Singer Miroslav Imrich, one of the stars of the Czech new wave, has died. He was the frontman of Abraxas during its heyday in the early 1980s. After leaving Abraxas, he founded the equally successful group Tango.
Imrich was 71 years old. Information about the death appeared on the singer’s Facebook profile, according to the Headliner music server, Imrich died in the hospital on Saturday night.
Imrich joined Abraxas in 1977, shortly after the group’s formation. “In the beginning, Abraxas was inspired by Pink Floyd and emphasized the stage show. During the concerts, films and slides were shown, and the visitors were treated to interesting lights and stage effects as well as brisk new wave rock. The band also recorded it on the Box album with songs like King Kong or First Time. Together with the Prague selection, they thus became domestic stars of the genre,” reminded music columnist Jan Vedral on the Headliner server.
Disagreements with bandleader Slávek Janda led to Imrich’s departure from Abraxas in 1983. He founded his own Tango band, which was a great success in Czechoslovakia at the time, but disbanded before the November Revolution.
Later, Imrich sang in the metal band Alarm, founded the dance group Imrich Tekknofactory and the group Factory. In 1994, he started performing again with Abraxas, with whom they recorded the albums Sado Maso and Rituál with the hits Obžížnej svět and Karel drogy nebere. “He recorded the last album with Abraxas in 2009, it was called Head in the Clouds. However, his joint journey with the band broke up again due to personal differences,” said Vedral.
Since 2007, Imrich has been performing with the revived Tang, with whom he had several concerts planned this year as well.
Prague – Bohumín, Abraxas single from the early 80s:
