He is now 85
Without googling, guy who played a pan flute?
Only the Cheesy commercials.
Yes, I remember him well, he was a staple of 70s German music TV shows, as were TV commercials for his records. I never liked him, because I never liked the pan flute. This was music that the grown-ups listened to (though my parents had none of his records).
ETA: there were similar guys like him who had success with playing easy listening instrumental songs on their respective instrument, like Richard Clayderman on piano or Ricky King on electric guitar, equally heavily promoted by TV commercials.
I hated all that stuff as a kid.
Yes, a guy I was going with in the early 80s gave me a couple of his cassettes.
This might be grist for another thread but I only recall a few artists who used TV commercials to sell their albums. Most relied on just their variety show appearances. Besides Zamfir, the other one in heavy rotation was Slim Whitman. I think both boasted having sold more records than the Beatles.
He first became known for scoring the French film Le grand homme blond avec une chaussure noire, and then even more famous for his atmospheric score for Picnic at Hanging Rock. This is how I knew of him. I wasn’t watching any TV during the time period of his commercials, so did not know of that.
IIRC, the claim was that Slim Whitman sold more records than “the Beatles and Elvis combined.” Easy claim to make and prove, since the Beatles and Elvis never combined to record and release a single album!
Canada had “The Magic of Frank Mills”.
Ray Stevens had a long-running “order now!” ad campaign in the 90s.
My father had some of his records. I preferred James Galway and his concert flute.
Zamfir had a bit of a resurgence 20-odd years ago when one of his tracks had a major presence on the Kill Bill soundtrack.
And Yanni!
He came a bit later, but I would also even put Kenny G in that category.
I always confuse him with Laurel.
Kenny G of course was a saxophonist, so a different genre than Zamfir. I liked Kenny G, but my main recollection of him is a Christmas album he put out called “Miracles: The Holiday Album” just before Christmas, 1994. I think it’s really beautiful, but my perceptions may be biased because I associate it with such lovely nostalgic memories.
Of course, but I meant guys who play a specific instrument (no matter which), record only instrumentals and can be called easy listening. With being heavily advertised on TV as a bonus. That was my category.
She was the one who wore the black and blue dress, right?
As a kid, I remember thinking (after the hundredth time hearing "Zamfir… the Undisputed Master of the Pan Flute!"), that it’s not like he had a lot of competition.
Well, in Germany he had, all those busking Peruvian bands in German streets that always had a pan flutist. And in comparison, most of them didn’t play any worse than Gheorge Zamfir.
My cousin talks about how when his mother’s car was broken into, she was mostly upset that her Roger Whitaker cassettes were stolen.