Cellars and Bridges Before 'Hey Baby'

DJ Ötzi, whose real name is Gerry Friedle, is an Austrian entertainer known for cheerful party songs. Ahead of his autobiography Lebensgefühl, published in 2021, he spoke to the magazine Bunte about a much harder period in his early twenties, when he was homeless.

According to the report on WEB.DE, the trouble began with an argument with his strict grandfather, a former gendarme. At the root of it was an unhappy love for a married woman who had a child. He said he gave up everything just to be with her. His grandfather sent him away from the house, and the relationship itself, in his words, wrecked him.

He said he slept in cellars and under bridges and that he had to beg. The article does not say in which part of Austria this happened or how long it lasted, and it does not describe how he came off the street.

What it does say is that the singer later met Sonja Kien. He married her in 2001, at the age of 30, and their daughter Lisa-Marie was born in 2002. He credits his wife with standing by him through his difficult history. He also says that his later relationships ended in sadness even though he loved his partners.

His breakthrough as a performer came in the early 2000s with the songs Hey Baby and Anton aus Tirol. Today he is a recognised chart name in the German-speaking world, and the article contrasts that image of a cheerful entertainer with the years of cellars, bridges and begging that he describes in his book.