He Ain’t Heavy, He’s My Brother
Researched by Pam from several sources  

In 1917 , a priest named Father Flanagan decided to help homeless boys by establishing the community of Boys Town near Omaha, Nebraska.  It became a village in 1936. Boys Town continues to help homeless and troubled kids and now has a farm, churches, and a campus where children attend classes.  The children themselves govern Boys Town.  In fact, they recently voted to change the village’s name to Boys and Girls Town, because girls also attend.  In 1991, they elected their first female mayor, 12 years after the first girls arrived.  

For many years, the symbol for Boys Town has been that of a boy carrying a younger boy.  This image comes from an event that Father Flanagan witnessed.  One summer day, some of the boys from Boys Town decided to go swimming.  One little boy was upset that he couldn’t go because he had a brace on his leg and couldn’t walk easily.  But a boy named Jim Edwards picked him up and started to carry him on his back.  Father Flanagan encouraged the other boys to help, but Jim said to the priest, “He ain’t heavy, Father, he’s my brother.”  Father Flanagan was very moved by what Jim said and told all the boys about it.  He used the story to point out, “Always take care of your fellow men.”  

The statue of a boy carrying another boy stands at the front of Boys Town in Omaha, and bears the inscription, “He ain’t heavy, he’s my brother. (Photo submitted by Eva W.)

Boys Town inspired three movie films:

“Boys Town ”…. 1938  (Spencer Tracy got an Oscar for his portrayal of Father Flanagan)

“Men of Boys Town ”.... 1941

The song “He’s Not Heavy, He’s My Brother” was written by Russell and Scott.  It was released by Neil Diamond in 1970

 TWO CROWN PRINCES AMONG WORLD STARS

 
De Nieuwe Gazet - February 6, 2003
by Mark Coenegracht
Translated by Rosette, Edited by Pam

Prince Philip flew to Berlin to present Helmut Lotti with the Goldene Kamera.
                                                                  
Prince Philip took  command of the royal jet Tuesday afternoon to fly to Berlin with Princess Mathilde.  The crown prince wanted to arrive in time to present Helmut Lotti with a "Goldene Kamera" in the category "best classic pop artist" Our musical ambassador received this distinction for his latest album My Tribute to the King.                                      Picture provided by Helga 

Helmut Lotti is a star….a  world star who feels at one among the other celebrities of show-business.  The German
 tennis legend, Boris Becker, came over during the gala dinner for a "little chat", as Sam Gooris would define it.  Rudi Carrell came to  fraternize. But what was most important was the presence of Philip and Mathilde.  The crown prince and his wife came to bring their highest personal praise to our Helmut Lotti at this biggest TV-gala.  Strange but true, Tuesday night we mingled with exceptional celebrities such as Elton John and Hugh Grant, who were both honored for their "lifetime achievement"
                                      
It was extremely cold Tuesday night in Berlin.  It was snowing, but that did not deter the thousands of fans at the Konzerhaus.  After all, seldom can one see such a parade of stars free… idols who readily accept having their pictures taken on the red-carpet.  It was obvious how popular Helmut Lotti is in Germany where he has already sold 450,000 copies of his Elvis album My Tribute to the King.

The "little one out of Belgium", accompanied by his radiant wife Carol, had to pose for pictures for quite a while, and he willingly stopped for the camera crews.  He also made some time for Rob Vissenaekers of Exclusief.  Immediately thereafter came Prince Philip and Mathilda. Protocol does not permit them to stop and no interviews can
be given.  "Move along, Sir, do not answer questions' was whispered by the Head Marshall as they went up the stairs of the Konzerthaus.   Helmut and Carol met Philip and Mathilde in front of the monumental doors, and amicable greetings were exchanged.   As ambassador to UNICEF, Helmut had encountered the prince before.   Mathilde looked radiant in her dark blue evening dress, with stole, and a brooch pinned at the shoulder

The greatest honor was bestowed on Hollywood's legend, Dustin Hoffman.  He had come to Berlin by private jet, with built-in sleeping bed.   Oh yes!  The Hollywood star came to the red-carpet in a brand new Maybach limousine.  The other stars had to be satisfied with only a Mercedes Pullman class.  Elton John was again the star with the biggest following… 15 attendants.  They were in charge of making sure that all the bottles of mineral water in his presidential suite were uncapped.  Sir Elton does not wish to waste any of his blessed time fiddling around with bottle caps.

Stars among themselves

In the impressive room of the Konzerthaus, Philip and Mathilde were seated in the place of honor in the first row.  At Mathilde's left was Dustin Hoffman who chatted pleasantly during the umpteenth speeches in
German.  (stars among themselves, you know.)  Mathilde nodded and laughed.  Then came the time for our crown prince.  In perfect German he greeted Helmut Lotti.  He even wittily quipped  "Helmut even wants to reach the throne.  Not mine, he means Elvis" to which the entire room of stars laughed.

Picture provided by Inge

The princely couple left Helmut and his wife, Carol, among the other laureate stars.  The pilot-prince had to take flight by 11 p.m. at the latest because the Templehof airport closes at that time.  However, the festivities lasted until the early hours.

GOLDEN CAMERA FOR HELMUT

TV Journal  'Hõrtzu".....Berlin  January 27, 2003

Translation by Brigitte with Helmut photo by Fonny

Edited by Pam

The Hollywood stars, Dustin Hoffman, Hugh Grant, and Selma Hayek will be recognized this year with the "Golden Camera" .  Also, the singers Elton John, Helmut Lotti, and the pop group, "No Angels" will receive the award..... according to the TV journal, "Hõrtzu" in Berlin.

The awards will be presented on 4, February, at a Gala with 900 invited guests in the Concerthaus of Berlin. Along  with the German winners in 9 further categories, the American actor, Dustin Hoffman will receive the "Golden Camera" for his life's work. in particular,  for the cinema successes  "Kramer vs. Kramer", "Tootsie", and "Rain Man".

The British singer, Elton John, will be honored for  his life's work in the category music.  Hugh Grant ("Four Weddings and a Funeral) is being honored  as "the best international actor"........ in particular for his role in "About a Boy".

Selma Hayek  will receive  the award in the  category "best international actress" for her achievement in the title role of  the production "Frieda".  The pop group 'No Angels"  will receive the 'Golden Camera' for the success of its album, "When the Angels Swing."

Helmut Lotti , the Belgian singer, will be honored  for his latest album, "My Tribute to the King",......an album with his  interpretations of the songs of  Elvis Presley.

________________________________________________________

BACKGROUND INFORMATION ABOUT THE 'GOLDEN CAMERA' AWARDS.....

by Brigitte 

In November, 1965, when television was still young, the television journal Hõrzu came up with the idea to honor, every year,  persons who have achieved  extraordinary success.

This much in demand award was modeled ( by the Berlin journal) on the Farnsworth Camera, the first electronic camera in the world.  The Farnsworth Camera was used for the first time in 1936 during the summer Olympics.  The Golden Camera award is 25 cm. high, weighs about 600 grams, and is made from gold-plated sterling silver.

At first this "critic's award" was given only on a small scale.  But now it has become an honorarium of important meaning  and  today the winners are honored  with a big t.v. gala.  Between 1975 and 1980  the big halls have been filled to capacity during the ceremony with proceeds going to the  German cancer institute for children.

Until 1992, the ceremonies usually took place in the entry hall of Axel Springer Publishing Group in Berlin.  In 1993, because of the increasing number of guests, the event was moved  to the German Theatre. Then  in 1994 it was moved  into the Koncerthaus on the "Gendarmenmarkt".  The evening before the ceremonies,  there is a "Get together" in the publishing house where managers and artistic directors of HÕRZU, politicians, program directors and their stars, producers, actors and authors meet.  This way they can pay respect to each other, with  their thanks, and also provide further motivation.

In addition,  the readers of the journal, Hõrzu may help choose a winner and they have the possibility to view  this amorous event on television. ( Feb. 7 at 9:15 p.m. on ZDF)

Also on Feb. 6, Thursday, there will be a little special  on a German TV broadcast  named Leute Heute at  5:40 p,m.

For further information about the Golden Camera awards, visit their website:

http://www.goldenekamera.de

      FOR ME THE SPORTPALEIS HAS SOMETHING MAGIC 

 Gazet van Antwerpen – January 4, 2003
  By Jaak Vandyck
 Translated by Rosette

Antwerp - A packed  Sportpaleis, 12,500 spectators, for the first appearance of Helmut Lotti.  Manager Piet Roelen had always shown resistance; "Too large" is what he thought the Sportpaleis to be. "The ambience gets lost."  Now Roelen is willing to admit he was wrong.  The atmosphere on Friday night was evident and reached the highest peak.

In the course of the afternoon, Helmut Lotti met a number of fans and told them,"I will perform to the best of my ability."  "For me as a lover of bike racing, the Sportpaleis, where so many 7-day races and great championships have taken place, is magic."

Accompanied by the Golden Symphonic Orchestra, under the baton of André Walschaerts, he introduced, in the first part, a number of songs from his album My Tribute to the King. You know them:  Suspicious Minds, Heartbreak Hotel, Return to Sender, Are you Lovesome Tonight, as well as his always tasteful Elvis medley.  After the intermission, Lotti browsed through his earlier works: the Classic series, the two Latinos and Out of Africa.  The house went berserk for Caruso, Bohemian Rhapsody and the fun 60s medley.

Lotti worked himself hard and the crowd reacted gratefully and enthusiastically.  For many the surprise of the evening was the invited guest – Freddy Birset out of Antwerp and Limburg.  Only now, at 56, he has landed in the stable of Roelen and has the opportunity that he deserved much earlier.  Birset met with applause for a few French classics from his new CD, Souvenirs de France (This CD was officially introduced backstage later in the evening). Together with Lotti, he performed a duet of Et Maintenant? (What now my Love?) sung in both French and English.

America and Japan

Lotti cannot complain.  850,000 copies of My Tribute to the King have been sold so far.  That number does not include the sales of the festive season - December - which means that the million mark will certainly be reached.

For later in the year, there is thought of a renewed American drive. Lotti has previously performed in the U.S. but the timing was not right. He is therefore willing to give it another go. Moreover, Japan also lies in the future. Piet Roelen: "Interest there has already been shown for some time.  I did not really give it my attention but now we have begun concrete negotiations.  I hope to have more news within three months.” 

