Wikipedia:
Willi Stanke (* November 5, 1907 in Kramsig, Posen; † March 28, 1982 in Marbella) was a German bandleader, composer and arranger.
Willi Stanke received violin and piano lessons as a child. From 1926. he studied violin under Alexander Petschnikoff and music theory under Wilhelm Klatte at ''Stern's Conservatory''. He graduated at the end of 1929. He then studied at the ''Kapellmeisterschule'' with Wilhelm Groß, during which time he participated in the Berlin Symphony Orchestra.
In 1935, he founded his own entertainment orchestra, with which he also played on Berlin radio. From 1939, he recorded his first records for Tempo and in 1942/43 with his orchestra (including Eberhard Schmidt-Schulz, Jean Robert, Primo Angeli, Meg Tevelian) for Columbia Records, mostly dance music (''Einen Gruß von Marie und Johanna''), Hits (''Gib mir einen Kuss durchs Telefon'') and also swing-oriented instrumental titles such as ''Große Eile''. To disguise the American compositions and arrangements from the ''Reichsmusikkammer'', Stanke released the ''Tiger Rag'' as a record under the innocuous title ''Schwarzer Panther'', which differed from the American original only in a few notes. During the Second World War, Stanke worked in troop support.
In the post-war period, Stanke continued his activities as a bandleader. At the beginning of 1948 he had an engagement with the radio station RIAS, and in 1947/48 he made further recordings for Columbia, mostly swing titles such as the ''American Patrol'', which was made famous by Glenn Miller, popular numbers such as ''Nobody's Sweetheart'', and also hits such as ''Der Theodor im Fußballtor''. Among others, Hans Berry, Jean Orban, Macky Kasper, Franz Fijal-Lipinski, Teddy Lenz, Ilja Glusgal, Detlev Lais and Erwin Lehn played in his band. In the field of jazz, he was involved in eight recording sessions between 1942 and 1948. He also worked with Werner Schmah (''Mit der Zeit lernst auch du es!''. Columbia 4961). In May 1950, recordings were made for Elite. In 1951, Willi Stanke could be heard with the Great Dance String Orchestra on Odeon.
In the 1950s, he recorded Schlager (Hits) and light music for Amiga, Telefunken and Decca Records, such as ''Kleine Jeanne aus Lausanne'' (with Klaus Gross; Amiga 50-512), ''Du hast ja Tränen in den Occhi'' (# 50-486) with Werner Schmah, ''Unsere Kleine Welt'' (# 50-586) and ''Weißer Holunder'' (Telefunken 11835) with Gitta Lind, ''Die Mädels von der Donau'' (Decca D 18843) with the Hofmann siblings, ''Tammy / Melodie d'amour'' (Decca D 1957) with Lys Assia or ''Mein Herz träumt von der Liebe'' (# 50-496). He also wrote some hit songs like ''Wann kommst du wieder?'' and ''Nie warst du so schön''. Furthermore, he wrote the lyrics of ''Wunderland bei Nacht''.
His song ''Durch die Nacht klingt ein Lied'' was part of the soundtrack of the film biography ''Sophie Scholl - Die letzten Tage'' (''The Last Days'').
Willi Stanke died in Marbella in 1982 at the age of 74.His grave is located at the Waldfriedhof Dahlem in Berlin.
Note: Translated from a German version of Wikipedia into English.
