Horst Wende

Horst Wende (5 November 1919 – 23 January 1996) was a German bandleader, arranger and composer. He made easy-listening records under his own name as well as under the name Roberto Delgado. He was part of the wave of German-based easy-listening artists who were popular in the 1960s and 1970s, along with Bert Kaempfert and James Last.

Biography
Born in Zeitz, Saxony, he showed musical proficiency at an early age. He played in his grandfather’s band in a restaurant when he was six, and by his teens he was accomplished at playing piano, accordion, xylophone and marimba. He studied music at the Leipzig Conservatory.

He served in the German Army during World War II, but was captured by the British. During his captivity in a Danish prisoner-of-war camp, he met a guitarist named Ladi Geisler, with whom he soon formed a small combo. After the war, he led various combos (which usually included Geisler) in the Salambo Night Club from René Durand & The Tarantella Night Club near the famous Reeperbahn. Horst also played with British Service musicians and big bands such as Edmundo Ros. Settling in Hamburg, he became part of the burgeoning music scene in the port city. Signed to the Polydor label in the 1950s, as a composer, producer and musician he made accordion and dance band music under his own name. He also started with Middle & South America music recordings under the alias of Roberto Delgado, and with piano albums as Mister Pepper. The Delgado albums became popular in Europe, and then found an audience in the UK, Japan and North America and Australia as Polydor opened up several international subsidiaries. It is interesting to note that Wende recorded his albums using the same group of studio musicians who recorded for Kaempfert and Last; in fact, guitarist Ladi Geisler also provided the distinct knack-bass guitar to the Kaempfert sound.

The Delgado recordings were initially Latin-oriented, but they eventually covered a number of different musical genres including African, Italian, Jewish, Oriental, Russian, Greek and Jamaican music as well as Broadway musicals and current pop hits. It could be argued that Wende/Delgado helped to pioneer world music. He managed to break into the German singles market with his version of "Mexico" in 1962. He also arranged music for other German artists such as German folk/pop singer Knut Kiesewetter. Horst made several albums with great international singers including Conny Froboess, Wencke Myhre, Katja Ebstein, Daliah Lavi and Freddy Quinn.

Like most of his pop orchestral contemporaries, Wende’s popularity had faded by the 1980s, and he gradually retired from playing music professionally. In recent years, his music has become popular again, and some of his recordings have been reissued on CD. His work is still much loved and remembered by the many who heard his work. His song "Skokiaan", from the 1958 album Africana, is used at the end of Richard Linklater's film Slacker (1990).

Selected discography
HW - released under the name Horst Wende RD - released under the name Roberto Delgado

