Louie Austen

Today’s Artist of the Day is Louie Austen. Louie Austen is an Austrian classically-trained bar- and jazzcrooner with a Frank Sinatra voice, who’s been active in the electronic music scene for a couple of years.

“Art must be a matter of life and death – otherwise it’s not art” is the jazz & electro crooner’s sincere conviction. And so is “I’ll never retire, I’ll probably die on stage but I don’t care!”

And is one, one night in Rio (Rio)
We had two, two glass of champagne (champagne)
And after three, three minutes of talking (hahaha)
We made love (love…), again and again (again again again…)

In 1999, the Viennese Electro scene gives birth to a new idea: An electronic producer contrasts his experimental electronic tracks with Louie Austen’s voice. He had run into the classic jazz crooner in a studio and immediately proposed a collaboration.

Austen, then 53 years old, had already led an eventful life in various parts of the world and could look back on an equally eventful performing career. After immigrating to South Africa and Australia he had performed in clubs and on stages in New York, Pittsburgh and Las Vegas during the 70s. After his return to Vienna, the crooner entertained the guests at the Klimt-Bar of the Vienna Hilton before he took over the entire entertainment for the Marriott Hotel. Additionally, Austen wrote and produced shows like Viva Las Vegas or American Superstars, played parts in several movies and toured both Europe and the USA with show programmes.

Yet Austen is intrigued by the electronic beats and sounds of the young generation. When the first album “Consequences” (1999) is well received in the club scene and the first concerts turn out promising, Louie makes a courageous decision. “I decided there and then to resign from all other jobs and to completely dedicate myself to this new project for a period of two years”, he recalls. “I reflected that, if I’d find myself in the street after those two years, I’d have to go back to my old jobs. But I wanted to try out this new direction under all circumstances – I simply had to.”