Edo Zanki

Edo Zanki, born Edward Zanki, was a German singer, keyboard player, songwriter and producer. He was born in Zadar, then in Yugoslavia and today in Croatia, on 19 October 1952, which is why he is on this site. When he was about five his family moved to West Germany. They first lived in a single room in a barracks at the Zirndorf reception camp, then moved to Karlsdorf near Bruchsal, where his father had found work.

He stayed in that corner of Baden for the rest of his life. He lived in Karlsdorf-Neuthard, where he had his own recording studio, the Kangaroo-Studio. He died of cancer in Bruchsal on 1 September 2019, aged 66, after a short illness, and was buried in Karlsdorf.

Music came through his family. His older brother Vilko was a professional musician and brought Edo into his bands as a keyboard player when Edo was about fourteen, in Edo und die Markees and Edo and Friends. The brothers wrote songs together for Joy Fleming and Peter Horton. Edo's first album, Feelin' Alright (1972), came out under the name Don Anderson, with Joy Fleming, and The Eagle Flies followed in 1973. He also wrote "Fruits of the Night", which Tina Turner recorded on her album Rough in 1978.

His albums in German include Jetzt komm' ich (1977), Wache Nächte (1983), Ruhig Blut (1985), Und wir kriegen uns doch (1990), Komplizen (1994), Die ganze Zeit (2001), Zu viele Engel (2011) and Hautnah (2012). "Uns bleibt die Nacht" (1990) and "Gib mir Musik" (2001) were chart singles, and in 1991 he won the RSH-Gold award as national newcomer.

Behind the desk he was just as important. He produced Herbert Grönemeyer's albums Total egal (1982) and Gemischte Gefühle (1983), and Ina Deter's Frauen kommen langsam – aber gewaltig (1986). He played the electric piano on Ulla Meinecke's hit "Die Tänzerin" and sang backing vocals on it. From 1999 he worked with Söhne Mannheims, including their album Zion (2000), and he produced live recordings of Xavier Naidoo and Sabrina Setlur.

The playlist gathers his own songs, many of them remastered in 2024, from "Switchboard Susan" to "30 000 Tage".