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1990 1991-1992 1993 1994 1995 1996 1997 1998 1999
In Poland
Helena Vondrackova always had sincere fans in Poland even before the winning on the Sopot Festival with "Malovany dzbanku" in 1977. Her Polish fans was at that time a mixture of young gay ABBA fans and older people liking traditional pop. The young gay ABBA fans became nowadays older but they still love their Helena. The singer found the Polish market as probably the second important one after Germany. Helena's albums have been (and still are) released exclusively for Polish market regularly. In 1990 the album "I am Your Song" sung in English was released in Poland. Strangely the Polish record company "Muza" waited 6 years with this release as the material on this LP had been recorded back in November 1984. Anyway the album was released and... sold almost immediately - as usual. Helena chose 12 songs for the album, some of them were covers of world hits which previously had become hits in Czech versions in her homeland as Agnetha Fältskog's "The Heat Is On".
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This year was the first year of freedom and democracy in Czechoslovakia. At the beginning of 1990 Helena quit her cooperation with state artistic agency Pragokoncert. She chose a new-started agency "Orion" as her new management.
Prejdi jordan - Greatest hits
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The only Helena release in 1990 in Czechoslovakia was a compilation album "Prejdi jordan a dalsi hity" (Prejdi jordan and other hits) which came out as LP, MC and CD at the end of the year. The compilation contained 15 biggest hits of Helena.
Prejdi jordan - greatest hits - the promotion
The compilation album was promoted officially by the record company Supraphon and Helena on January 13th, 1991.
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New York, New York...
In the TV show "Televariete" in 1991 Helena presented two new songs that were planned for the album release in the near future. One of them was well-known hit "New York, New York" which Helena performed in English.
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Musicals, musicals...
At the same time Helena started thinking about releasing a new album. The main idea was to record a whole album with songs from various world musicals. Czech musical producer Adam Novak offered Helena a part in the musical "Les Miserables" which was under production. Helena accepted the role of Fantine in the musical which was be played at the theatre on Vinohrady in Prague during the summer of 1992 and became a great success.
Les Miserables - the album
In May 1992 Helena participated in recording of soundtrack for "Le Miserables" for the album release. Helena played the role of Fantine and she had lead in 3 songs. The double LP contained totally 23 tracks.
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Les Miserables (Bidnicy)
The musical had its premiere on June 25, 1992
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Televariete
In the TV show "Televariete" in 1991 Helena performed among others her new song "New York New York" recorded for the forthcoming musical album.
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Silene smutna princezna (A very sad princess).
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The soundtrack from the film "Silene smutna princezna" was released on CD in 1992. The main parts in this film from 1967 were played by Helena and Vaclav Neckar. She performed 4 songs.
Kam zmizel ten stary song - the compilation
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Helena worked hard as a musical artist but she was absent as a recording artist. She had not recorded anything new since the album "Skandal" in 1988. The record company "Supraphon" decided to release one more compilation album in 1992. This new compilation was entitled "Kam zmizel ten starý song" and it contained Helena's 21 biggest hits recorded between 1964 and 1985.
The photo session
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The Broadway Album
The first studio album in the 1990s was released at the beginning of 1993. The new LP/CD entitled "The Broadway album" featured songs from well-known world musicals and was recorded in both Czech and English language versions. The English version of the album was released in 1994. New version of the album including 5 bonus tracks was re-released in 2002.
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The photo sessions
Photo sessions for the album featured Helena in her glossy skirts.
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Sopot festival - Poland
Helena appeared in Poland on the International Sopot Festival at the end of August. She was singing some of her greatest hits as a guest star.
With Helena to Broadway
Adam Novak created an idea of a big musical project "With Helena to Broadway". The new album was promoted with two sold out concerts at the Vinohrady theatre in Prague. The shows were extremely successful and all tickets were sold out directly after their release. During the evening Helena received a platinum record for 4,5 million albums sold in Czech Republic. Special guests were Karel Gott and Jiri Korn.
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Helena on Broadway
After two successful nights at Vinohrady theatre it was time to continue the promotion of the new album by going to Broadway in New York. Helena and the TV team went to New York in October 1993. Helena remembers: "We worked very hard during our stay in New York. I was filmed from 8 am until late evening every day. We filmed some nights as well. I felt myself like a squeezed lemon. But I managed to see some musicals on my time off."
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Golden Kids - the best of...
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In 1993 the record company Supraphon pushed by Helena decided to release greatest hits of Golden Kids on LP and CD. The LP contained 18 songs and CD 22. After the Revolution Helena, Marta and Vasek met each other on stage already in December 1989 as soon as Marta was allowed to perform again. Helena was very engaged in preparations to the comeback of Golden Kids on stage.
