Nicole Seibert (née Hohloch; born 25 October 1964), known professionally as Nicole, is a German singer, songwriter, musician and producer. In 1982, she became the first German representative to win the Eurovision Song Contest. She has released more than 25 studio albums and 80 singles, some of which she performed and recorded in, among other languages, English, Dutch, and French. She wrote the music and lyrics for some of her recordings.

Life and career Hohloch was born in Saarbrücken, Saarland, West Germany. She began performing at the age of four, but did not achieve commercial success until she was 16, when her first single ("Flieg nicht so hoch, mein kleiner Freund") was released. It peaked at #2 in Austria and reached Top 40 positions on multiple European music charts.

When she was 17, she won the Eurovision Song Contest 1982 with "Ein bißchen Frieden", which reached #1 on multiple European music charts. After the end of the contest's voting, Hohloch reprised the song by performing parts of it in English, French and Dutch, along with the original German.

Interviewed years later, she made a statement regarding the points received from Israel: "But the most important victory (was) that a German girl gets 12 points from Israel with a song about peace." In the interview, she also stated that she received an invitation from the Israeli government (which she accepted) to go to Tel Aviv to sing for soldiers stationed there.

She recorded an English version of "A Little Peace", which reached #1 on the UK Singles Chart. It went on to be the 500th number one single in the UK Singles Chart. Full versions in French ("La Paix sur Terre"), Dutch ("Een beetje vrede"), Spanish ("Un poco de paz"), Danish ("En smule fred"), Slovene ("Malo miru"), Russian ("Немного мира"), Polish ("Troszeczkę ziemi, troszeczkę słońca"), and Hungarian ("Egy kis nyugalmat kívánok én", with Neoton Família) have also been recorded.

Later in 1982, she released three studio albums, one German (Ein bißchen Frieden) and the other in English (A Little Peace) and Meine kleine Freiheit. Like the title tracks, most of the songs have corresponding German and English tracks.

In 2005 she co-produced her album Alles Fließt, which was released in May of that year. In 2008, she released the album Mitten ins Herz, which was accompanied by a three-month "unplugged" tour that ended in January 2009.

Early in her career, the songs she recorded and performed were primarily written by composers such as Ralph Siegel, Bernd Meinunger, , and . For the recordings of songs in other languages, she's worked with, among others, Paul Greedus, , , and Jean-Paul Cara.

In 2016 she worked with Siegel and Meinunger when making her studio album Traumfänger, and Hohloch (as Seibert) is also credited with some of the compositions. In 2019, for the songs on her studio album 50 ist das neue 25, she worked with Heinz Rudolf Kunze, Jens Carstens, , , , and , and is credited with songs from that album as well.

In 2020, Hohloch celebrated her 40th anniversary in the music industry with a concert tour; however, these dates were rescheduled due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Mostly associated with being a Schlager musician, she has also recorded and released jazz, pop, rock and gospel songs.

Personal life Hohloch is one of four children, born to Marliese and Siegfried Hohloch. She grew up with her brother and two sisters in the small community of Nohfelden in Saarland. It was there that she attended school and graduated from high school. She is an honorary citizen of her hometown of Nohfelden.

Hohloch married Winfried Seibert (a childhood friend she had known since she was 14) in a civil ceremony on 17 August 1984; a day later they had a wedding ceremony in a church. They have two children and live at Neunkirchen, Nohfelden."Nicole ist zurück", Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung, 25 July 2022 (in German)

She likes to give concerts in churches because of the atmosphere and acoustics. Since she was a child, she has found answers in her spirituality and firmly believes that guardian angels will take care of her. This belief was reinforced by some events in her life. In one such instance, Hohloch had planned a trip for Thailand in the winter of 2004, around the time the tsunami struck, killing over 220,000 people. Due to strong recommendations from friends, she cancelled her trip to Thailand and went to South Africa instead.

She supports various humanitarian causes, such as child abuse prevention, and healthy activities for homeless children in the Philippines. She continues to campaign for Rett syndrome and for "life without chains". She has been to Africa twice for Welthungerhilfe.

Honors and awards 1982: First place at the Eurovision Song Contest 1983: Second place at the World Popular Song Festival in Tokyo with the song "So viele Lieder sind in mir" 1991: Winner of the German Schlagerparade with the song "Ein leises Lied". 1993: Echo Award for Best Schlager Female Artist (of 1992) 1999: Saarland Order of Merit

Discography

Studio albums YearTitleFirst published1981Flieg nicht so hoch, mein kleiner Freund 19811982Ein bißchen Frieden 17 June 19821982 A Little Peace October 1982 1982 Meine kleine Freiheit Nov/Dec 19821983So viele Lieder sind in mir 10 October 19831985Gesichter der Liebe 19851986Laß mich nicht allein 19861987Moderne Piraten 19871988So wie du 19881990Für immer...für ewig... 19901991Und ich denke schon wieder nur an dich 2 September 19911992Wenn schon...denn schon 9 November 19921993Mehr als nur zusammen schlafen gehn 4 October 19931994Und ausserdem 24 October 19941996Pur 3 June 19961998Abrakadabra 20 April 19981999Visionen 20 September 19992001Kaleidoskop 2 April 20012002Ich lieb dich 9 September 20022004Für die Seele 3 May 20042005Alles fließt 30 May 20052006Begleite mich 24 March 20062008Mitten ins Herz 8 February 20082009Meine Nummer 1 19 June 20092012Jetzt komm ich 16 March 20122013Alles nur für Dich 10 May 20132014Das ist mein Weg 24 October 20142016Traumfänger 15 April 2016201712 Punkte 14 April 2017201950 ist das neue 25 11 October 2019

See also Lena Meyer-Landrut, the only other German to have won the Eurovision Song Contest

Literature

Guido Knopp, Peter Arens: Our best. The 100 greatest Germans. Econ, Munich 2003, .

References

External links

Official Website Nicole's worldwide records