The internet portal www.idnes.cz published the following article early on Sunday evening:
Karel Gott launched a book in Leipzig. Fans from all over Germany came to see him. The Czech Stand at the Leipzig Book Fair was in a state of siege this afternoon. The famous singer himself was here to give autographs and to launch the German version of his book titled Karel Gott – Zlatý hlas z Prahy (The Golden Voice of Prague, Die goldene Stimme aus Prag). Several hundreds of German fans, especially the ladies, didn’t let this chance pass them by.
Just before a crowd of admirers threw itself at him requesting him for an autograph, Karel Gott told the journalists that he personally reviewed the final version of the German publication of the book. “I adapted it to make it interesting for my German readers,” he explained. Apparently he too likes to read historical books and he doesn’t mind if they take on the genre of a novel. He likes books by Dan Brown, for example. The biography written by Michaela Remešová and Dalibor Mácha, the forward to which was composed by President Václav Klaus, is one of the latest contributions to the innumerable number of books about the public and the private life of the many times Golden Nightingale Award winner. The legendary singer, however, has as yet not himself written one. He admitted today that he’ll do so one day: “One day I’ll write a book about what I really think about things; what I lived through and what many experienced with me... But I must really get a move on, whilst I still remember things,” he joked. Karel Gott (70) has given uncountable performances in Germany and has been a part of the German music industry for the past forty years. Many of his hits are popular, to the same degree, on both the Czech and the German side of the border. Our Western neighbors absolutely and without any doubt love the title song to the animated television series Maya the Bee (Včelka Mája), on which several generations of Germans have grown up. Those most devoted couldn’t miss out being at the Leipzig Fair today. Many of them didn’t even hesitate to drive across the entire country just to see their idol. “I came here today from Munich especially because of him,” said Sabine Haubold, a long-standing member of the singer’s German Fan Club, who’s been listening to him since she was 13. Also the chairlady of Karel Gott’s Berlin Fan Club, Katrin Kunzmann, grew up on the Golden Voice of Prague, as he is nicknamed by the Germans. “Karel is splendid. Otherwise I’d never drive over from Berlin to see him live,” she said and clutched a book bearing the fresh autograph of Karel Gott. She says she’s read all of the books that have been published about him, including those written in Czech. “I have a complete collection,” she said proudly. For the Czech version of this article and for more photographs go to www.kultura.idnes.cz/karel-gott-pokrtil-v-lipsku-knihu-z-celeho-nemecka-se-za-nim-sjely-fanynky-1rm-/literatura.asp?c=A100321_170503_literatura_ob