Marc Boettcher

In Germany, jazz had a voice: Inge Brandenburg. This is the story of a woman in the 1950s and 1960s, when there was no place in Germany for self-assured women with international aspirations, a dramatic performance style and an emancipated attitude to love.

Germany’s rising chanson star Alexandra, known for her dark, smoky voice and haunting hits like “Mein Freund, der Baum”, died in a car crash at 27 in 1969. In just three years she’d tasted fame’s glory and its price: lost privacy, relentless pressure, and creative compromise.

This documentary from the golden 1920s to the disco era lets relatives, colleagues and friends of Bert Kaempfert like Freddy Quinn, James Last and Brenda Lee have their say and invites you to meet again with Nat "King" Cole, Caterina Valente and many more.