René Kollo

René Kollo, born November 20th, 1937 in Berlin. His father was operetta composer Willi Kollo, himself the son of another operetta composer, Walter Kollo. René Kollo began as a pop singer (a genre in which he would always remain very proficient), and then studied voice professionally to debut in 1965 in Braunschweig. Later in Düsseldorf. 1969 debut in Bayreuth (as Steuermann, though!). Soon after, he started singing heldentenor parts, with great successes all over Europe: Bayreuth, Venice, Milan, Munich, Salzburg, Vienna... But he also continued singing operetta. Due to blood pressure problems, he cancelled almost as often as he would sing, and it was a common joke in opera that Spas Wenkoff didn't need any contracts on his own, he was just following Kollo wherever he travelled, and stepped in for him.