  Article from  "Aktiv-Musikmagazin"

Translation  by Eva Wiesendanger

Interview Swiss radio MW 531 August 2, 2002

By Christian Klemm 

Translated by Eva Wiesendanger

Editor’s note: This is a fantastic job by Eva; not only to transcribe the broadcast, but translate it as well!

 Article in "Brückenbauer" (Swiss) 30 July 2002 By Michael West
Translation by Eva Wiesendanger   Photo by Erna

 Exclusive - Helmut Lotti records in Hanover his TV-Special "My Tribute to the King"… his homage to Elvis Presley.

By Mark Coenegracht, Het Laatste Nieuws Editor in Hanover  July 6, 2002

Translated by Rosette, edited by Pam

"Let the whole world know that I am more than lucky.  All my life I have dreamt of making a recording of the songs of Elvis Presley, my main example, and the man who since my childhood spoke to me musically.  We have come this far. My great dream has become reality."

Helmut Lotti radiates while confiding this to me, deep down in the catacombs of the splendid Kupperzaal in Hanover (Germany).  That is where Lotti has recorded his TV-Special Tribute to Presley.  The record, My Tribute to the King, will be released on August 5th in almost all of Europe, Canada and South Africa.  And the TV-Special will be transmitted all over Europe.  In Flanders, the program can be seen on VTM on August 16 at 21 H. (i.e. 9 pm)

A small bottle of cough syrup is on hand so as to suppress a slumbering cold; but for the rest Helmut Lotti is flying high.  Long months of hard work in the recording studio must, during the following weeks and months, deliver the results. "I am fairly sure that I have
made a really good record", says Helmut, smiling.  "But it was also enormously
frustrating.  I would have preferred to record 40 Elvis songs presented as a double CD.  Selecting the songs was very difficult.   My new CD is a good mixture of the musical concept, which we have been using as the base of our work for the last seven years, and the Presley repertoire.

 Intimate Environment

For the TV-special of Lotti's tribute, the recording was switched to the Kupperzaal in Hanover, "an enormous, round hall, with a magnificent dome, which is perfectly suited to concerts by well known artists,” explains Helmut’s manager, Piet Roelen.   “ The atmosphere, the intimate feeling of the environment, and the lighting effects, could not be obtained in a regularTV-studio".

Thus there is no church atmosphere this time on the TV-Special… but a more intimate character, with a seated public in evening attire sipping champagne who, as at a world premiere, can enjoy timeless super-hits like Suspicious Minds, Heartbreak Hotel, Crying in the Chapel and In the Ghetto.

Biggest project 
                                    
My Tribute to the King is without any doubt the biggest project that Helmut has ever undertaken.  From the beginning, we worked with super-audio, a sparkling new technique in which the sound is turned into a caress.  Television-wise, we are producing two
complete programs… not just a musical special.  There is the concert recording in the Kupperzaal, and also a documentary about the life of Presley, which Helmut has filmed.  “That was the reason we went to Las Vegas" indicated Piet Roelen.

Incredibly difficult

"It seems quite logical that Helmut would want to honor his idol, but we were faced with an incredible job.  I do not think that we did the usual thing. We did not get trapped with the obvious.  We have made a convincing album.  Helmut did not rush through the screening of the Presley songs.  But he made them Lotti songs, as he has done with his previous projects."

My Tribute to the King will be available on August 5 in Belgium, the Netherlands, Scandinavia, Germany, Switzerland, France, Eastern Europe countries such as Poland, Hungary and Romania, as well as Canada, and South Africa.

Starting next year, Lotti will also tackle England, Spain and Italy, with a "Best of" the Classics repertoire.

“For the first time in my career I have brought my mother to tears.”

From Dag Allemaal, April 9, 2002

 By Dominique Trachet    Translated by Rosette  Edited by Pam  Photo from Dag Allemaal

_________________________________________

Helmut Lotti is proud as a peacock about his Elvis Presley dream project.

“This is my dream project” he says.  Helmut Lotti is working on what must become his best album so far, an album of Elvis Presley songs.

“And two songs of my own” he says. “Because I want to avoid bringing out a record as a such-and-such Elvis imitator, a common clone.”

One thing is sure:  after his classic programs, and the African and Latino albums, the Lotti fans will be all the more looking forward to this record.  The single with the much in-demand ‘Elvis-medley’ will be available early June.  This is what Lotti made known during a lively attended press conference.  The full CD will follow in the summer.

It is in the Galaxy-studio in Mol that I have an appointment with Helmut Lotti.  He is beside himself.  With a number of top studio musicians, he is recording the basic tracks of his new album - a record built around the works of Elvis Presley, who passed away
 25 years ago in August.  It’s falling in place. “I cannot be chased from here,” says Helmut Lotti while we take refreshment. “I want to be present every second for this is the record which is very dear to my heart.  Elvis taught me to sing, Elvis taught me English.  I am much indebted.  For these reasons, I want this project to be of the utmost purity.  I already feel it:  this will be the best record I have ever made.

Later, as we are sitting in the recording studio, Helmut lets me hear a few tracks while he sings along.  He did not lie.  Elvis’ classics in the Lotti version are brilliantly orchestrated, with a new uplift. “They swing” says Helmut continually, his eyes shining with enthusiasm. “Listen to that swing!”  But the leading part is irrefutably set aside for Helmut’s voice.  Everyone knows his soft spot for Elvis, the affinity his voice has with the King’s.  But Helmut brings a new emphasis, as he rips into each of these very well known household songs… making them his own.  And it becomes really fascinating when he sings for us (and for the first time)  “Thank You,” a song written by Lotti   It sounds like a sure hit.
”I have an obligation to Elvis to make this work,” says Lotti again. “I am only afraid of what the people will expect from me after this record.  Numerous are those who have been waiting for this one.  How much interest will Lotti have for them once this record has been released?  This is a finished matter: there will be no sequel… I do not wish to exploit this theme.”

What meaning can this music have for the people?  How relevant are the Presley songs still in 2002?

”Let us say, the energy as well as the ‘swing’ (rhythm) and the romance in the Presley songs are for all times. I am giving them a ‘new suit’ by recording them with a modern touch such as I did on my earlier records of classic music, and African and Latino songs.  For example, the original drum parts on numerous Presley songs sound at times too much like circus music…too bombastic.  I have found a fantastic drummer who plays ‘modern’ but who possesses the same fire when playing ‘modern’.   Particularly in the seventies, Presley dared to sound nonchalant.   That I have stealthily removed.  I delved into the Presley records to gather the various versions of the same numbers and in each case I chose the best components thereof.  In some cases I even gleaned elements from other songs of Elvis.  Of course, the technical recording possibilities have improved enormously.  In any case, I watched so as not to copy.  To copy is not art.“

Did you choose a particular period of Presley’s career?

”I have put together as varied a palette as possible.   There are songs of the early period, when he recorded in the legendary Sun-studio; but there are also songs from movies and also his Las Vegas period.  I have aimed for an even balance, with a possible penchant for ballads. The real rock-’n-roll does not translate well on a record.  That is better destined for the stage.”

You have been a fan since childhood.  However, Presley was not the trendiest artist when you were in your teens.  Why that preference?

”At home we had only a small old-fashioned record player… an ugly little white box.  On this I listened to Elvis for the first time when I was barely five-six years old.  (Helmut sings, ‘Come on everybody and snap your fingers’)  This gave me goose bumps and I thought, ‘Wow, what is that?’ That voice radiated so much energy and cheerfulness… the music resounded so compelling… (at that time I did not yet know what ‘swing’ was)  that I spontaneously began to sing along (singing ‘Angel, with your angel eyes.’)  It came to me so easily that I was unable to stop.  And when I saw the picture on the sleeve of that record, I found that Elvis was an unbelievably great looking man.  He was in a type of wedding attire with Priscilla on his arm and I thought ‘I would not mind being in that situation.’”

Did your friends feel that cool enough?

”They found that great.  When I wanted to sing something more up-to-date at school, my friends said: ‘Lotti, sing Elvis, you do that much better.’  During music class, I always sang the required song with an Elvis manner even if the song was a Flemish children’s song.  I picked up the after beat and the other children were  fascinated.  And that was a bonus.”

And you were never “cured?”

(laugh) “It was too much fun.  However, I abandoned singing for a time since I wanted to become a bike-racer.   When I saw Michel Pellentier win over Raes and Moser I experienced the same feeling that overcame me when I encountered Elvis.  I will never forget that, it was that fantastic.  Now, in retrospect, it is lucky that I was always the slowest since, as race-biker, I would never have been able to achieve such a career.  Music continued to attract me.  When, as a family, we went to a gathering where an orchestra played, I was always very jealous because I was not on the stage.”

Ever thought about the parallels between Elvis’ life and your own?

(defiant)  “Do you mean that I also come of a modest background?”

You also have a special bond to your mother, you have a daughter as Elvis had and also you have a manager who originates from the Breda area of The Netherlands.

”But I am still ‘clean.’  I do not play the guitar and I have never been a trucker.  I did dye my hair as Elvis did.   In fact his hair was dark blond, as is mine.  He also liked Mario Lanza and Dean Martin.  And he liked Bobby Darin who, when first I heard him, sounded to me like a cross between Sinatra and Elvis.  I have read that Darin was present for the demos of Elvis.  He gave Elvis a better feeling for ‘swing’ so that Elvis could sing those songs with the same drive.  We thus have about the same taste.”

Does Elvis also appeal to you as a man?

”It is a great shame that Elvis was not a little wiser.  But he was a man who led his life on pure instinct and emotions. That made of him a great artist.  But it was also his great weakness.  It finally killed him because he did not have the discipline to keep himself and his emotions well under control.”

Is that not something you yourself had to learn?

”Yes, but differently from Elvis. I can listen to others if necessary.  Elvis listened always only to his manager, Colonel Parker, who was a shrewd businessman who thought only about Elvis as an artist-moneymaking machine and did not show interest in the man Elvis was.  Piet Roelen, my manager, from the start, not only handled my business matters, he also paid attention to me as a human being.  Elvis finally did not live in the real world. That was his tragedy.  I have myself experienced something like that, which can occur much faster than one would think, when you do not keep everything under control yourself.   If you do nothing but work for a full year, day in and day out, encountering always and again the same people, and you only sleep to travel by day and find yourself on the stage or in a studio at night, the ties with the real world are cut off very quickly. Contact with family and friends becomes blurred in such a way that you are not aware of it.  That happens quickly, especially if you are surrounded with people who always agree with you on everything…the ‘yes’ people.  You no longer have any  control socially, and you must be strong in your shoes not to overstep the mark.  At that point you need someone to tell you: ‘Be careful’ or ‘think about it’.  Fortunately Piet does that.  And so does Carol, my wife…however painful it may be.  Even though we have first of all a loving relationship, Carol can be quite blunt. She is very honest, more honest than I am, but also very impulsive. I do not consider that bad…on the contrary.  Were Carol not that way, she would not have the aura for which I fell.

