Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: WEDNESDAY, June 7, 1995 TAG: 9506070029
SECTION: EXTRA PAGE: 2 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: JOHN MARTIN PROVIDENCE JOURNAL
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
What's the punch line?
If it is a joke, Hasselhoff is going to find out soon. After nearly six years of riding the crest in Europe, he's releasing his first album in the U.S.
Hasselhoff spoke by phone from a makeup trailer, where he ws preparing for a day's work on ``Baywatch.'' Now in syndication, the one-time NBC ratings loser is watched by millions around the globe.
He'd started the day with a 4:30 a.m. workout and knocked off one interview via cellular phone from his steam room. He keeps in shape with a strict exercise program and by avoiding wine and beer, he said.
He was asked what explains his success as a singer?
``I had a hit song,'' he replied, ``and with hard work and a little luck I got to the right place at the right time.
``I went over to Europe after `Knight Rider' was canceled [1989] and realized I was pretty popular over there. I was basically out of work and going through a marriage breakup and it could have been my Ernest Hemingway period where I felt sorry for myself and depressed.''
Instead he recorded a song that got airplay in Austria and immediately hit the top of the charts.
``I said, `Oh my God! Where's Austria?' And I quickly put together a dog-and-pony tour,'' Hasselhoff said. ``I decided to bring the KITT car [from ``Knight Rider''] along as a backup just in case nobody wanted to come out to see just me.''
He assembled the show in just two weeks, cramming, he said, ``like it was college finals.'' He recorded all the music and lip-synced from the stage, including a bit in which he conversed with KITT.
``I was on top of the car, miming and playing the guitar. The next thing I knew, 10,000 people were turning out night after night. I took the tour throughout Portugal, Spain and Finland.''
A producer who previously worked with Englebert Humperdink, Pia Zadora and Jermaine Jackson in Europe played Hasselhoff a song called ``Looking for Freedom,'' which had been a hit in Germany two decades earlier. Hasselhoff recorded it, and his singing career shot into high gear.
``We hit big. We sold 700,000 singles and were No. 1 for eight weeks,'' Hasselhoff said. On New Year's Eve 1989, he sang the song before a crowd of 500,000 from the top of the Berlin Wall. That year, he was voted ``Most Popular and Best Selling Artist of the Year,'' beating out Madonna and Michael Jackson.
Why is he so popular?
``I think it's me selling the songs,'' he said. ``It's me going on television over there. They still have the old variety shows and I'm able to go on and communicate to the people that I really enjoy this - like John Davidson used to do it. I go out into the audience and I appeal to the grandmothers and the 5-year-olds.''
He toured for three years in Europe before making his American debut last summer in a pay-per-view telecast from Trump Castle in Atlantic City.
A year later he's ready to take the plunge.
``I know I'm going to sell records, because I have a lot of things lined up to reach my audience - people who like `Baywatch,' who liked `Knight Rider,' who like David Hasselhoff. I've got a lot of personal appearances lined up to bring awareness to what I hope is a legitimate release that will get played on the radio.''
Hasselhoff says an appearance on NBC's ``Tonight Show'' immediately led to nine bookings. ``Even the guy who's rebuilding my house from the earthquake said, `Hey man, I saw you on the show, and, like, you were good.' And I said, `Thank you, you know, I did sell 6 million records in Germany.' And he said, `Yeah, I heard about that, but, like, you were really good.' ''
Hasseloff, 42, has plenty to keep him busy. In addition to ``Baywatch,'' a spin-off syndicated series in which he will star has just gone into production.
Mention ``Baywatch'' detractors and Hasselhoff will head you off at the pass.
``I read an article in TV Guide saying that `Baywatch' is America's `Gilligan's Island' and that people are watching it because it is so bad. I don't believe that.
``We're not doing stuff that is politically correct as `ER' or `Chicago Hope' that's going to win over the snob critics. But I'm sorry, it is the No. 1 show in the world. When I go to see the guy who produces `Picket Fences' and `Chicago Hope,' he says, `I wish we had your numbers.' And I say, `I wish we had your writers.'''
by CNB