DJ Bobo live at a concert on his “EVOLUT30N tour” for the 30th stage anniversary in the Erfurt exhibition hall in June 2023.
IMAGO/Future Image
DJ Bobo is one of the most successful Swiss musicians. Former employees made serious allegations against him in a Swiss daily newspaper. Success is more important to him than integrity.
No time? blue News summarizes for you
- DJ Bobo alias René Baumann is one of the most successful musicians in Switzerland. Hits like “Somebody Dance With Me” and “Chihuahua” are his credit.
- Only recently artist Lori Glori and Emel made allegations against him (blue News reported). It’s about contracts and song rights.
- Now ex-employees are making new allegations against DJ Bobo. They say success is more important to him than integrity.
DJ Bobo is the jack-of-all-trades among Swiss musicians – the Swiss export hit around the world.
His career? Unique and steep like the slope of a roller coaster. The trained baker-confectioner has 150 gold, 29 platinum and 2 diamond awards to his credit. 5 million concertgoers have seen his shows, and he fills Zurich’s Hallenstadion 21 times. His capital? 25 million francs.
Only recently did the singers Lori Glori and Emel make allegations against the 56-year-old music star (blue News reported): The American singer Lori Glori (64) signed a contract in the 1990s in which she unknowingly gave away her rights to her own voice.
Singer Emel sang DJ Bobo’s first hit “Somebody Dance With Me” at the age of 16. At the time, DJ Bobo told Emel that he had no money. They agreed to participate if the song was successful. A producer friend helped Emel back then. She was assigned a top lawyer.
Now former employees are making new allegations against DJ Bobo and are thus scratching his clean image. The list of those who have been betrayed is long. More than once, René Baumann writes that success was more important than integrity «blick.ch» on Sunday.
From the book “The Forgotten Years”: “He was a very good DJ, but he had no idea about the music business”
In the book “The Forgotten Years” people have their say who can explain DJ Bobo’s success – they are critical voices about his first steps in the music business.
«He was a very good DJ, but he had no idea about the music business. He followed every one of our activities very closely, took notes, wrote everything down nicely,” says his first producer, according to “Blick”, about DJ Bobo’s initial phase in the music biz.
DJ Bobo has the right nose. Record sales plummeted in the noughties and the industry had to rethink. One person who understood this from the start is DJ Bobo. Artists make money from their shows and increasingly from merchandising and collaborations.
DJ Bobo tours every two years in large halls with shows suitable for the masses and comes up with a lot of ideas for merchandising: from USB sticks to plush tigers.
Success is more important than integrity
Success is more important to DJ Bobo than integrity, writes “Blick”. The chorus of his first hit was stolen. After a settlement, he had to pay royalties for each record in the USA. Later, his advisor cheated on the sales figures for an award.
New ones are added to the allegations made by Lori Glori and Emel. According to “Blick”, a third singer, Jennifer, has her say in the book “The Forgotten Years”. Singer Jennifer also had to fight through a lawyer to be involved in the sale.
Tour dancer also gets in touch
Tanja Geuder also directed allegations at the hit producer. She was a singer and dancer with DJ Bobo from 1994 to 1997.
Geuder (62) falls into a hole during a show because the stage was changed shortly before the concert began, she claims. The result: her shoulder is shattered. The young mother can no longer perform and therefore no longer has any income.
She is said to have never seen any compensation. A lawyer advises her not to sue – for financial reasons.
The producer of the first album talks about a dubious practice
“Blick” goes further. Gutze Gautschi (75) also feels betrayed. Mark Wyss and Gautschi signed René Baumann (DJ Bobo) in 1992 and produced his first album. They would have helped him to succeed. DJ Bobo never showed any gratitude. In Bobo’s biography, Gautschi and Wyss are only mentioned as “the guys from Fresh Music”.
When DJ Bobo changed labels, he is said to have re-recorded all the songs with new singers – often it was his wife Nancy. In this way he should save himself the royalties to the former rights holders and the two producers. He is said to have never clearly declared these new recordings as such.
Gautschi goes on to say that Lori Glori’s case was already considered a rip-off in the 90s: “If someone gives the vote for a hit song, you give him or her a percentage. That’s what serious labels do.”