Can Carol relate to your adoration for Elvis?

(laugh) ”That she had to accept.  She learned to know Elvis when we started hanging out.  In the car, I usually play an Elvis tape.  She does find some songs pretty. The first time I sang a song to Carol, it was ‘Love me Tender.’ That is a moment I still cherish.  Same as ‘Return to Sender’ to which I will always be bound with the memory of my first performance.  That happened in school.  ‘My Boy’ will always remain the Soundmixshow  number, the song which started my career.“

You also performed with musicians of Elvis.

”God, yes, that was fantastic.  And at the same time unreal. That first performance, with guitarist Scotty Moore - who was already at the Sun studio for the audition of Elvis with Sam Phillips and drummer DJ Fontana, was organized by the Flemish fan club of Presley in a small room on Linderoever in Antwerp.  There were barely a hundred people present. Later, I performed with J.D. Summer of the Stamps at the Elizabethzaal.  I had already met that man in Nashville.  The ease with which those men perform the most fantastic swing together,… that was enough to get cold shivers.  And they also complimented me thereafter.  They did not tell much about Elvis.  They had known him for such a long time, and experienced so much with him.  For them he was only a man, a human being.  Not the unreachable star that he was for the public.”

Did they not consider you the umpteenth Elvis imitator?

“Oh no, on the contrary.  They complimented me because I did it so well without deceiving myself.  It doesn't make any sense to imitate.   It's for the same reason that I still find it dumb that I had to dress as Elvis during the Soundmixshow."

You did that also in a show at the White Horse in Blankenberg.

”There it fit as a gimmick within a show.  I am not an Elvis imitator. I do not even sound like Elvis, certainly not in the higher registers. I also do not wish to make an imitation record; I only want to sing these Elvis songs as Helmut Lotti.   Imitators shine pathetic exaggeration  and become caricatures.  Those are the people who day-in, and day-out dress up as Elvis.  Men who wash their car themselves wearing such a shirt with braids.  I find that rather disturbing. There was but one Elvis. Such as there is only one Helmut Lotti.”

J.D, Summer met you already in Nashville.  Have you also been in Elvis' town Memphis?

”I went there on my honeymoon and, mind you, like Elvis I also divorced.  I visited Graceland on a day the public was not admitted to the property and was led around by Todd Morgan, the manager of Graceland.  I also met Elvis' uncle Vester who has passed on since then.”

Since the early years you have built up quite a wide following.  It grew with the albums you have recorded and brought to your concerts.Do you think that they will accept this one?

”Even those who are not anxiously awaiting this record - and they are of course still numerous - will find the new album quite nice.  Yes, of that I am quite convinced.  Starting with my mother's reaction.  When I used to give her a 'listen to' of what I was working on, she listened normally for a second and a half then asked me: ‘How is it in fact with you?’  I should be pleased since it showed that my mother was more concerned about my well being than the songs I was singing.  But I must admit that it did seriously frustrate me for thirteen years.  Now, she reacted entirely differently.  When I played a tape with the demo for this Elvis album, she sat down silently and she started crying.  She
really cried for the first time in all these years.  ‘Because it is so beautiful’ she said thereafter.  Therefore I have no doubt that the people will appreciate this record.”

You will also record a TV-special in Memphis, about Elvis.  Has not everything been said and written about the man?

”Only the scandals about Elvis, the individual…not the music. This subject is well known by the fans but not the common man on the street that only knows about the hip swaying rocker, the pathetic megastar who came to such a sad demise.  Anyway, I want mainly
to shine the light on the man and his music.  For that purpose, I have already put on film in Acapulco the rock from which - it is said – Elvis dove into the ocean in the movie "Fun in Acapulco".  Shortly thereafter, I found out that Elvis never went to Mexico and that that the plunge was done by a stand-in.  Just as he never was in Brugge, a town which nevertheless appeared in one of his movies and where his stand-in was one of The Jokers.”

Why did Elvis never want to leave the States?

”The reason was Colonel Parker, whose immigration status was not legal, in proper order.  Parker feared that - should he leave the States - he would not be allowed to return.”

Is there anything about that music which has not been said?  Are there aspects of Elvis that you wish especially to emphasize?

”The brilliance of Elvis' music lies in the 'swing'…the beat.  In fact, this music is like soup, a type of puzzle in which each musician does his own thing.  It comes together with such energy, such stimulation.  I work with the best musicians, people who in fact can play everything but are nevertheless asking at each song how this has to be handled so as to achieve that 'swing', that so-obvious sound.  One aspect of Elvis' personality that is being ignored and which attracts me, is his feeling for humor.  Elvis was a very funny guy, someone who could always come up with a joke.  Should he still be alive, he would certainly act in a comedy such as "Hotshot" or "Airplane"  Elvis was for sure an excellent
actor.  He saw his career go up in smoke because after his first successes, trashy scenarios were forced upon him.  He had no voice on the subject, and increased pressure was put upon him to include some singing in those movies. I find "King Creole" for example still a brilliant movie.”

When Elvis started, he rattled the moral majority of the time.  They found his hip swaying too suggestive.  Is it that rebelliousness that attracts you?

”I have always wondered why those movements were interpreted as sexual.  When I see Elvis as he was then, the only thing I observe is a man who could move with enormous passion and entertain as no one else could.  But it does not shock me at all.   How this man could move and what skill he had as an entertainer!  Nowadays, I see much worse.”

Do you find that annoying?

”I find that vulgar, such as Michel Jackson who continuously feels his crotch to reassure himself that not everything has been operated on. (laugh)  It is the only thing which, were it removed, would make him totally look like Diana Ross.  Were it not so pitifully vulgar, I might still be able to have a good laugh on the subject.”

You no doubt know the American 'urban legend' that Elvis is still alive and living his life under FBI witness protection. Let's assume that you would be able to meet the man, what would you ask him?

”What - in God's name - did he find so delicious about deep-fried bananas and why did he have to fly to Denver for this?  It can be said that Elvis had a few strange habits.”

To conclude: Is there now a new Helmut Lotti?  After all you have done the previous years, is there technically another way to sing this material?

”For me, there is no problem.  On the contrary, I am happy that I finally can come out with a record allowing me to sing in this style.   Mind you that remains always with me.  'Maria Elena' on my 'Latino Love Songs' album of last year also had that sound.  Had Elvis been a Spaniard, he would have sung it the same way.  I can always sing the classic songs differently.  I can stretch the notes such as I wish.  It completes itself rather than excludes.  That is the reason I have such pleasure performing on the stage.  There I am
able to use all these various and different elements.  The public has no problem with it; on the contrary, they like it.  That is the reason I feel confident that this new C.D. will become the best Helmut album!”

HELMUT LOTTI IN CANADA

The man and his music

By Pam in California  
Photo from Inge

“The stage is my playground”, says Lotti in his interviews.  In fact, he “plays” his audience like a fine tuned cello.  First he makes us laugh with his saucy jokes.  Then the rhythmic Latin music creates a mood for dancing.  And just when we think this is all just fun and games, we are thrust into the drama of life with the driving beat of “What Now My Love”, by Gilbert Bécaud. 

Who is this guy who can take his audience through every range of emotion in just one evening? 

On stage Helmut Lotti is a dynamo of energy in control of his world. He is strong, even to the point of being a little cocky.  He challenges himself with music like “Bohemian Rhapsody” with its difficult harmonies, and the vocal demands of Puccini’s “Nessun Dorma”.  He is self- assured, displaying a hint of the mischievous Peter Pan.  With a flair for the dramatic, he can be comical (Granada) or intensely aggressive (Havah Nagilah).  He is the consummate performer, reaching into our very souls with his resonant interpretations of music of all genre. 

But again, who is this guy?  What we see is a multi-faceted person.  When we meet him off stage, the focus shifts.  He becomes a soft-spoken introvert with a brazen sense of humor and fearless honesty of speech, though always courteous and gentle.  But there is a sense of tension about him…an urgency…a feeling that this is not all there is. 

While he talks easily about his thoughts and dreams, Helmut is able to keep his most private-self private. What we see is not the whole package.  In reality he is reserved and not overly communicative.  He appears “laid-back” even though he himself has said that he is very competitive and likes always to win.  But it is with himself that he is competing.  He continues to re-define himself with every new album.  And we are constantly amazed at his talent, his ability to change into something new without sacrificing quality of content.  He cannot be classified because he is a musical chameleon. 

Helmut does not rest.  He puts out an album every year… something few singers do.  Here in the U.S. one album every three years is the average. 

If “All the world’s a stage” (Shakespeare) …then Helmut’s playground may very well become the world.  With his new C.D., “ Tribute To The King”, he returns to his roots with the music he does best:  pop and soft rock.  The Classic albums were a side step for Helmut. The Latino albums and “Out of Africa” were delightful diversions.  But he has shown us that he is more than just a crooner…he is a SINGER in the finest sense of the word. 

Helmut connects with his audience as Elvis did.  And his voice reminds us of Elvis’ voice.  BUT LOTTI HAS THE BETTER INSTRUMENT.  His voice is stronger, he has better breath control, and his vocal range is wider.  While he does not have Elvis’ sweaty charisma, Helmut has something better:  a classy style, and charm.  He “plays” to the individual, leaving every person in the audience stating quite positively,  “Helmut sang to me tonight”. His repertoire has something for everyone, including the children frequently seen at his concerts. 

Though not professionally trained, Lotti has the natural ability to sing with seamless phrasing as in “Nessun Dorma” where interpretation demands one phrase to flow into another.  He rarely flats a note or makes an obvious mistake on stage.  And even if he did, he is so loved by his audience that all would be forgiven.  His fans care for him because he cares about them.  He cares enough to give his very best night after night, and then sign hundreds of autographs no matter how tired he is after a 3-hour concert. He gives to us and we respond with our unflagging applause and devotion.  The communication between performer and audience comes full circle. 

What we see on stage is the product of a driving inner force to be the best he can be while insisting that the process be fun.  Helmut likes to “play” on his stage, and he invites us to play with him.  But what makes it all so appealing is an endearing sense of vulnerability.  He knows what he is doing, but is not yet sure it is enough.
 

