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"I'm no longer Mr. One Thousand Percent, I no longer have to have everything in my hands, take care of everything": Der Graf, singer of Unheilig, on his comeback.
Picture: Hendrik Schmidt/dpa
After the successful comeback of his band Unheilig, the Count is now taking part in the TV show "Sing meinen Song". In an interview, the 56-year-old raves about the experience, which was therapeutic for him.
Bernd Heinrich Graf, the big comeback last year, now after ten years a new album, countless TV appearances, concerts ... How is the new life going?
Good - the new life is absolutely awesome (laughs). When we started the comeback at the beginning of 2025, nobody knew how it would go, whether people would still want to listen to my music at all. The whole thing was also a risk ...
In what way?
You can ruin a lot with a new start like that. The legacy with Unheilig has a certain value, which I didn't want to gamble away with a hapless comeback. I really wasn't entirely sure whether it would work. But then it was like it always is in my life: I was very lucky to meet people who had more confidence in me than I had in myself. And then it worked out.
What exactly were your expectations?
I didn't have any. I said to my manager: give me speakers, a microphone, a small stage - the main thing is that I can make music again. I have to get back out there. That was all. It's amazing to see how well it's going now. People came to the concerts right from the start, the album went straight to number one, the tour in the big halls sold quickly. None of us expected this. I'm incredibly grateful for this appreciation. It gives me so much. Because I'm basically the big doubter. I often don't trust myself. But that's also a good thing.
Namely?
Doubts are always there, they are part of me - and they have made creative energy possible in the first place. I'm at my most creative when I'm in doubt. Especially in the months surrounding the comeback, I wrote more songs than ever before. It was an emotional outburst. Something had obviously built up over nine years. The sheer volume of lyrics will last beyond the end of my life (laughs).
What is different today compared to ten years ago?
Clear answer: I am different. I'm no longer Mr. One Thousand Percent, I no longer have to be in charge of everything, take care of everything. Instead, I'm much more concerned with finding a balance in my life today. I have my family with me on tour, I no longer have to drive 600 kilometers home after concerts to see my wife. It's a different life, there's much more peace and quiet. I take care of that. When I look back on the really big time with Unheilig, it's totally clear to me why it couldn't work in the long term. This responsibility - also for jobs, for the income of many families - it was too much for me. Life in my music bubble was hopelessly overloaded.
When you went on your farewell tour back then, your statements were correspondingly ultimate: you never wanted to talk about music in public again, never stand on a stage again ...
Absolutely, I was through and had to get out. It was a clear cut, no ifs, no buts.
What happened next? Did you fall into the famous hole, or did you find what you were looking for after you left?
It was a good time right from the start. I don't remember a hole, no. But there were these panic dreams in the first few years: I'm on stage in front of ten thousand fans and I've forgotten my setlist or the lyrics ... Others might know it from school: notebooks out - and you're blank. The fact that you dream something like that probably says something too ... But that gradually passed, and apart from that I had really found my happiness. My happiness was and is my family. I had the opportunity to be there for my parents, who have sadly both passed away in the meantime. We did a lot together and I was able to take care of them. They were good years. A completely normal life.
"If I hadn't had those bad moments in the emergency room at the beginning of 2025, where I ended up with a suspected silent heart attack, I probably wouldn't have had the guts to make a new start": The Count of Unheilig.
Picture: Hendrik Schmidt/dpa
Then why such a big comeback at all?
There was always a certain gap, even if I never spoke about it publicly. Somehow I was missing something without the music. The feeling didn't get any smaller over the years ... On the contrary. But I pushed it away at first.
And then?
Something happened: if I hadn't had those bad moments in the emergency room at the beginning of 2025, where I ended up with a suspected silent heart attack, I probably wouldn't have had the courage to start again. I was in hospital for several hours, between hope and fear, and was examined in detail because my blood pressure had gone through the roof. At the time, I told myself: if you can get out of this situation, then you'll go back on stage.
Isn't that contradictory? Sex, drugs and rock'n'roll are certainly not good for the heart ...
(Laughs) Well: I'm healthy, my high blood pressure is under control - and you can safely leave out the sex and drugs part for me anyway. Apart from that, I just want to look at it this way: Music is my favorite thing to do, something that's good for me. I also pay close attention to how I feel. I'm not going to overdo it, I'm not 40 anymore. And I'm definitely not going to moan. I get applause for what I do, I earn a good living from it - what are we talking about? Others have to stand their ground at 6 a.m. on the building site. I know I have a really great life.
Are you proud?