MP - released under the name Mister Pepper

LG - released under the name Ladi Geisler with the Horst Wende Orchestra


 * The following complete Horst Wende Orchestra / Mister Pepper / Roberto Delgado Orchestra list is from Marty Goorts.
 * The released years are always pressed in the original records like the list below.
 * 1955	International Polka Favourites HW
 * 1957	Romance Em Veneca RD
 * 1957	Oriëntal Caravan HW
 * 1958	Africana HW
 * 1959  Love Letters  RD
 * 1960	Dance To Delgado RD
 * 1960	Blaue Nacht Am Hafen HW
 * 1961	In Strikt Danstempo HW
 * 1962	Bei Pfeiffers Ist Ball HW
 * 1962	Portrait Of Horst Wende
 * 1962	Portrait Of Roberto Delgado
 * 1962	Along Mexican Highways Vol. 1 RD
 * 1963	Delgado Hits Pan Americana
 * 1963	Latin Americana RD
 * 1964	Olé Roberto Delgado RD
 * 1964	Night Club Dancing Vol. 1 RD
 * 1964  This Is Roberto Delgado  RD
 * 1965	Letkiss RD
 * 1965	Sirtaki Letkiss RD
 * 1965	Blue Hawaii Vol. 1 RD
 * 1965	Caramba Vol. 1 RD
 * 1965	Along Mexican Highways Vol. 2 RD
 * 1965 Die Original Schwarzwaldfamilie Seitz  HW
 * 1965	South Of The Border RD
 * 1965	Camino De Mexico RD
 * 1965	Night Club Dancing Vol. 2 RD
 * 1966	Tanz Durch's Musical Wunderland RD
 * 1966	Show Dancing RD
 * 1966	Italian Romance RD
 * 1966	Delgado Dancing RD
 * 1966	Accordion A La Carte Vol. 1 HW
 * 1966	Tanz In Der Taverne RD
 * 1967	Holiday In Israël RD (This album - Polydor 184 094 - is incorrectly billed as a Roberto Delgado album)
 * 1967	Drops MP
 * 1967	Caramba Vol. 2 RD
 * 1967	Happy Harmonica HW
 * 1968	Holiday In Scandinavia RD
 * 1968	Acapulco Holiday RD
 * 1968	Guitar A La Carte Vol. 1 LG
 * 1968	Wenn Das Schifferklavier An Bord Ertönt HW
 * 1968	Tanz Im Weissen Rössl RD
 * 1968	Marimba A La Carte RD
 * 1968	Dancing Rebecca RD
 * 1968	Latino Dancing RD
 * 1968	Blue Hawaii Vol. 2 RD
 * 1968	Spanish Eyes RD
 * 1968	Hifi Stereo RD
 * 1969	Accordion In Gold HW
 * 1969	Latin Rendez-Vous With RD
 * 1969	Guitar A La Carte Vol. 2 LG
 * 1969	Accordion A La Carte Vol. 2 HW
 * 1969	Hits A La Carte RD
 * 1969	Latin A La Carte RD
 * 1969	This Is Roberto Delgado
 * 1970	Hawaiian Nights RD
 * 1970	Calypso A La Carte RD
 * 1970	This Is Reggae RD
 * 1970	Caramba Vol. 3 RD
 * 1970	The Very Best Of Roberto Delgado
 * 1970	Vibraphone A La Carte RD
 * 1970	African Dancing RD
 * 1970	Samba Caramba South America Olé RD
 * 1970	Latin Flutes RD
 * 1970	Accordéon HW
 * 1971	South America Let's Dance RD
 * 1972	Happy Accordion HW
 * 1972	Latin Special '72  RD
 * 1972	Wir Stehen Auf Akkordeon Vol. 1 HW
 * 1973	Fiësta For Dancing Vol. 1 RD
 * 1973	Happy South America Stargala RD
 * 1974	Die Bouzouki Klingt Vol. 1 RD
 * 1974	Wir Stehen Auf Akkordeon Vol. 2 HW
 * 1974	Dance Time With Roberto Delgado
 * 1974	Roberto Delgado
 * 1975	Fiësta For Dancing Vol. 2 RD
 * 1975	20 South America Dancing Hits RD
 * 1975	South America My Love RD
 * 1976	Akkordeon Schlager-Parade HW
 * 1976	Akkordeon Schlager-Parade Zug Um Zug HW
 * 1976	Die Bouzouki Klingt Vol. 2 RD
 * 1976	Latin Rhythms RD
 * 1977	Die Grossen Orchester Der Welt RD
 * 1977	Die Grosse Aktuelle Hammond Schlager-Parade HW
 * 1977	Fiësta For Dancing Vol. 3 RD
 * 1977	Die Grosse Aktuelle Akkordeon Hitparade HW
 * 1977	Fiësta Caramba 2000 RD
 * 1977	The Best Of The Best Of Roberto Delgado
 * 1977	Fiësta For Dancing Vol. 4 RD
 * 1977	Roberto Delgado In Gold
 * 1977	Buenos Dias Olé RD
 * 1977	Concerto D' Aranjuez RD
 * 1978	Die Balalaika klingt RD
 * 1978	Music Box Dancer RD
 * 1979	Jamaica Disco RD
 * 1979	Roberto Delgado Meets Kalinka
 * 1980	Vacation In The Sun RD
 * 1980	Fiësta Colombiana & Los Paraguayos RD
 * 1980	Da Capo Roberto
 * 1980	Tropical Sun Dance RD
 * 1981	Blue Tropical RD
 * 1996	El Humahuaqueno RD  CD
 * 1998	Happy South America RD  2CD
 * 1999	Happy Holiday Collection RD  2CD
 * 2000	Lounge Legends RD  CD
 * 2000	20 South America Dancing Hits RD  CD
 * 2000	Camino De Mexico RD  CD
 * 2009  Autour Du Monde  RD  CD
 * 2011  Fiesta & Fiesta For Dancing  RD  2CD
 * 2013  Blue Hawaii  RD  2CD
 * 2014  Bouzouki Magic & Bouzouki King  RD  2CD
 * 2014  Jamaica Disco & Tropical Sun Dance & Dancing Queen  RD  2CD

Horst Wende