Fancy is one of the best-known German artists to emerge from the Italo-Disco and Euro-Disco scene of the 1980s.

His career brought him several Top 10 and Top 20 hits, including “Chinese Eyes” and “Come Inside,” which reached #2 on the Billboard Dance Charts in 1985, as well as “Check It Out“ at #8. In Spain, “Bolero” remained at #1 for weeks. Over the years, Fancy was involved in more than a hundred productions, both under his own name and for other artists. His career was also shaped by encounters with figures such as Jimi Hendrix, Divine, the Pet Shop Boys, Michael Jackson, and Siegfried & Roy. Among music connoisseurs, he is often called the “King of Discofox,” a title he accepts even though his music has always covered a much broader spectrum.

His childhood and youth, however, were anything but the colorful and extravagant world associated with his later career. Fancy was born in Munich on July 7, 1946. His father was Spanish and came from Extremadura, while his mother was from Munich. His upbringing was rather conservative, and his parents originally had a very different future in mind for him: Fancy was supposed to become a Capuchin monk.

From the age of 14, he was sent to a monastery. Yet music was already a part of his life, and he secretly listened to records by artists such as Ted Herold and taught himself to play the guitar, even though this was strictly forbidden. After many discussions, his parents eventually brought him back to Munich, where he finished high school. Homesickness had affected him deeply, and at one point he even attempted to escape from the monastery.

After leaving school, Fancy worked for music publishers and in discos while performing in bars, cabarets, revues, pubs, and vaudeville shows. His performances often revolved around comedy and parody. At just 18, he released his first single, “Ballhouse Slop.” As he later recalled in a 1988 interview, these early parody records were “completely without a hit.” He nevertheless enjoyed his life as a comedian and clown, making his sudden commercial breakthrough in 1984 with “Slice Me Nice” all the more remarkable.