Yes, but I say that without vanity. It's more to do with my past: I grew up with a speech impediment, stuttered as a child. I always had the feeling that I had to compensate for this supposed defect on other levels. I tried so hard at everything to be as good as possible ... When you stand on stage later in life as an artist and experience this appreciation, then that's a reason to be proud.
The first concert after the comeback was still a low blow: you fell off the stage in Leipzig in 2025 and injured yourself ...
Yes, it was tough. My upper jaw was broken, my incisors were no longer where they should be. Pieces of tooth fell out of my mouth. I could hardly speak, but I was still singing. My wife backstage was totally shocked. Nevertheless, I didn't stop the concert. That was an important moment. Because if I had walked off stage back then, who knows what that would have done to me emotionally ... But I kept going, also because I had a good crew around me. The accident was over, the injury healed at some point and the comeback continued.
Was there also a social component to the ambition to start the comeback now? - As a band, Unheilig has always stood for building bridges, somehow taking everyone with them ...
Yes, definitely. Or let's put it this way: social reasons are mixed with personal motives. I myself simply want to do well. And when I click on the news every day and every morning, when I look at the comments, when I see what's going on in the world, I, like probably everyone else, lose my mood. I wanted to get out of that and do what makes me happy: music. And if I can make other people happy for a few hours and bring them together, then that doesn't change the world, but it's something.
When you look at the world - do you feel anxious?
Oh, no. I basically have a positive approach to life: as long as I'm here, I try to make the most of my time. That's better than being afraid of something that I can't influence anyway. When you stand before the good Lord, you don't want to sum up all the things you didn't achieve, it's all about what you've done with your opportunities. But I also believe that the world is no worse than it was in the 1980s when I was socialized. There's just a lot more reporting now about all the negative and terrible things, which unfortunately there are undoubtedly plenty of.
So let's talk about a youth in the 1980s.
With pleasure. It was beautiful and colorful. And terrible: we had nuclear missiles stationed here in North Rhine-Westphalia at the time, and we did exercises at school on how to behave in the event of a nuclear emergency. We've lost our imprint, nobody needs to tell us anything. Today, the bad topics just jump out at us everywhere - it's all about clicks. That has changed. But the world hasn't. What I can offer as an artist in these times is actually just a bit of distraction. But what does that mean? If the audience can simply forget the news about everything bad in the world for once, that's the greatest gift for me as a musician.
"If the audience can simply forget the news about everything bad in this world, that's the greatest gift for me as a musician": The Count of Unheilig.
Picture: Jan Woitas/dpa
So haven't your songs become more political?
I would say not. In any case, that wasn't the aim of the album at all. People don't need someone else who wants to explain the world to them. There are already so many of those. My political message, if you like, is about unity: community across all borders. I perform at "Schlagerboom" and would do it again at Wacken any time. I think that's pretty political.
Do you still have a bucket list in your mid-50s?
Of course I do. If you don't have one, you might as well mothball it. For me, life is basically about realizing dreams, tackling things rather than complaining about not having, being able to or achieving this or that. We complain far too much in this country. The internet is full of people who always have something to moan about. I would like to say to them: if you don't like something in your life, then tackle it, change something, but stop getting on the others' nerves. I'm also very much in favor of a clear name requirement on the Internet. A lot of things would be better straight away, all this nastiness would go down immediately if the authors of posts and comments could be identified as real people, without any question.
Was the VOX show "Sing meinen Song" also on your bucket list?
Yes, and I would do it again and again. It was an absolutely life-changing experience for me. I can only recommend every musician to take part in this show. Go there - and you'll come back a different person. At first I wanted to cancel at short notice ...
But now you're making us curious ...
Well, first my father died, then my mother was dying - that was a few weeks before the start of filming for "Sing meinen Song". In my grief, I was afraid I wouldn't be up to the task emotionally. But then I did it and it turned out to be exactly the right thing. This place, this house in South Africa, the exchange at eye level with the other artists, that does something to you. We opened up so much there, let ourselves go, dug so deeply into our lives, into our beings and unearthed things that had been locked away or that you didn't even know where they were anymore. I was able to reflect on myself like never before in my life. Great friendships were formed and, really, I came back a different person.
Why is that?
I've thought about that a lot. I think it's because, as the protagonist, you have the feeling that this isn't a TV show, but a family event. You can tell that most of the crew have been working together for almost a decade and a half. Something unique has been created, everything is so loving, so warm. You feel at home. Because you have the feeling: The focus here is on people and not on ratings. There, with the musicians on the couch, that was better for me than any therapy. A gift from heaven.
