Folk and pop musician Heino has given up regular singing exercises during concert tours. “I used to do that more often, but not anymore,” said the 84-year-old to the German Press Agency in Dresden. A good two weeks after the unexpected death of his wife Hannelore, to whom he was married for 44 years, Heino wants to start this year’s church tour “The Heavens Praise” on Friday evening in Dresden’s Kreuzkirche. “When I stand on stage every day now, I don’t practice,” he said at the presentation in mid-October. “But at home, the scale goes up and down again, so that everything starts moving again.”
Because of Heino’s grief, the start of the 2023/2024 European church tour was postponed by a week. According to the singer’s homepage, 15 performances are planned until the beginning of February in Germany, Austria and Belgium – including two more in Saxony: in the Luther Church in Görlitz and the Philippus Church in Leipzig.
After 250 concerts in places of worship in the past, Heino has famous accompaniment this time: the Norwegian soprano Anita Hegerland, who sang a famous duet with Roy Black as a child and later sang two world hits with Mike Oldfield.
Although he comes from a “very Catholic family,” Heino rarely goes to church, as the artist said. His grandfather played the organ in Cologne Cathedral and two cousins became pastors. “So I was always closely connected to the church.” As a young man, he went there almost every day. “That was easy too, the church was right across from where we lived.” When Hannelore visited a new city, the first thing they did was go to church and light a candle.