything but an early riser. You shouldn’t want anything from him until it’s afternoon. Not even when he turns 80.
By the way, that’s just a number for the singer. He recently said he plans to become a “member of the centenarians’ club” and “wield the microphone” for at least another 20 years. Oh yes: And his eyes are blue, by the way.