A Conversation with Helmut Lotti 

This article appeared in the February 2002 issue of both the French and Flemish editions
of the Reader's Digest - Sélection Belgique/Selectie Belgie

 by Pieter Webeling

Translated by Rosette, edited by Pam

After the 'praline' (filled chocolate), he is the best Belgian export.  Helmut Lotti delivers the good and the bad sides of celebrity.

PW - Is it pleasant to be Helmut Lotti?

HL - Yes, it is rather so.  I do think that the name Helmut Lotti is much nicer than Helmut Lotigiers – though Lotigiers is my real name.  If people behave in a discourteous manner with me, the Helmut Lotti will try to restrain himself.  But sometimes I feel that he is much too stiff in his suit and I wonder if he also sleeps in his tux! But when I see Helmut Lotti on the Latino Classics video, he seems to be an accommodating young man. The look is dignified because I cannot see myself running around in tattered jeans.  The unshaven look does not fit me.

I think that the difference between the private person Helmut and the public one is not that wide.   When I see what I have been given to experience: the success of my music, the enthusiastic reactions of the fans, how happy my mother is with all I have achieved, and the people around me.                                                                                                                                Photo by Jeanine

PW - All of a sudden I seem to hear the voice of Helmut Lotti in his role of perfect son-in-law.  Or are these also your words? 

HL - Yes.  The perfect son-in-law is also hiding in me.  I feel both pleased and embarrassed.  When the management of Bobbejaanland (an amusement park) welcomes me and makes me pass in front of the people waiting in line at the various attractions... it is embarrassing.  But on the other hand, if I had to wait my turn, I would be giving autographs for 1 - 1 1/2 hours.

PW - How do you handle this? 

HL -  I shrug my shoulders and with a smile turn to the people and say "Sorry, I cannot help it, they invited me!"  In this I am somewhat hypocritical. It is unbelievable … the advantages of being Helmut Lotti.  I am praised constantly.  But if tomorrow people
should no longer recognize me on the street, I would start panicking. Oh yes, that has come to my mind.  I feel uncomfortable in anonymity.

PW - 'It has always been my dream to be the center of attention' as you have said.  Did the young Helmut Lotigiers also want to attract attention? 

HL - Yes.  I always wanted to be first in class, the best in languages, the best in math, the best in sports - always a climber on the make. There was nothing enviable about being on a soccer team with me.  If a player did not run fast enough to my taste, I would insult
him.  In that matter, I am, without fail, stupidly asocial. When St. Nicolas came to the school, I jumped for the first time on a podium, which in fact was a long table in the gymnasium.  I started singing a punk version of a traditional welcoming and hopeful song to that children's saint.  Again, I had attracted attention.  I was neither nervous nor scared.  Nor was I afraid of St. Nicolas either.  I had never believed the St. Nicolas story that I was told.

PW - What is your social background?  What kind of man is your father?

HL - My father is a gypsy ...  a bohemian. We were 5 at home; I have two brothers.  The first years were rather carefree, but storms were brewing between my parents. Divorce was inevitable.  One day, my father told me he was leaving.  It hit me hard, as if I had been hit in the head with a hammer.  I did not stop crying, crying, crying. I still remember my mother having to carry me upstairs, I was 6 years old. 

 I did not see my father for six years. I did not share my distress with anyone.  I am by nature a 'lone wolf'. 

At school, I was constantly ridiculed because of my long hair.  They called me Beatle.  They also made fun of me because my mother sold ice cream door-to-door. This infuriated me.  Children are cruel, you know.  They are like a carload of baboons.  They have the similar outward appearance - clothes, language – but the difference is visible even when the balance of power and the social behavior are the same.

PW - No friends?  No one? 

HL - Yes.  Elvis.  My father had left a couple of records that I could play on an old record player.  That music gave me goose bumps.  Elvis was my companion.  The way he sang In the Ghetto, so warm, so full of trust… that brought me consolation.  When I was 13, my mother divorced for the second time.  Again I had an uncontrollable crying fit.  That is when a boy from my class put his hand on my shoulder and asked me 'what's wrong?’  I will never forget that.  It was the first time that a boy in my class cared to listen to me.

PW - Girls? 

HL - Luck was on my side there.  Fortunately, I could sing and I always took advantage of it.  That is the reason I continued singing.  When I was 15, I sang Jailhouse Rock of Elvis at school.  Then I sang Return to Sender.  All the girls screamed…it was total hysteria!

PW - What did you think of that?

HL - Yes. Yes!! That is when I prepared myself for competition.  Since I did not know the butcher on the local jury, I did not come out a winner.  I had a teensy contract with a recording company as singer of Flemish pop songs .....

PW -  .... under the name of  Kevin Leach. 

HL -  I was hoping that by now that name would have fallen into oblivion, hahaha.  I must admit that Kevin the "leech" was not a lucky choice.  My looks were revolting:  loud shirts, black jeans with silver studs, six inches high hairdo ... In fact, it was
horrendous.  It is at that time that my mother registered me for the Soundmix Show on Dutch television, which was presented by Henny Huisman.  I came out second with my Elvis impersonation.  My career exploded thereafter.

PW - After this transmission you become known in Belgium, and you are recognized by people on the street.

HL - The first month, that was tremendous.  No… the first three months. With unbelievable great pleasure, I found myself giving autographs for two hours.  I was presented with arms, bellies, backs and thighs to sign.  All that attention was wonderful.  A lady at the record company decided that I should be called Helmut Lotti.  Lotigiers did not sound right.  I had found that name awful.  At school they used to tease me by calling me Lotje

PW - Thereafter comes the moment when your manager Piet Roelen suggests that you might sing a classical repertoire, this after the fantastic success in Breda where you sang Caruso.  Do you still remember your first reaction?

HL – “You are crazy”.. Caruso is after all a pop song!  I prefer to sing Bohemian Rhapsody from Queen or Anything for Love of Meatloaf… or to make a rock-opera record.  O Sole Mio, Funiculi Funicula or Dein ist mein Ganzes Herz are not for me.  "Listen to it for two weeks” said Piet.  I began to find the music more pleasant.  It sounded more like a "musical" than classic.  Piet guaranteed me six performances a month to which I said “O.K.  I am willing to accept the project…if only to prove that you are crazy.”

My new CD Helmut Lotti Goes Classic had an advance sale of 40,000 copies.  I kept quiet.  The following day, the figure went to 80,000 and three days later to 110,000.  It turned into an assault.  A total of 600,000 copies of that CD were sold in Belgium alone, almost twice as many as Michael Jackson's Thriller for example.  I did not know how to behave.  For three weeks I felt like jumping and howling "yes!'  I felt as if someone above was holding me on a rope and twirling me around.  I had won at Lotto.  That was a tremendous feeling.

PW - What is your strength as an artist? 

HL -  I believe in what I am doing.  On stage, I am a sportsman:  I want to reach the highest point.  Too much preparation is not my cup of tea.  To extend an arm to the public, saying "I love you so much, God bless you ..."  that may be good for Whitney Houston..  I  find that laughable. I do not think that my voice is any good, …bordering on aggressive-nasal.  I sometimes feel that my voice is coming through an uneven pipe.  Elvis gives me goose bumps, but I can only hear my errors. Apparently, it does not bother the people.  Let's be honest:  it comes down to conviction and emotion.

PW - Out of this success Helmut Lotti was born, as we know him today, with the image of the 'sweet' son-n-law.  Can that be said?

HL - Yes, that is a fact.  For girls between 12 and 25, I am not of much interest.  They prefer someone 'wilder'.

PW - You seem to be somewhat laconic.  It would not surprise me that you see that image as a great joke.

HL - For me it is a joke.  As a singer, I do take myself seriously. That is also the public's opinion.  But people can put things in perspective better than we sometimes think in the record business.  It is a game.  Although ... (laughing), some fans go much too far. Once with my Saab, I damaged a backlight.  Some people removed the chips of it to place on their mantelpieces.  They also removed some gravel from my driveway on which this 'illustrious' personality had driven.

A woman sat for 4 days on a bench on the street.  She wanted to marry me, saying that  'my fiancée was a slut and was only staying with me for sex'; and she knew that I wanted no one else but her.  That woman was 45 years old and looked like my mother.  She told me in a letter that she would remove all obstacles in our way.  That's when I called in the police. I never heard from her again.  It is a sad story.

PW - Once you sang at a crematorium as a parting for a woman who was a great fan.

HL - For Betty, that is right.  Betty was an elderly lady from Antwerp who came to all my performances.  She was nice but needed a lot of attention.  Upon her demise I wanted to sing but the news was leaked, and fans came to the crematorium to be present at 
my performance.  I found that revolting, so I went one week later.   This may seem strange but I sang to her urn… her favorite song, Santa Lucia.  Alone.  No one was present.

For a long time, as a singer I have found myself useless.  Why do I attract all this attention? Why is so much attention bestowed on me? Why do I earn such a good living? Who the hell is Lotti?  And then I receive a letter from a fan who says: "You have helped me fight cancer with your song ‘You'll Win’.  I would not have made it otherwise."  Someone else writes that her autistic child started speaking for the first time when listening to my music: 'Mama, who is this?'  An 86 year old woman tells me about having seen my concert on television and saying to me, “For one hour tonight I felt as if I were 16.”  Then I think that what I am doing is not so useless after all.

PW - Success also has its dark side.  At what moment would you prefer to be an anonymous baker in Brussels?

HL - Especially after a performance. I am tired, dead tired.  It is then difficult to patiently hand out autographs to bold people who, while a picture is being taken, put their hand on my backside.  I am Helmut Lotti and I must show a smiling face.  But as soon as the fans take liberties, I put a stop to the session.

PW - With the "Helmut Lotti Goes Classic" series, the success became a mega-story with sold out concerts and dozens of Gold and Platinum records.  With such fairytale perfection, people in the gossip press look for the discordant note.  Three years ago your image came under fire.  An ideal son-in-law only exists by the grace of an harmonious family cocoon and…

HL - .... I divorced.

PW - With all the distress and anger of your ex-wife Kimberly, your 6 year old daughter
Messalina alone and lonesome, etc,… your private life became public fodder. 

HL - They can write what they want on that subject.  I do not tell lies.  However when they mention my ex-wife, it becomes another matter.  I was lucky to be Helmut Lotti and not Helmut Lotigiers. Lotti had to remain very much in control of himself.

