Farewell and Goodbye to Stefan Raab

It’s so hard to say Goodbye. Eurovision legend Stefan Raab has retired from Show Business. The 49-year-old German superstar announced a few months ago that he would retire by the end of the calendar year. His long running show TV Total came to an end on December 16th and last night was his final appearance on his other show Schlag den Raab.

Raab was not only the biggest name in German television for the last decade and a half, he has also left his mark on the Eurovision Song Contest.

In 1998, he composed the song “Guildo hat euch lieb”, performed by Guildo Horn which finished 7th and brought Germany out of a slum.

He then decided to try his luck as a performer in 2000 and finished in 5th place with Wadde hadde dudde da, a hilarious song in an invented German dialect.

Raab’s Eurovision journey continued in 2004 when he discovered and mentored Max Mutzke. He wrote the song “Can’t wait until tonight” which finished in 8th place.

After that year, Germany continued to flop at Eurovision. In 2010, the country’s entry was selected in a series of competitive heats and a National Final – Unser Star fuer Oslo. It was organized by the public broadcasters ARD and NDR and they brought in the private channel ProSieben, along with Stefan Rab. That’s where Lena was discovered and won the show with the song Satellite. Not only that, this was Germany’s year to shine and the country won the contest in Oslo for the first time in 28 years.

Stefan Raab is an experienced TV host so it didn’t come as a surprise when he was selected as one of the co-hosts for the 2011 contest in Duesseldorf. He also was involved in the German song selection process serving as the Jury President and mentor for Lena who was chosen internally to defend her title.

The same year, Raab ended his Eurovision involvement as a host, chairman of the jury, composer and musical producer.

In addition to his Eurovision work, Stefan Raab came up with the Bundesvision Song Contest in 2005 (The Federal Republic of Germany officially being called Bundesrepublik Deutschland in German). The contest featured representatives from each of the 16 German states (Bundesländer) and stipulated that their song had to be (at least partly) in German. The show came to an end in 2015 due to Raab’s retirement.

We wish Mr. Raab the best of luck and hope he enjoys his well deserved retirement. He has changed German television and Eurovision for Germany significantly and will be missed dearly.

Let’s celebrate him one last time by traveling back to 2000. Here is Wadde Hadde Dudde da!