Well over 1 million CDs sold of his smash hit „Anton aus Tirol“, twice platin in Germany and awards all over Europe, No. 1 in the Austrian, German and Dutch charts, leaping forward in the English, American and Japanese charts, hysterical fans at sold out concerts, waiting in the wings for his own TV-show.

In the middle of this glittering fairy tale of success there is a man with colourful sunglasses on top of his blond hair, his typical Oetzi-beard and an irresistable smile on his lips, who enjoys milling about amongst the crowds. But the likeable Tyrolean would have never dreamt of such a good life ....

Gerry Friedle was born on 7th Jan.1971 in St. Johann in the Tyrol. The little boy had a difficult start in life because his young mother could not cope with the responsibility and she handed Gerry over to foster-parents in the neighbouring village of Waidring.

They too gave Gerry away two years later and so his grandmother Ella got an official letter informing her of the little boy’s existance. Ella then travelled to the Tyrolean lower lands accompanied by her son Anton, a well-known local DJ, to come to the conclusion that Gerry and Anton really looked suspiciously alike. Then Anton remembered the one-night-stand. Since Anton as a discjockey was always on the road, grandma Ella didn’t hesitate at all about taking little Gerry into her small home in the village of Ötz.

Living with his new "mum“ Gerry felt very much at home, however, arriving there two years late he had to bear the burden of being an outsider among the children of the same age right from the start, a situation that sometimes led to a black eye. The fact that Gerry was also the "local policeman’s son“ didn’t make his situation easier either, because his grandpa made sure that law and order prevailed in the police force ... or at least he tried.

After having attended kindergarten, elementary school and two years of secondary school, accompanied by regular illnesses and epileptic fits, Gerry went to boarding school in Stams and finally to agricultural school in Imst, but becoming a farmer wasn’t really his cup of tea, because his fear of cows prevailed over his love of nature.

So, what is more obvious in a tourist area than giving it a go in the restaurant trade. Becoming an apprentice cook he experienced further hard times, because he quitted or was sacked and even though he liked cooking and his cabbage fritters remain unequalled, the chemistry with his superiors wasn’t always the best.

At the same time Gerry met the waiter and barkeeper Ralf Toniz. Neither minded that cook and waiter cliques in the restaurant trade were largely rival groups, so they became friends. One day, when Ralf took his hitch-hiking pal to Achensee, where he had accepted a job, he was on the road again only 3 hours later hitching towards his return into a new future.

At the age of 19 Gerry felt like lots of young people of the same age do completely indifferent, so he decided to go out into the world. His journey ended after a few kilometres in the nearby village of Telfs, where Gerry chose to live under the railway bridge as a voluntary homeless person, all because of a woman. Not until he heard a passer-by saying „Look at the tramp lying there“, he woke up and grandma Ella, who always had a hundred-schilling note for her darling during that difficult period, succeeded together with his new girl-friend, Michaela, in getting Gerry’s life back on the right track.

Strong faith and Joseph Murphy’s esoteric bible "The power of positive thinking“ restored Gerry and Michaela became his new love. Since she was always playing Janis Joplin’s song "Me and Bobby McGhee“, Gerry studied the text for her by heart and after an encouraging trip to the USA Gerry appeared for the first time in front of an audience on the stage of a karaoke bar in Obergurgl. After his live-version of the American superhit he received such applause that sent the feeling of pins and needles up and down his skin. The unsuspected beginning of a rise to fame.

Gerry got a taste of being a compère and entertainer and he followed in his father’s DJ-footsteps. His friend Ralf helped him among other things, to an engagement as a DJ at the Carinthian Klopainersee, where Gerry’s ability to liven up people showed for the first time in full force. An agency engaged Gerry again and again, so finally he arrived in Burgenland where he was given his stage-name "DJ Oetzi“ and also met his new, great love Beate, whom he moved in with. In 1998 Gerry was already established as a DJ and appeared again and again in his friend Andi Schutti’s "Nachtschicht“ - discos in Vienna, Linz, St. Pölten, Graz and Salzburg, but then came the shattering diagnosis cancer.

It was not for the first time that Gerry thought of committing suicide but thanks to modern medicine, positive thinking and Beate’s help, he managed again to get over this hurdle. Despite all that, the luck with Beate didn’t last and Gerry regretted recognizing what an estimable woman he had lost in her only after the separation.

It didn’t take long for a new love to arrive on the scene, as "Anton aus Tirol“ was brewing, even though Gerry wasn’t convinced of the song‘s potential at first and refused to sing it for 5 months. Since grandma Ella and his little cousin insisted, Gerry registered the title which drove the tourists mad in skiing huts and on the Ballermann in Mallorca. Now he’s riding on top of the wave. Gerry conquers the European charts and becomes the new darling of old and young with his motto "Love, Peace & Full Speed Ahead“.

Nobody can foresee how far the storm of success is going to spread ... who knows what surprises destiny has in store for the ordinary but gifted guy from the Ötztal?