Heinz Rudolf Kunze
German musician
Heinz Rudolf Erich Arthur Kunze (born 30 November 1956, in Espelkamp-Mittwald, North Rhine-Westphalia) is a German writer and rock singer. His greatest hit was Dein ist mein ganzes Herz (not to be confused with the homonymous song from the operetta Das Land des Lächelns) in 1985.
Life and career
Kunze was born in the refugee camp Espelkamp near Minden. His family had been expelled from Guben (Niederlausitz, now partially Poland). His father, an officer for the Waffen-SS and long-time prisoner of war, had returned only in the same year. In the 1980s, he rose to prominence as a singer. HRK, as he is often called, has also written books, and has translated musicals into German. In 2002, Kunze narrated Piktors Verwandlungen, a 40-minute piece of the German band Anyone's Daughter after a fairy tale by German author Hermann Hesse, during a festival in honoring the late Nobel laureate in his home town Calw. In the national selection for Germany in the Eurovision Song Contest 2007, the singer/songwriter entered with "Die Welt ist Pop" (The World Is Pop), finishing 3rd.
Work
Albums and CDs (selected)
"D" refers to highest German chart rank
1981 – Reine Nervensache
1985 – Dein ist mein ganzes Herz (D 8)
1986 – Wunderkinder (D 18)
1991 – Brille (D 4)
1994 – Kunze: Macht Musik (D 10)
1999 – Korrekt (D 12)
2001 – Halt (D 10)
2005 – Das Original (D 28)
2007 – Klare Verhältnisse (D 21)
2013 – Stein vom Herzen (D 18)
2016 – Deutschland (D 8)
2016 – Meisterwerke:Verbeugungen (D 37)
2018 – Schöne Grüße vom Schicksal (D 16)
2020 – Der Wahrheit die Ehre
Literature
1991 – Sternzeichen Sündenbock
1994 – Der Golem aus Lemgo
2002 – Wasser bis zum Hals steht mir
2006 – Kommando Zuversicht
Singles (selected)
1985 – "Dein ist mein ganzes Herz" (D 8)
1989 – "Alles was sie will" (D 51)
1991 – "Alles gelogen" (D 78)
1992 – "Finderlohn" (D 55)
1994 – "Leg nicht auf" (D 56)
1999 – "Aller Herren Länder" (D 75)
2008 – "Langere Tage" (D 93)
Musicals
1987 – Les Misérables (translation into German)
1994 – Miss Saigon (German version)
1996 – Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat (German version)
1999 – RENT (German version)
2003 – Ein Sommernachtstraum (after Shakespeare, HRK and Heiner Lürig)
2004 – POE — Pech und Schwefel (HRK and Frank Nimsgern)
2007 – Kleider machen Liebe – oder: Was ihr wollt (after Shakespeare, HRK and Heiner Lürig)
Books (selected)
1984 – Deutsche Wertarbeit — Lieder und Texte 1980–1982
1986 – Papierkrieg — Lieder und Texte 1983–1985
1992 – Mucken und Elefanten — Lieder und Texte 1986–1991
1997 – Heimatfront — Lieder und Texte 1995–1997
1999 – heinz rudolf kunze: agent provocateur
2005 – Artgerechte Haltung — Lieder und Texte 2003–2005
by others
2005 – Silbermond samt Stirnenfuß — HRK Texte und Musik von 1980 bis 2005 von Holger Zürch
2007 – Heinz Rudolf Kunze — Meine eigenen Wege.
The public source identifies “Heinz Rudolf Kunze” as german musician. This brief keeps that definition visible, then builds a research path around Heinz, Rudolf and Kunze.
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Chronology provides the most reliable spine for this subject; interpretation should follow only after identities and dates are secure. The source revision retrieved here is dated Sep 1, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q87699. VIAF identifies the subject as 85082942. The Library of Congress control number is n85247693. 4 of 4 selected statements include explicit references; 0 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 1956, 1985, 2002 and 2007.
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This entry incorporates text from “Heinz Rudolf Kunze” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.