PW - I came across an interview which appeared in Margriet (a lady's periodical) less than a year before the divorce, in which you stated that you found  it awful for anyone  to be in a bad marriage which would have to end in a divorce:  “I do not think I would ever be able to go through that.  I am married with the intention of remaining married." 

HL - How can I explain that without causing hurt ... Let me say that I tried to make someone happy, without success. In interviews I made believe that I was deliriously happy in my household, with the thought that I might reach some understanding at home.  I had misunderstood it totally.  I was running away from reality.  A divorce was inevitable.

When the tabloids attack me, it is not so important.  But they hurt mainly the ones close to me such as my daughter or my in-laws.  Those people are blameless and I find that horrible.

PW - You were 6 when your parents were divorced.  Your daughter also was 6 when you took the same steps.  How did you get through this?

HL - …as a rotten stroke of fate. The similarity did not escape me.  The divorce was a difficult decision; but since I had encountered it myself, I was able to put it in perspective.  It is not the end of the world.  But how does one tell this to a 6 year old girl?  I got married again in February, 2001, to a fantastic woman: Carol.  The tabloids still go on writing filth.  For example, they say that I neglect my daughter.  A lot of
misunderstandings have occurred, and that causes me grief.  I remain Helmut Lotti, but I would prefer the freedom to give them a good thrashing.

PW - Do personal matters infringe on the artist?

HL - In any case, on the stage I enjoy myself.  I can concentrate only on one thing at a time.  That is the advantage.  When one performs at 20 live S.R.O. concerts where the people are crazed with enthusiasm ... then one can shake the unpleasantness more easily.  I was in Montreal, Canada.  The intro of the show was Richard Strauss' Also Sprach Zarathustra. That is also how Elvis performances began.  I was now in the New World where he had been so successful.  Hearing this intro gave me goose bumps and I cried… a moment of supreme happiness.

PW - Can you now announce that there will be a "Helmut Lotti Goes Elvis?" 

HL - How could I do that?  I cannot sing those songs any better…only
differently ....

PW - Admit it…you are dying to… 

HL - Yes, I would like to.  I do still idolize Elvis.  I have a scarf that he used to wipe his perspiration and there remains also some make-up.  My father received it from a man in Buffalo.  It could of course be a fake… but leave me to my dreams.

PW - 'In his heart Helmut would prefer to be a Bohemian, footloose, a free Rock 'n Roller à la Elvis', says someone who knows you well.  “Helmut is attached to his image, but he enjoys life.”

HL - I would like to be rocker…with no tie and a nice t-shirt under my suit.  I may still undergo that metamorphosis.  I still have a long career in front of me.  That I am attached to my image ... no.  The attraction of the Bohemian is that he is basically free and is not
tied down to - for example - rock 'n roll.  One year I sing Classics, the next Latino, therafter rock 'n roll,  Elvis, gospel, country, Broadway musicals… you name it.  A Helmut Lotti 20 box of CDs with all different styles of music …that would be perfect.

PW - Do you try to be unreachable?

HL - I only want to play and music is my playground.   Caruso is far removed from rock 'n roll but there are eight high Cs. in it.  And I deliver them.  Do you know ... the longer I think about it, the more I reach the conclusion that Helmut Lotti and Helmut Lotigiers  nearly come together.  I am the ideal son-in-law who sings classic songs but I am also a little rascal who wishes to “rock” My manager would prefer that I give more thought to my image.  It would be better for my career if he were a ventriloquist, hahaha.  In any case, Piet has more ambition that I.  He dreams of my breakthrough in America.

In essence, I have not changed.  I see little difference from the 6 year old boy.  I am still a 'lone wolf' who has a problem communicating with people. This may sound silly but it is true.  I do not connect easily.  Sometimes, I behave like a nut who tells stupid jokes.  Why?  Because I am afraid that people will not find me interesting otherwise.  So I turn to entertaining them…a morbid habit.  I won the National IQ test but I scored eight in ten on the EQ test.  I am willing to make more spelling errors in exchange for more
emotional points.

PW - On one hand you are the 'lone wolf', on the other the performer who has a seething crowd at his feet…an interesting contrast.

HL - The podium is my territory.  I know that the people are there for me.  Then I dare ‘strip’.  It is also the validation, like riding a bike and saying, "See, Mama, no hands!"

  HELMUT LOTTI and the toll of success & glamour

Dag Allemaal December 2001

Excerpted and translated by Rosette; edited by Pam and Jim, Photo from Dag Allemaal (from Erna)

With Latino Love Songs he has again delivered a hit and his Flemish fans will be able soon to enjoy a new series of concerts.  Helmut Lotti (32) continues to keep an eye to outside of our country.  But success and the glamour have a price, as it became clear from our conversation with Helmut.

We met Helmut Lotti in the trendy Bizzie Lizzie restaurant in Antwerp. His wife Carol was there, friendly and unaffected as usual.  She does not get involved in the conversation.  Except once:  "Helmut would not stand for it,” she says afterwards,  "And he is right, of course."

The following day Helmut will be flying off to Sweden to start a Scandinavian concert tour.  In his own country, he presents a new concert formula; partially built around the songs of his most recent CD Latino Love Songs.  Helmut admits, “I am somewhat nervous. Such a new program is always a little stressful, especially with these Spanish songs.  I speak very little Spanish and I learn the numbers by heart … pure drill work, pure discipline. I always keep in mind that something can go wrong and that keeps me focused.”

Does it not become a routine after all these years?

”Certainly not.  I have become more self-confident. On the stage, I am responsible to have everything under control, and also if something goes wrong..  Earlier, I was totally lost and had the tendency to react with panic.  I have not lost the spontaneity of the past but I can now cope more smoothly with the public, except at times when I become very nervous.  In that case, I start talking nonsense. At times, I can't help it and I hear myself talk (on the stage) and think ‘Wouldn’t it be better if you kept quiet and sang, you idiot'.  Now the most stupid thing I could do is to consider myself infallible. That is because infallible people are the ones who make the worst errors.  I know what I can try and what I have to leave alone.  I also feel more comfortable than earlier.”

 How so?

”Until last year, I allowed my career to control my life.  Let us say, it did not depend on the organization around me …but with myself. I have now created time for myself.  I run three times a week, in the morning. As a sportsman, physical exercise is necessary.  I do not feel complete without it, and I had for too long found excuses not to do it. I dwelt in self-pity, saying:  'I must always work!' which was correct but I did it to myself. Finally I started believing that nothing could be done about it.  From that day I decided to take control of my life again.”

What was the turning point?

”My meeting with Lieven Maesschalk, the kinesiologist who helped Johan Museeuw
(Flemish bicycle racer with great willpower) and Gella Vandecaveye (Olympic judo champion) get back on top.  He also now attends to Frank Vandenbroucke (another bike racer). I had back trouble and wanted to be taken care
of by him. Taking the hard line, he put my nose right on the facts. Before he started giving me a massage, he said: 'Oh boy, you are becoming a flabby fellow.' Well, no one had ever told me that (in such a way). But he was right and the worse part of it is that, in fact, I knew it.  Each morning, looking in the mirror I saw a shape which did not please me and which was not 'me'.  Everybody then said:  'Ah, don't worry about it, that's not very serious.  You must enjoy life.'  Now, if you are happy with that …okay. But I was feeling rotten.  I had lost myself, and I was becoming someone I did not want to be.  I had done no sports for a year although I needed to.  Lieven was so sincere that I could no longer close my eyes to the matter.  He forced me to see that it is easier to do nothing about it and push the responsibility onto someone else or to ignore the problem as if it were nonexistent.  I do still do not have the time to tour by bike on a weekly basis, but I find pleasure in running, and that is possible several times a week.  I have lost 8 kilos (17-18 lbs.) and my head is clear again.”

Are the people not critical enough for you?

”Maybe because they did not see the deterioration of my physical condition. I would have no problem if one would say: 'Lotti, you are getting fat.'  I would prefer that to: 'Lotti, be careful not to get a big head.'  There is nothing I dislike more than that remark.  I consider it an enormous insult.  I can certainly ascertain whether I am normal or not.  Were I to say that to you, you would certainly think: 'What business is it of that fellow?’  I may even ask myself whether it might be true. But one knows when one is one hundred percent.”

When do you know that you have reached a full hundred percent?

”In that I am realistic.  My brothers, indeed part of the most important people in my life, have never expressed that and they are very open and honest.  Mind you, it is not because each day you hand out autographs that you automatically acquire a big head. In this I have to draw the line.  Going along with all the requests is impossible, but is saying 'no' a mark of a big head? If some see me that way, then that is their
problem.  Protecting oneself is still the most difficult in the glamour world. Anyway, I cannot please everyone.”

Can people still behave normally with you?

”Of course.  Some find that I put my success too much into perspective. People find that in my lifetime I have already built a fantastic career.  I then remark dryly 'at my age, Elvis was working on his comeback,’ I am certainly not overestimating my success.  There are also people who are even more popular than I am.  On the other hand, I know I am working at it, that I am following the right road and that, as an artist and as
a human being, I am growing each day.  I am also aware that as an artist I live by the graces of the public.  Should the public say tomorrow: 'Lotti, get lost' then I am through.  But at times it becomes too much. Recently, I was attending a little gathering.  People approached me constantly to obtain autographs and it was bothering me terribly. In addition Carol told me that I had to give the autographs.  'You owe that to your fans' she said.  My reaction was '(damn) She must not tell me what to do! I left and took a ten-minute car ride to calm down and reflect. Then I realized that Carol, of course, was right… and that I should be happy that people are willing to ask for my autograph. At times I had the feeling: 'Folks, may I have five minutes of peace?  Allow me to take a breath.'  Well, it will be my destiny, for sure.  On the other hand, here in Belgium, I am still able to have a brew or eat out without problems. But I must admit, it gives me a great feeling when I arrive somewhere and walk the red carpet, with camera lights flashing. It would possibly annoy me if I were no longer the center of interest.”

As a young fan, did you not wish to know all about your idol?

”Of course.  I am also happy to have visited Graceland.  At times, I am still a child.  Two years ago while touring with a few ex-racing cyclists, I noticed on the sidewalk Steven Rooks, who had been the winner in the Liège-Bastogne-Liège race and came in second on the Tour of France. I slammed the brakes and jumped out of the car, intercepting the man. 'Steven Rooks', I called, as I wanted to shake hands with the hero of my youth.  Rooks probably thought: 'Who is that Simple Simon?'  But I was already Helmut Lotti.