Promotion of the CD
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Christmas 1993
Surprisingly Helena and her father gave a Christmas concert at the church of Saint Martin in her hometown Slatinany.
The Broadway Album
The English language version of "The Broadway Album" was released in Germany in 1994. This version of the album featured 14 songs and it was distributed by German record company "Town Music".
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No new album release was planned in 1994. Helena participated in a couple of musical projects which effected in two single releases. In June she celebrated her birthday at the theatre playing Fantine in "Les Miserables".
Golden Kids - comeback
The year 1994 meant comeback of the most successful Czech group in late 1960s Golden Kids - the Czechoslovakian ABBA before ABBA as the group was called many years later. The group members were Helena, Marta Kubisova and Vaclav Neckar. Czech TV approached the former group members at the beginning of 1994 with the proposal of making several shows for TV and some live concerts at the Lucerna Concert Hall in Prague. All members agreed and the first show was recorded for TV. Helena, Marta and Vaclav performed some of their greatest hits testing the audience which seemed to enjoy all the old hits 23 years later.
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Probably the biggest event of 1994 in Czech Republic took place at the concert hall "Lucerna" in Prague on November 3, 1994.
Golden Kids on stage
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The concert at "Lucerna" was sold out. Golden Kids performed a whole show for the first time in 24 years. Czech TV filmed the concert and aired it later the same year. The hottest Christmas present in 1994 was the CD with the whole concert from Lucerna which was released by Supraphon at the end of the year.
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Golden Kids - CD
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The song selection on the CD featured all the great hits of the group and solo. Helena performed among others: Oh baby baby (with Marta), Tva mala Jane, Prejdi jordan, Ruze kvetou dal and Vzdaleny hlas.
Christmas 1994 was celebrated by whole family in Slatinany
Broadway again
Due to the great popularity of the "Broadway album" and the show Helena appeared on the Vinohrady Theatre stage again on February 26, 1995 where she performed the biggest musical hits.
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Helena & Jiri
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Helena and her old good friend Jiri Korn got together again and made several fabulous appearances on Czech TV. As both are great singers and dancers every performance of Vondrackova-Korn becomes unforgettable. Helena and Jiri performed Fred Astaire Medley and other musical related songs. Helena still used her "Broadway" dress.
The Christmas album project
In June 1995 Helena started recording sessions for her new studio album - The Christmas Album. The album was due to release before the Christmas season 1995. Helena remembers that it was a funny feeling to record Christmas songs at the beginning of summer. She and the album producers listened to Christmas Carrols in the summer heat in the garden in Helena's house in Ritka outside Prague.
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Christmas with Helena - CD
In autumn 1995 Helena released a new CD entitled "Vanoce s Helenou" (Christmas with Helena). The album contained 14 Christmas songs chosen by the artist.
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Lucerna - Christmas 1995
The Lucerna Concert Hall in Prague was reserved for two big Helena concerts on December 21 and 22, 1995. Both shows were sold-out. Helena invited special guests: Marta Kubisova, Jiri Korn and Karel Cernoch. The show was recorded for CD release in 1996.
Rehearsals
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The concert
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Tribute to Zdenek Borovec
One of the most famous Czech lyrics writers Zdenek Borovec was celebrated by the artist elite featuring of course Helena. The birthday concert was held in January at the hotel Ambasador in Prague.
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This is show business - TV show
Helena and Jiri Korn became hosts for a new show series "To je soubyznys" (This is show business). Even the title song was performed by Helena and Jiri. The idea behind the show was good entertaining with help of funny excerpts from old Czech TV shows. During the year 1996 a new CD with the same title was released. The CD contained duets recorded by Helena and Jiri during the years as well as the new song from the show.
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Christmas with Helena 2
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After the huge success with Helena's Christmas shows in December 1995 and the Christmas album it was decided that a follow-up CD would be released in 1996. The album was called simply "Vanoce s Helenou 2" (Christmas with Helena 2) and it was a live recording from Lucerna in December 1995 with special guests: Marta Kubisova, Jiri Korn and Karel Cernoch. Even this album became very successful before Christmas 96.
The re-masters
In 1996 the record company Supraphon released the first two CDs in the new series "The Collection of Helena Vondrackova". All Helena's Supraphon recordings from the very beginning would be re-mastered and released on CD. The first two CDs in the series contained very early recordings and previously unreleased rarities.
