Swing star Roger Cicero died five years ago

There is news that seems unreal - and by no stretch of the imagination tangible. The news of Roger Cicero's death was one of those. On 24 March 2016, the musician with the exceptional voice - who had competed at the ESC in Helsinki with the song "Frauen regier'n die Welt" (Women rule the world) - died unexpectedly as a result of a brain stroke. He was torn from life at the age of 45. Yet he lived a very healthy life - no alcohol, no cigarettes. Instead of excessive excesses, he did a lot of yoga to compensate for his busy schedule and stressful everyday life. After overcoming exhaustion syndrome, Roger Cicero wanted to go on tour in 2016 with songs by Frank Sinatra. However, the singer dies unexpectedly at the age of only 45 as a result of a stroke. Cicero, son of the jazz pianist Eugen Cicero who died in 1997, grew up with music from an early age. At the age of eleven he already performed with the chanson singer Helen Vita, and at 16 he appeared on a television stage for the first time with the RIAS dance orchestra. After studying jazz singing in Hilversum in the Netherlands, he first toured as a guest singer until he founded the Roger Cicero Quartet in 2003. He has a soft spot for swing melodies from the 1940s and 1950s, which he combines with German lyrics. In 2006 Cicero releases his first solo album "Männersachen". More than a million of them are sold. Roger Cicero rehearses "Frauen regier'n die Welt" at the Schauspielhaus Hamburg during the German preliminary round in 2007 On 8 March 2007, he wins the German preliminary round of the Eurovision Song Contest in Hamburg with the song "Frauen regier'n die Welt". Roger Cicero hands out autographs to his fans in Helsinki. Despite great support - especially from female fans - Cicero only reaches 19th place in the ESC final in Helsinki. He was disappointed after the final: "Personally, I didn't quite expect it to end so badly," he confessed after the show on German TV. But in the same year there is a "consolation prize": Cicero wins the Echo in the category "National Rock/Pop Artist". He shares the joy of the award with his girlfriend at the time, Kathrin Clasen. In 2007 he was also awarded the "Goldene Stimmgabel" for "most successful jazz soloist". In 2012, Cicero appears as a football motivator: He sings the official DFB fan song for the European Football Championship. The soul anthem "Für nichts auf dieser Welt" celebrates its premiere at the friendly match between Germany and Israel in Leipzig. He takes a trip back to childhood in 2013: He appears on "Sesame Street" with Ernie and Bert and sings the song "Zieht das Zeug aus". Too many appointments and commitments And he had so many plans. A tour was imminent. He had just recovered from an acute exhaustion syndrome, due to which he had cancelled all dates at short notice at the end of 2015. At that time, singing his album "The Roger Cicero Jazz Experience" and the parallel performances of Sinatra songs, which resulted in the album "Cicero Sings Sinatra - Live in Hamburg", had drained him. Asked by journalists at the beginning of 2016 whether he was possibly taking on too much too soon, he replied with a laugh that he was feeling great. Fate foreseen? Roger Cicero rarely took it easy and always worked on many projects at the same time. Only a short time later he suffered a stroke, fell into a coma and died the same day. Death already resonated in many of his songs - for example in "In diesem Moment", released in 2011, or in "Wenn es morgen schon zu Ende wär'" from his last studio album, in which the refrain ends with "dann leb ich heute nur 'n kleines bisschen mehr". Roger Cicero's father, the famous jazz pianist Eugen Cicero, also died early. At the age of 57 he suffered a stroke, Roger found him lifeless in his bedroom. "I think he always expected the same fate to befall him," explains his poduzent Roland Spremberg. As far as his work and music were concerned, Cicero apparently never took it easy. "Always lots of plans, three records at once and the next project already in the pipeline," says Spremberg.