”In fact, I should be happy that I make such an impression on people.  But I do not allow it to influence my way of living. Mind you I have nothing to hide.  I mean: the differences between Helmut Lotti and Helmut Lotigiers are minimal.  A lot depends of the perception of the public itself.  Some project their most idealistic expectations on me and expect me to fulfill them perfectly.  I cannot do that, of course..  I am only a human being. I try to live in a decent manner, but this doesn't mean that I do not joke or also curse.”

Have you ever felt your success fade?

”No, but once on the 'Schalkse Ruiters' (TV program, the 'Roguish Horsemen'), the presenters managed to pull off a good one on me.  They had arranged with the people that no one would applaud at the end of the first song of my appearance and everyone stuck to it. I finished the song, and there was total silence.  My heart skipped a beat. During a few seconds, I thought: 'It is over, in one way or the other I have messed up.  My career is over.'  Until someone let out a resounding laugh and I had a look at the people in the first row.  At about that time I had encountered some pretty difficult moments due to a couple of painful press articles pertaining to my divorce.  I thought that the people no longer wanted me and I even wondered what the people I passed on the street were thinking of me.  This turned out all right. You know, for an artist this is a problem.  A top-class sportsman can err as long as he remains on top and is the winner. Should I tomorrow bite someone's ear, I can forget my artist's life, whereas Mike Tyson, on the other hand, went on boxing.”

Did glamour motivate you to become a singer?

”Not the glamour in itself, rather the standing in the limelight. The feeling: ' Look Mom, no hands.'  That's my character.  Sitting peacefully in a corner, that's not for me.”

Are you an angry type?

”Rather, yes, but it is mostly restricted to verbal aggressiveness.  It seldom comes to a physical confrontation and if it did occur, I would never do it again.  Fighting is not my style and over the years, I have learned to take things into perspective.  When I feel that someone laughs at me, I do not waste energy…I just wave a hand.  Later I sometimes think: 'It may have been better to try to satisfy him.'  It is better to err than to make no decision at all.  In life, I have made few erroneous decisions; I have meanwhile become more generous.  Recently we were with some friends, and were enjoying the meal and each other's company. 'Why are we rushing about? This sociability, this great food,
nothing else in life is important’, said my friend.  And he was right.  Some strive for the ultimate kick and meanwhile forget to live.  The kick seekers, who are blind to what they have in hand, are in fact lacking, and I grieve for them.”

Meanwhile you are yourself rather ambitious?

”In moderation.  It pleases me to be the most popular and I hate losing but I remain firmly with my two feet firmly on the ground.  For the filming of the Latino Love Songs DVD I went to Acapulco, Mexico.  In some neighborhoods people live in ramshackle slums.  However, they have a color television and they all walk around with a portable telephone.  I understood that that was their way of living.  By this I mean: the stars' world, which we reflect, represents at most fifteen percent of the world. The other 85 percent have never heard about the 'great stars' and have other idols.  People nowadays have a need for idols.  To be one is a privilege; I am that vain.”

Can you, at your level in business afford friendships?

”I have enough people that I can reach when I have a problem.  Carol is such a beacon, and so is my manager.  But I do not need many people when the ones who are there are the right ones.  I do not have to flourish in the gossip 'milieu'.  I have never done that, which does not mean that I do not attend parties.  I go because I really want to and I go to enjoy myself, not to lobby.  Mind you, when I hang around, the organizers are quite pleased because it turns out to be an outstanding party.  Should it not please me, I depart after 15 minutes.  Why should I stay somewhere when I do not feel comfortable?”

How do you protect yourself against envy?

”With humor.  I am quite able also to accept it.  I know who and what I am and need not hide.  I try sometimes to convince people because what it means is that I am a real artist; je veux de l'amour! (I want love!)  I want to be loved by all! Some find me a total s.o.b.  I
am not kept awake by my inability to convince the opposition.  I never stay awake except when I have a problem with Carol, which seldom occurs. (Disarming mischievous boy's laughter) But she helps me fall asleep.”

Are there a lot of people who feel that you must help them – also financially?

”Money is not a purpose in itself.  Should it be, then I would have to hang myself tomorrow:  no one can ever possess all the money in the world.  Money is a means and I use it eventually to help people, but these are people that I love and choose.  This does not present any problem.  A lot of people write me letters in which they ask for financial help.  Some are heart breaking and told in detail, which I don’t think is possible in a thriving country such as Belgium.  My problem is: whom do I believe, whom do I not believe? So, I donate to the Red Cross, to Unicef, of which I am (anyway) an ambassador and to the Doctors without Borders and to a number of organizations about which I do not wish to talk.”

On what do you spend your money?

“For my house!  A house is being built, but it is not a castle that would make people's eyes bug out.  It will be a lovely habitat, provided with all the comforts.  I am not home very often but when I am there, I want to feel terrific.”

And the glamorous hotel life?

”That is really very boring.  I try not to personalize those rooms…with the exception of a picture in a heart shaped frame (laugh) that holds a picture of my ‘Tasmanian Devil.’  That is what I call Carol; anywhere she passes in the house becomes a complete chaos.”

  And you are a fuddy-duddy?

”In fact, yes.  Carol can be nonchalant when she wants to…but otherwise things are in order.”
(Carol interjects just for a second)
”Last week, I gathered all my junk.  Then I put in a separate bag what belongs to Helmut. It was quite a considerable bag, hey?”
Helmut agrees laughingly, “Yes, that's true!”

How do you protect your relationship against scadalmongering?

”The answer I give to such a question is, ‘rubbish.’  Look, I try to live with these matters without making them more ridiculous than they already are.  Most of all, I let it blow over; but at times it can be considerably painful.  I have erred, but I cannot bear dishonesty and injustice.  Carol at times misunderstands that.  Let's say I come home and I am mad. Carol does not understand that I am not angry at her but at the dishonest world which treats me in such a discourteous way.  I then have to make it clear to her that I am not harping at her, do you understand?  But I have to get rid of my anger. Carol and I must then talk it over.  It is lucky that we can tell each other everything.

Did anyone, in the beginning of your career forewarn you of the pitfalls?

”I still can hear Willy Sommers (artist) saying sometime ago: 'The servants of today may become the masters of tomorrow'.  That is so true.  From this I retain my respect for people, even if what they do is insignificant.  Everything is important.  This society is a complicated machine which can turned into total haywire with the failure of the smallest screw.  That is the reason we must respect each other, glamour or no glamour.”

                                 HELMUT LOTTI EVER MORE CANDID

Interview from Story magazine, October 6, 2001
by Greet Mangelschots
Location: Hotel Astoria in Brussels

Contributed and translation and notes by Rosette. Edited by Pam. Photos from Marion Linko.


He is nervous, and makes no effort to conceal it.  Helmut Lotti, the man who has seemingly without effort conquered the world, drinks his coffee with an unsteady hand.  A week before our talk, suddenly he wanted to know what the subject would be.  “About romanticism, Helmut.”  How much romance is present in the life of a newly-wed but busy man, who night after night with his Latino Love Songs, sings convincingly of “amor.”

I met him for the first time twelve years ago: a funny young skinny boy who was living with his mother and who posed in their living room, in front of an Elvis poster.  I accompanied him to Hilversum, where Henny Huisman attempted to portray him as an ignorant Belgian.  I was also present when he tied the knot the first time, and also the last time.  In the interval, we lost sight of each other and during that time it seems that the young boy has become a man.

He is happy, still funny, and bursting into song, at the least expected moment as in the early years.  And he can, as no other, imitate his colleagues.  But he is also serious and takes a long time before he finally replies to my questions.  He is focused and tolerates no
interruption, but he is also willing to handle the difficult subjects about which he did not wish to talk earlier...

Helmut, how much of a “Latin lover” are you?

"I have absolutely no idea.  What makes a 'Latin lover’?  Antonio Banderas with a rose between his teeth?  A lot of dark fuzzy chest hair and a gold chain?  In that case, there is not much of a  'Latin lover' in me.  That seems to me to be too macho.  I don’t depict myself that way.  The most important is to pay attention to a woman.  That I have learned by ups and downs."

 Do you have a romantic soul?

"Yes sometimes.  I am not constantly romantic, but certainly regularly so. For example, it is expressed in a sung marriage proposal, watching a sunset together, or a romantic dinner by candlelight.  All clichés, in fact.  Also romantic: a long walk through the woods after the rain, or enjoying a romantic movie together such as all films with Julia Roberts like My Best Friend's Wedding, and movies with Robin Williams.  Recently, I viewed Good Will Hunting on TV … a real tearjerker.  I sometimes cry at movies. When I cry, it is brought on by emotion, the beauty of things.  It is never brought on by sorrow … that only angers me and leaves me empty.  Crying over the beauty of the world … I really do that, because I find the world still beautiful, (even after what occurred in New York on Tuesday (Sept. 11, 2001).  I am a romantic fellow, and I get along with women in a friendly and tender manner.  I try to be understanding and communicative, something which I have learned over the years.  Maybe some day, I will become really wise.”

How does it feel to be proclaimed, in the same week, both the richest and the most intelligent FF (Famous Fleming) of this country?

"I knew that already!  That was no news to me!  But what I am asking myself is:  how do the women feel who are interested in me?  No, seriously.  Anytime an IQ test was given at school, I was also among the highest scoring.  I was not afraid of it.  On the other hand, I do not think that one is a better human being when one happens to have a higher IQ.  It does not help you ahead in life either.  Some even become arrogant, rude. To have a high IQ and not be able to find one's place in the world … what does it bring you?  I would have preferred by far to score high in Emotional Intelligence.  But the questions were odd, with socialistic replies.  It did not surprise me that Patrick Janssens did win (Socialist member of Belgian Government).  It was a nice week and, honestly, it gratified my vanity.  It would have been better if nothing had been written about money, since that subject is often misinterpreted.  I have stolen nothing.  I am rich because I have a good manager and because people stand by me.  If the people no longer want me, then it will stop."

Is there romance in poverty?

"That has its particular romanticism.  Looking back, in fact there was something. Beautiful things always attracted me and they still do.  This hotel is splendid and that is what I would have thought then also.  The fact that I have money has never had any influence on me.  Before, I shared a one-room flat with Carol, and now we are building a lovely country-house. This does not mean that I have no nostalgia for that time.  But then it pertains more to the atmosphere of the past.  I know very well that life is easier with money than without."

You even bought a sailboat!

