Georgie Dann: Spain’s king of the cheesy summer pop song dies aged 81

SPAIN’S undisputed king of the summer pop song, Georgie Dann, died in Madrid on Tuesday at the age of 81.

His catchy melodies filled the airwaves from the 1960s until well into the 1990s when he found success with a string of summer hits that include La Barbacoa, El Chiringuito and El Bimbo.

He died in Madrid’s Hospital Puerta de Hierro where he was scheduled to undergo a hip operation.

Born in 1940 in Paris, Dann whose real name was Georges Mayer Dahan, was an accomplished musician who spent nine years at the Paris Conservatory.

But he found huge success in his adopted country Spain, where he cornered the market in the cheesy pop song, finding success first with the Russian themed Casatschok in 1969.

 His catchy lyrics celebrating the joys of barbecued meat proved a hit with El Barbacoa in 1994.

But his biggest hit was the 1988 song El Chiringuito in which he sang about a beach bar. It proved a huge hit not just in Spain but also climbed the charts in the Netherlands, Belgium and Greece.

In 1974 he married the Spanish dancer Emilia Garcia and they had three children together. 

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