As of: 31.08.2024 09:30 a.m.
Peter Maffay is a rock star, a legend, a young father. He has now turned 75. The singer has just said goodbye to the big stage with a stadium tour. NDR accompanied him – the film is available in the ARD Mediathek.
Peter Maffay was bid farewell on July 20th in Leipzig at the last performance of his “Farewell” stadium tour with the song “Oh, how beautiful” (in German). He toured all over Germany for a month and was celebrated by his fans with his songs from “Du” to “Und es war Sommer” to “Eiszeit”. It is the end of an era that Norddeutscher Rundfunk was able to follow up close for several months for its documentary “maffay.” – in private moments backstage or on a family trip to Maffay’s homeland of Romania.
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Rock legend and Tabaluga musical
Black leather jacket, flowing mane, rolling “r”: Peter Maffay is a unique individual who has had his ups and downs in life. Someone who has always spoken his mind and stood up – for peace, for children with cancer and much more. On August 30th, Peter Maffay celebrates his 75th birthday. “What I really appreciate about him is that success never went to his head. He is one of those artists who feel the need to give something back to society,” said Federal President Frank-Walter Steinmeier in tribute to the artist in the NDR documentary.
Creating the children’s musical “Tabaluga” with Zuckowski
Together with his son Yaris, Anastacia and Johannes Oerding, Peter Maffay thrilled 38,000 fans at his last stadium concert in Leipzig.
With 20 number one albums and more than 50 million records sold, Peter Maffay is one of the most successful German-speaking musicians. In his career spanning over 50 years, Maffay has always been open to new paths. In the 1980s, he collaborated with Rolf Zuckowski on “Tabaluga” – the children’s musical about a little dragon. This dragon became the namesake of the Tabaluga Foundation, founded in 1998 to care for socially disadvantaged, traumatized and seriously ill children.
Maffay will take time for his little daughter
The reason for Maffay’s withdrawal from the big stage is little Anouk, who was born in 2018. “I’m a late dad. I have a very small window of time and I’m going to fill it intensively. If I don’t do that, I’ll miss an opportunity – probably the last one,” says the rock star, who now wants to concentrate on his daughter.
Setting a different focus – this is also noticed by his wife Hendrikje Balsmeyer, 38 years younger than him, with whom Maffay has been married since 2022: “Peter has changed. Not within the relationship. It is stable, very beautiful and very intense. But he has changed himself.” “Of course, changed through Anouk. Peter has become much more sensitive and empathetic.”
Son Yaris with dad Peter on stage
At the concert of the “Farewell” tour in Leipzig, Peter Maffay was on stage together with his son Yaris.
Family first – it wasn’t always like that. For a long time, music and his career were Peter Maffay’s main focus. He barely had any time for his two eldest children, adopted daughter Nina and son Yaris. Despite this, the singer has a close relationship with Yaris, who often missed his father as a child. “I am incredibly happy that I can now spend time with him that I missed because of my egoism, my vanity, my ambition. That this situation is being corrected somewhat, that we are now together and that he has similar interests to me,” said Maffay about his relationship with his son, who was on stage with him at the concert in Leipzig.
Maffay: “I lived very excessively”
Maffay says that his childhood in Romania was materially limited but full of human warmth. Perhaps that shaped him in such a way that he always stayed down to earth and never lost sight of people and their problems.
In the documentary, the singer looks back on his own problems openly and realistically: “I didn’t always think of the right way to reach a goal. Sometimes I chose a path that was unreasonable for everyone. And for me too. I lived a very excessive life for a while. Alcohol was my drug, absolutely evil. That is extremely stressful for those around me.
Anyone who has experienced how much energy Maffay brought to the stage on a Harley at his last concert of the “Farewell” tour and then delivered one hit after another cannot imagine Maffay in retirement. In the future, too, life will not be without music. “For me, music is like eating, drinking and sleeping,” admits the full-blooded musician.
The 90-minute NDR documentary “maffay.” can be seen in the ARD Mediathek from August 30th. In addition, Das Erste will broadcast a 60-minute version of the portrait on August 30th from 10:20 p.m.
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