"Carol is a passionate sailor.  She has been doing that her entire life.  I do go to sea with pleasure. It is a small boat, a catamaran, a Hobiecat 16.  It is not incredibly expensive.  Carol takes courses so as to be able to teach sailing.  We even once took part in a regatta, from Knokke (Belgium) to Breskens (The Netherlands).  I am then foremastman and she is helmsman.  But that is only at sea; back on shore, it is different!

I think there is nothing romantic about sailing.  There is much too much going on, before and after.  And the rubber clothing… that is too time consuming.  I prefer running or biking.  I put on my clothes, pump up the tires and I am on my way.  I biked in the Alps with Mark Uytterhoeven this summer (Champion bicyclist of Belgium). When I climb 30 kilometers (+/- 18 miles) and stand at 2,800 meters (+/- 9,000 feet) I feel ... YES!!!   It is not romantic but it gives me an unbelievable sensation, a kick.  I can say that I experience something out of the ordinary at that level.  I am happy.” 

Is there something romantic in the construction of your dream house?

"Yes!  Numerous times my wife and I have wandered within its shell.  We wonder how the garden will look, where we will place trees.  What will be the view from the bedroom and the bathroom?  We imagine how we will be sitting together in front of the hearth.  One does not build just a house…. one builds also a quality of life.  Because I am in the privileged position that I can build what I want, I do not intend to spare any expense.  It will be large and beautiful, but not so that it can be said: ' what a castle did that one put down there?' In the basement, I have a fitness room with some apparatus: a treadmill, a
stepper, a bicycle and a rather important climbing frame.  I do a lot of flexibility exercises and I stretch a lot.  That’s important, in view of getting older."

Is a title of nobility romantic?

"It is pleasant when you are being knighted!  But I am much too young for it and I do not know whether a divorced person qualifies. When I was very young, I did play the Ridder (Knight) and Zoro etc.  There is plenty of Antonio Banderas in me, after all!  That heroism I find quite fantastic.

Otherwise, when I see a dog, I run away in fright and I hardly dare to mount a horse.  I love Damsels very much!  My favorite cartoon was 'De Rode Ridder' (The Red Knight).  When I was 13, I wrote a book about Ronald, the hero with the white horse and a spacecraft.  I was binding the book when I made a mistake:  I started reading it and then threw it out!  Thus, from early on, I was already interested in the romanticism of knighthood!  Of course, I find it great for Toots Thielemans (Belgian harmonica, guitar virtuoso best known in the U.S. as the father of "Bluesette", a well-known tune heard some time ago) and Will Tura (Flemish singer - 40 years of career.  You will find his name on some of Helmut's recordings as either contributor or composer and lyricist).  Knight Arthur is what I call him now, when I meet him and ask him where he left his horse.  I am however wondering if doctors and firemen are not more deserving than us, singers.  A Knight must be brave, heroic, and there I do not qualify.  I am too much of a coward."

But you are an ambassador for Unicef?

"I make myself available but it does not make me heroic.  Neither do I run any risks.  I deliver my contribution in my own way.  I am godfather to the “Say Yes” campaign and through that I had the honor of meeting Prince Philippe and Princess Mathilde.  She expresses herself in Dutch in a fluent manner.  What moved me most is the manner in which Philippe treats her.  That is a good couple, of that I am one hundred percent sure.  That man is so nice and not at all stuffy.  He is observant of course, as he must be in his position, but also sociable and sincerely interested.  Philippe will become a good king!"

You may yet become a Knight.  How romantic did you find your wedding day?

"Very  romantic.  I did not concern myself with all the goings on.  Carol organized everything and she did that in the most fantastic way.  The only thing I had to do that day was to enjoy myself.  The church mass was real; it had nothing to do with Helmut Lotti, the star, as it was the case eleven years ago.  That one had nothing to do with marriage. I am now married by the church as I dreamt it and thanks to Carol I enjoyed that day from morning to night..."

Lets talk about the romanticism of fatherhood.  It is not essential to talk about the past.

"Carol and I have as yet made no plans.  She is now 27 (sic) When she feels that the right time has come, then we will give some thought as to how we can arrange it.  I have very busy professional activities.  We both wish to have children but there is not as yet in her the urge to become a mother. Children are attracted to her.  My ‘Rapunzel’ … certainly on her wedding day, in that rather old-fashioned dress and with that necklace that was made especially for her, We will not wait until Carol is 45, but sometime between 30 and 35.   Then in fact for sure.  We must look for solutions to combine my profession with fatherhood. 

That is also difficult with Messalina.  I am not a typical father who each fortnight picks his daughter up for a weekend.  That still would not be a problem, if everyone would adopt a more flexible attitude.  There are practical difficulties but it is not because I do not love my daughter.  I would begin to believe it myself when I read all that is written about me.  But I love Messalina and she knows it.  I do not wish to say more, except this: Messalina is healthy and she is not under a psychiatrist’s care.

I understand that I have been much too slack due to circumstances.  I know that I should have dealt with it differently.  I am working on that.  I am trying to improve contact.  There is no hiding from the fact that meanwhile my reputation has been blemished, because so much has been told and written! It is the task of a newspaperperson to keep people informed, and show business journalists must write about the entertainment world.  At times, some random story comes along.  That I understand.  But I do not find it the task of the newspaperperson to harm families, for the sake of a scoop. I do not blame Kimberly. The people who have not protected her from herself are to be blamed.   That she is angry at me, that I do understand, I have done a couple of foolish things.”

  Kimberly mentions names.  That well-known sportswoman… 

 "Gella Vandecaveye ?  I told her once that I had a crush on her and I also confessed it at home.  I had not even kissed her. There was never anything! Who is right, Kimberly or me? In any case this story has been irrelevant for a long time.  The entire story written all over about it is not the truth… only a half-truth.  The total truth will never be read by anyone since that would further harm families.  I do not wish to participate in that.  I gave Kimberly all the possibilities to start anew but it seems that, after all these years, she still remains in the past.  I must admit, I have made errors but I am not the monster depicted in the written word.  That I am not!  If this were the case, I would have jumped along with Herman Brood!"(Dutch artist who recently committed suicide throwing himself
from a window)

What was the most romantic moment in your life?

"My first trip with Carol.  We drove to France, and I was going to show her the mountains where I had biked before.  At that time I was a somewhat freewheeling bachelor. But that did not last very long, because if for more than three weeks, I behave like a fool.  I think about myself, ‘You bloody fool.’  I am not made to play the playboy.  I love to talk nonsense but when it comes down to it I am a rather serious person. I told Carol in Paris that she should not expect anything from me, that we would have a good time, but we would remain free of obligations.  I wanted to enjoy her company.  After three days, we went to the south of France – not planned but done nevertheless –and then to Venice.  On the first evening in Paris I had understood "This is the woman of my life!"  And all this time I had gone on talking drivel and telling all about my experiences and that I did not wish to entertain a relationship where I would have to be faithful.

I had been making the wildest statements.  A few days later, at a pizza place in Sirminione, by Lake Como, I told Carol: ‘Forget all I have been saying the last few days, Will you from now on be my girl?’  And she still wanted me!

She let me talk, let me do … she never reacted in a negative manner; she gave me the freedom to have my own ideas.  I had never experienced that.  I had the feeling that for the first time I had reached a mature level.  I felt like a free man. That is the way I still feel"

Is that also the reason why you chose to go to Paris on your honeymoon?

"We barely had two days but we nevertheless wanted to go away particularly because it was the thing to do.  But I had to give premiere concerts in Scandinavia.  These concerts could not be postponed and they were very important to me.  Then suddenly, I am not so romantic.  My work then comes first.  I certainly wanted to return home in a timely manner, I did not want to fly for 5 hours and lose 2 days, on the traveling alone, with the risk of jetlag.  The concerts were much too important.  Also, we will always be able to go on vacation!"

Your dear friend Frank Vandenbroucke recently told Story, "I was spoiled by life, and everything succeeded.  And all of a sudden, defeat after defeat; I did not how to handle that, I had never learned how to.”

"For that I have been long prepared, I have encountered enough.  If tomorrow it stops  (although I hope I can still experience success for a long time)… when looking back, I will see incredible happiness.  I am very thankful to a lot of people and I am proud of it. I have been working very hard for it.  If it stops, it will certainly be painful; but in life there is so much more than singing songs.  Should it ever end ..."

... then your manager would have to sell his nice castle.

"He is much richer than I!  No one needs to worry.  In that matter, I have gained a lot.  Whoever knows me is aware of it. I cannot stand losing.  Thus the day I am no longer a winner, I will have to find something else to do.  Write a book maybe, fiction of course, no autobiography!  In any case, I will do something that brings me pleasure.  I enjoy life, I enjoy living.  And I am romantic.  I would not even mind dying on the stage because I am addicted to applause.  My entire life, I have always wanted applause.  When the day comes that there is no applause, I will no longer have any reason to exist, as a singer. Photo by Fonny         

Tine hens – Excerpted from De Standaard - 12/23/2000
Translated by Rosette

He is their Liebling, their little darling. He is the son-in-law they will never have. In Germany, Helmut Lotti is worshipped by women who are old enough to be his mother.
 
The few seated men look somewhat disconcerted.  The adoration of the women escapes them.  Although “the music of the young man is appreciated,” they are there especially to please their wives. “My wife is crazy about him. I find him good but Pavarotti remains in a league above.”  The wife replies quickly, “at least Helmut brings ambience. Pavarotti is arrogant,” she sniffs. “ Not a bad word about Helmut ... you should take him as an example. Always so neat, and a model for the young ones.”
(Photo by Jean-Philippe)

Backstage:  
“Still fifteen minutes to curtain”, advises the production-assistant.  Helmut Lotti slips bare-chested between the dressing room and the bathroom. He fixes his hair, takes a last swallow and gargles to soothe his vocal cords. “Now he is making himself nervous,” says manager Piet Roelen as he leans back in the leather armchair and leafs uninterestedly through an old issue of Knack. “I do not make myself nervous. I am nervous,” Lotti calls out from the bathroom. “I am always nervous. The performance must be good, almost perfect. Each error is one too many, although you know in advance that something will go wrong.”

The artist views himself in the mirror. To begin the concert, he is wearing his mariachi costume, raven black with silver horseshoes. Proudly, he adjusts his vest. “Everyone laughed at me when I purchased it five years ago, but it is original, authentic Mexican. Mind you, it is the main reason for recording the Latino Classics ... I could then wear this suit.”  He clicks the heels of his boots and smiles. Not exuberant, but nervous. He is tense. “Each time, you have to earn it.  It does not go by itself” 

The hall of the Congrescentrum in Hamburg is jam-packed. Four days in a row Lotti performs here. All the concerts are SRO. “By general request, two extra concerts are being organized for the month of May,” reads a notice on a poster. And also for these performances in May, the seating is almost entirely sold out. “Today, in Germany, between 11 AM and 2 PM, thirteen thousand CDs have been sold,” says Roelen.  “It’s going like wild fire”.