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go.to/Helena The Discography |
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Helena 1996
The Czech weekly "Vlasta" published a big article about Helena featuring lots of new photos in the autumn 1996.
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Vanoce, vanoce... - Christmas'96 with Helena
In December 1996 Helena was back on Lucerna's stage and performed together with Marta, Jiri and Karel her favorite Christmas Carrols and well-known musical hits which can easily be associated to the Christmas time. The 1995 concert was aired by Czech TV as a part of promotion of the second Christmas album.
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At the beginning of the year the two original LPs recorded by Golden Kids in 1968 & 69 were released on CD with extra bonus tracks. These CDs contained lots of Helena early hits in their prime versions. Even the third CD from the Collection series was released in 1997.
Movie Classics - the album
During the spring she recorded a new album for international market. It was called "Movie Classics" and it contained 11 well known songs from different movies as: Rocky III, American Gigolo, Bodyguard, Top Gun and many more. It was Helena's second album with film melodies. The CD is very hard to find nowadays.
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The birthday and the book.
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In June 1997 Helena celebrated her 50th birthday. In connection to the birthday celebrations a new book about Helena was released in Czech Republic. The book was entitled "Helena about herself (and celebrities about Helena). The latest pictures of Helena featured on the cover showed a totally new image of the singer with modern hair cut.
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The photo sessions - new image 1997
Helena gave several interviews and posed for photo sessions in connection to the forthcoming concerts in Lucerna.
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Prague, Lucerna, December
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But the most important part of this "new beginning" would come in December 1997. Helena sold out two evenings at Lucerna. Helena performed all her greatest hits and some new songs from a forthcoming album. The show was recorded by both Czech TV and a record company for release on 2 CDs in 1998.
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After the show.
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The both December 97 concerts at Lucerna in Prague were successful and sold out. It was Helena's definitive comeback as a pop singer after several years filled with musical projects. At the beginning of 1998 two CD were released: "Helena in Lucerna 1 & 2". It was a bit strange that the record company decided to release two separate CDs containing parts 1 and 2 of the same concert instead for a double CD. Anyway both CDs sold very well.
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This year would bring totally 5 CDs with Helena's music. Two more "Helena Collection" CDs with her early recordings were released during the year. The first CD called "Ostrov Heleny Vondrackove" (The Island of Helena Vondrackova) covered her original LP from 1970 and contained lots of precious previously unreleased bonus tracks.
The second re-master released in 1998 contained a live performance originally released on the LP "Helena Helena Helena" in 1972. Lots of bonus tracks were added.
This is show business
Czech TV re-started the series "This is show business" hosted by Helena and Jiri Korn in 1998. The show was very successful when it was broadcasted for the first time in 1996.
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Nevzdám se hvezdám - the new album
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Long awaited completely new studio pop album was finally released in the Autumn of 1998. It was called "Nevzdám se hvezdám" (The stars will not stop me). There were 14 songs on this CD. Helena recorded one song together with David Hasselhoff (More Than Words Can Say). She did a new recording of her old favorite song "Killing me Softly With His Song" as well as she covered Whitney Houston's hit "Run to You". The album was a big seller in Czech Republic and Slovakia before the Christmas 1998. The cassette edition contained two bonus tracks: "More Than Words Can Say" in English version and a medley of Helena's hits originally recorded live in Lucerna in December 1997.
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More than words can say...
Helena and David Hasselhoff recorded video for the song "More than Words Can Say" in Prague.
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The Wax Museum in Prague
You can meet Helena at the Wax Museum in Prague (Na prikopie-street).
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To je soubysnys 1998
Helena and Jiri Korn hosted a new series of their popular TV show "This is show business".
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Helena Gold
At the beginning of the year Helena and her husband Helmut Sickel started working with a new compilation album which would be called "Helena Gold". Helena decided to cover the world hit "I Will Survive" performed originally by Gloria Gaynor. Several songs among them "A ty se ptas co ja" (The Winner Takes It All) were re-recorded with a new, more modern sound.
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The photo sessions
Photographer Tomas Beran arranged an extended photo session for the album at the Prague restaurant "Manes".
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Andrea Bocelli in Prague
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In March 1999 Andrea Bocelli arrived in Prague. Helena represented record company Universal and she handed over 7 platinum records and 2 gold records for his sells in Czech Republic.
Tim Rice likes Helena...
...and her "Broadway Album" (sung in English) which was released some years before according to a press article from June 7, 1999.
Helena Collection 6
The sixth CD in the Helena Vondrackova Collection containing the album "Helena and Strici" and bonus tracks was released in 1999.
In Germany
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