Frank Dostal

Frank Dostal (born December 16, 1945 in Flensburg, Germany) is a German songwriter and music producer. In the late 1960s and the early 1970s he was a singer with the German rock bands The Rattles, who had an international hit with their song "The Witch" in 1970, and Wonderland. In the late 1970s, he was a writer and producer for the internationally successful Spanish duo Baccara. Today, he is on the supervisory board ("Aufsichtsrat") of the German performance rights organization GEMA.

Biography

Frank Dostal was born in Flensburg and raised in Hamburg. Before taking his Abitur exams, he left school to become a rock singer. With a band called Faces he won a talent contest. He joined The Rattles and, in 1968, founded Wonderland with fellow ex-Rattle Achim Reichel. With Wonderland, he sang lead vocals and played bongos, bass guitar and organ. He also wrote the lyrics to Reichel's compositions for the band. The two of them later produced records for children, including "Die große Kinderparty" ("The great children's party").

Later, Dostal devoted himself exclusively to writing lyrics. In the second half of the 1970s, his lyrics frequently appeared on the German Hit Parade. He worked for Father Abraham ("Das Lied der Schlümpfe", the German version of "The Smurf Song"), Nana Mouskouri, the Goombay Dance Band and many others.

Dostal and composer Ralf Soja came to international fame as the writers and producers of hits for the Spanish girl-singer duet Baccara: "Yes Sir, I Can Boogie", "Sorry, I'm a Lady", and "Parlez-vous français?".

Frank Dostal is married to Mary, a former bass guitar player of Liverpool girl group Liverbirds. They have two children.

External links

* [http://www.gema.de/presse/news/n168/aufsichtsrat_dostal.shtml Dostal's biography at "GEMA.de"]
* [http://www.hitparade.ch/showperson.asp?name=Frank+Dostal Hits by Frank Dostal in the Swiss hit parade]