Lotti is the star of the 45+.  His mixing of popular classics and classic pop brings them back to their youth. Lotti is nostalgia in jeans, although he swears by proper attire. “Not for my image but because I feel good in it. Since I was seventeen, I have been wearing blazers. I am neither trendy nor stylish.” 

Lotti fulfills the image of the eternal choirboy. He is smooth shaven, his pants are hanging with a perfect crease and each wrinkle in his face is covered with foundation make-up. “Plastic Lotti”… that is what he is playfully called sometimes. It makes him laugh. “I bring to the people what they want. In this, there is no difference between a singer and a butcher. When someone orders a steak, you are not going to try to sell him a piece of ham. At the end of a concert, I could grab an electric guitar, perform a rock medley and say,  “Look! … I can do that also if you want.” But for heaven’s sake, give the people what they have paid for. That is the responsibility of a performer. There are circles where it does not matter, and one can feel free to freak out. When Robbie Williams sticks out his middle finger at the audience, it may seem very cool, but for me it is bad taste. You must know who you are and where you belong. Can I help it if the majority of the people identify themselves with my taste? Is that average? Is that simple? Or even bad taste? I do not think so. Taste is not the point. I like the songs I sing and if more than a million people find them lovely, does that mean we all have bad taste? That would be regrettable.”                                      
                                                                                             
He shuffles the floor with the tips of his patent leather shoes and stuffs his hand in his pant pockets.  “Ah, of course, we would like everyone to find us fantastic. One dreams of the entire world at one’s feet. But that is not possible. We must be happy with the attention and the appreciation that has been coming our way for a long time now. It is more than most singers can say.”  He roars with laughter.  “Leave the street credibility to others, I will accept the balance.”

Lotti broke all records of popularity with his Classics series, but it is still the “standards” that attract: Guantanamera, Eso Beso, The Lion sleeps tonight, You’ve got a friend, Love me tender.  He meshes them perfectly and the public moves, rocks and hums along. “You were a fantastic audience,” shouts Lotti while saying goodbye. “I say it each evening, but this time I mean it.”

“How was it?” he asks backstage.  Manager Roelen nods. “It was A-OK.” “Sure?” Helmut wants to know.  “Of course, we start again tomorrow.” “I am never one hundred percent satisfied”, says Lotti, while he is removing his make-up. “It was a fantastic audience and that feels good. In my entire life there is only one thing I have always wanted:  to achieve something. That makes me extremely ambitious. I cannot stand losing, wanting always to be the best one. I must win. Five years ago, you could not have played cards with me. I would have turned the house upside down, when I lost.”
 
”My second most meaningful characteristic: I’d rather be lazy than bored. What I do must not  require too much of an effort, that is why I only do what I am sure of. I do not waste energy. Purely out of opportunism I started interpreting Elvis at the Soundmix competition. It seemed the only and the quickest way to appear on television and become known. Although at that moment, I didn’t have the slightest idea what I really wanted to do in life. There was a vague dream of becoming a sports-journalist, but I was fooled into believing that I had to have a college degree. But university was impossible; and I did not have my “maturity” diploma (smile).  I was just too young to make such a radical decision. My mother registered me for the Soundmix competition and it was a nice diversion. I did not see it as an alternative. I came in second and then of course I had to think it over seriously.

”Thereafter, music seemed to be the logical consequence. It had always been my interest. I was five years old when I discovered Elvis. We had a small record player, white with an orange sticker. The first time that I played Elvis, my life changed. I had goose bumps all over. That rhythm, that soul, that voice. (Snaps his fingers) ‘Come on everybody and snap your fingers’.  In fact, Elvis taught me to sing.”

”Singing is in the genes of my family. My brothers can sing, my mother plays the accordion and the piano. At New Year’s, she took me along to a party in one or another hall. I was twelve, I remember, and we were in a tent. The orchestra was playing. I was just itching to participate.  I walked over to the musicians and asked if they were familiar with Can’t take my eyes off of you.  “OK” was the reply. I climbed upon a chair at the microphone and sang for the entire hall. I enjoyed it…both the attention and the singing.”  He chuckles and sips his margarita. 

“Thereafter, I wrote my first song, Go home and don’t come back.  It was about a woman, but don’t ask me what. The song was a cross between Tom Jones and Elvis. It didn’t go anywhere.  The following number was probably also disastrous… It was only desire, there was no love involved …also about a woman.  I continually experienced misery when girls dropped me after two weeks, for no explicable reason. I never had to complain about getting feminine attention, but it didn’t ever last very long.”

The waitress pulls out a copy of Latino Classics from her apron and shyly asks for Lotti’s autograph. “Not for me… for my friend.”  She gets beet red when Lotti drops a kiss on her forehead. After a stammered “Thank you” she retreats. “I do remain amazed, you know,” says Lotti, “I have always found that my aura does not reach more than one yard. So do not ask what it is. I have no idea what women find pleasant and what they don’t. They love men who are not too macho. In my opinion this is because   ‘macho’ men radiate something offensive. But in this I am a ‘Greenhorn’. Although I have never understood it, giggling always did go on behind my back. I still do not know whether this is good or bad. I was always the one who had to clean the blackboard at the request of the girls. At 25 I learned from a classmate why that happened: ‘Because you had such a nice derrière.’  Lotti orders a second margarita. “The last one…because excess damages.” 

”Overall, I was an outsider.  I have never felt the need to belong. Just look at the boys in lower grades. They look like a gang of baboons. You have the tyrant leader that everyone follows and then you see the one who remains on the side. That was me.  I was not even being teased; they left me to myself. Once, during snow-class, I beat up a fellow pupil who shook me awake at five o’clock in the morning. From then on, no one ever even pointed a finger at me.

”I also never had friends, only good acquaintances. There are people whom I hold in great esteem and there are people I like a lot but I do not call them friends. I have 100 percent confidence only in myself. My mother and my manager are close seconds. That is more a question of gratitude and loyalty.

”My mother worked herself to death to give us the best of the best, and my manager believed in me at a moment when I was absolutely nothing. Had I not met Piet, that weekend in that hall in Beervelde, I would have become nothing.  I was doing everything I could to destroy my career. I did not know the first thing about business. And above all, I had little insight into human nature. My first manager, Roland Bernaert, did not know how to deal, but I followed him. It was not bad intentions on his part; it was amateurism. Piet pulled me out of a blind alley.

”It clicked immediately between us…certainly on the musical level. I have never been a modern fellow. In the 50s, I would certainly have been quite a common singer, now I stick out. When everyone was talking about U2 and TC Matic, I didn’t have the faintest notion who they were.  We did not have the means to own a radio, and later the TV could not be replaced when it broke down. I can still see it in front of my eyes. I was looking at a bike race. After three quarters of an hour, the picture started rolling until only 2 inches remained. I could only see two fists reaching out. The next day I read in the paper that they were the hands of Zoutemelk. (The Belgian champion of that time) (Laugh).  I think it is due to this relative isolation that I developed my specific taste. 

“The crooners…that is my world. I still prefer Elvis singing O sole mio more than Pavarotti (think about it)…but not entirely. A number must first of all be good. Whoever writes it, makes it a little, the one who sings it makes it more. In a karaoke bar you learn how important the interpretation is. There each brilliant number by the Beatles or Elvis skillfully turns heads. It is not surprising that as a non-classic singer, I stood suspiciously against the total classic idea. I did not believe in it until we started the preparations and I was standing there with the live orchestra. That gave me a kick. I adapted those timeless numbers and I made them somewhat my children. I am myself moved by the success. When I first heard Granada (after recording it on a tape), I immediately started crying spontaneously. For the first time I really had the feeling. You go on seeing yourself as a bungler, a tinker, when you test and try.  But that one time, it seemed genuine.”

Meanwhile, Lotti is barely 31 years old and a rich man. “I am more impressed that in Belgium I am the best sold artist of all time than that my bank account is well furnished. I am a trophy hunter. I was that already when I was still biking. I displayed each mug I won, however insignificant.  Until our supporter’s local burned down and I lost all my mugs. Now I show off my golden and platinum albums, rather than my money. Yes, I helped my mother retire early.  She worked hard enough in her life. From 6 AM to 2 PM she sold soup; from 5 to 11 PM she went around with ice cream, and during the weekend she took on additional jobs. As the oldest, I ruled my brothers. I was ten and I could cook. I prepared sausage and potatoes and endives, but sauces were not my forte.” 

“I did not question, I knew it was good that my parents had divorced but I cried for three weeks. But since I also got married much too young, I understand now. My marriage was mainly to prove that I could do it better than my parents. I wanted particularly to show my mother how it had to be; I did not accept that she had taken on the entire blame. Thereafter, I fell on my face myself and I had to admit to myself that that union was doomed from the start. Call it a sin of youth, one of my many. But yes, the river is also cleaner at the source than at the estuary.”

“Nevertheless, I do not have the feeling that I have become someone else. I have the strange idea that I have been the same since I was 5 years old. One evolves of course, due to what you encounter. But I do not have the impression that I have experienced personality changes.  I am still that same little fellow I was at five. It occurred on the playground when I was in pre-school. It seemed that I suddenly woke up and I told myself: “Helmut, as of now open your eyes and see why you do what you do.” I then started reflecting and became a little philosopher. And it is still there, although I do not understand where I earned such luck. I am sometimes afraid of the moment when it will be ‘pay-back’ time..  That will occur, I am sure.  But of course, I have already enjoyed it and no one can take that away from me.”

Cosi comanda Turandot:
Questa notte nessun dorma in Pékino.
Nessun dorma! Nessun dorma! 

Nessun dorma! Nessun dorma!
Tu pure, o Principessa,
nella tua fredda stanza
guardi le stelle che tremano
d'amore e di speranza.

Ma il mio mistero è chiuso in me,
il nome mio nessun saprà!
No, no, sulla tua bocca lo dirò,
quando la luce splendrà!
Ed il mio bacio scioglierà
il silenzio che ti fa mia! 

Il nome suo nessun saprà...
E noi dovrem, ahimé! Morir! Morir!

Dilegua, o notte! Tramontate, stelle!
Tramontate, stelle! All'alba vincero!
Vincero! Vincero!