The frontman of Shu-bi-dua fell asleep after a brief course of cancer.
Lead singer of Shu-bi-dua, Michael Bundesen, has died. He turned 71 years old.
On Sunday evening, Michael Bundesen slept quietly in his home in Gentofte, in a safe environment, surrounded by his immediate family. It writes Nanna and Nicolaj Bundesen in a press release .
– It is with unimaginable grief that we can announce that our father Michael Bundesen, after a short course of cancer, has passed away, they write.
The family would like to ask for peace to process the grief, and at Michael Bundesen’s own request, the funeral will take place discreetly, and only for those closest to them.
– Although it is warm to think about how many Danes he has meant something to, we appeal that this wish is respected, write Nanna and Nicolaj Bundesen.
Great popular success
Michael Bundesen started Shu-bi-dua in 1973 together with Michael Hardinger. The band became one of Danish music’s great popular successes and the best-selling ever.
Up through the 70s, Shu-bi-dua had great success with songs such as ‘The red thread’, ‘Vuffeli-vov’ and ‘Denmark’.
In 1984, Bundesen stopped as lead singer in the band to instead become head of the defunct TV channel Kanal 2. In 1987, however, he was back on the music scene with his band.
In 2011, Michael Bundesen suffered a blood clot in his brain, and two years later, the band announced that it would not re-emerge.
In 2013, Shu-bi-dua received the Honorary Award at the Danish Music Awards.
‘I am heartbroken’
One of those who has worked a lot with Michael Bundesen is the Danish DJ, rapper, music producer and much more ‘Chief 1’.
– I am crushed. Sad. Sorry. It has really touched me a lot. It is also the feeling that part of one’s childhood and youth is like being shut down. First Kim Larsen and now Michael. Now there is just not that much left from that time, he says.
He has both remixed for Shu-bi-dua, had Bundesen as a guest on music – and then he wrote a song with him as a 19-year-old.
– He is so good at getting someone to relax, explains Chief 1 – or Lars Pedersen, as he is really called. As a 19-year-old, he had broken through with the group Rockers By Choice, when Michael Bundesen wanted him with him over a song.
– I lived in an apartment in Tårnby, and there he came up one evening. There we sat around my youth table writing a song for an entire evening. Fuck, man. It was wild for 19-year-olds me, says Chief 1, who well knew he was ill, but not how wrong it obviously was.
He describes Michael Bundesen as “fucking funny”.
– He was very focused, very committed and passionate. Everything he went into was important to him. But it should always be fun.
And that is also what is repeated in the group’s almost legendary songs, which everyone can sing along to.
– I think they delivered a popular happiness pill with their songs, says Chief 1.
Lived with him in the villa in Charlottenlund
Radio host and DJ Dan Rachlin has known Michael Bundesen since the mid-80s. Their friendship was so close that from 1992 onwards he lived in Michael Bundesen’s villa in Charlottenlund, while Shu-bi-dua was busy touring around with the song ‘Sexchikane’.
The friendship led to the two in 2017 together made the podcast ‘Honestly – Shu-bi-dua’s story told by Michael Bundesen’ for DR together, where Michael Bundesen tells about his life and career.
– We have laughed so many times. He had so much humor and was pissing fun in a ridiculous way, which can also be heard on many of Shu-bi-dua’s songs, says Dan Rachlin.
He says, among other things, that it was, among other things, the humor that connected them, even though they were basically so different. Among other things, Michael Bundesen became almost paternal towards Dan Rachlin when he ridiculed that Dan Rachlin could never hold anything back from his private life to the media , while Michael Bundesen himself was not the one who invited the colored magazines indoors.
At the same time, Michael Bundesen had to put up with teasing from Dan Rachlin about how much money he had earned on his songs over the past week, each time they met.
Gonna miss his humor
In addition, he also remembers an episode during the podcast, where Michael Bundesen criticized Dan Rachlin for his performance in front of the microphone, and said: “When I had to be hired in DR , you had to audition before you could be hired. You obviously should not.”
– I will miss such comments. He had a sense of humor, self-irony and the ability to laugh very loudly, while being professional and really taking the Shu-bi-dua project seriously and being proud of it.
Precisely the mixture of humor and the linguistic quality also means that Michael Bundesen can be compared to some of the rather great ones, Dan Rachlin believes.
– You can reasonably say that he is right after Kim Larsen, because he has meant so much to so many generations, says Dan Rachlin.
Source: dr.dk
