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David Michael Hasselhoff (born July 17, 1952
in Baltimore, Maryland) is an American actor, singer and songwriter best
known for his lead roles on Knight Rider and Baywatch. He also crossed over
to a relatively successful music career, primarily in Germany and Austria.
Having played Dr. Snapper Foster on the soap opera The Young and the
Restless for six years (and around this time he posed for a series of now
infamous and much sought after posters wearing only a leather jacket and
black bikini briefs), he went on to star as Michael Knight in the Glen A.
Larson-created series Knight Rider from 1982 to 1986. He launched his
singing career with guest appearances on the children's program Kids
Incorporated. He also obtained permission to produce a Knight Rider episode
("Let It Be Me") focused on his singing talents, which served as a
springboard for his 1985 debut album Night Rocker.
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Once having solidified his position as an actor, he attempted to cross over
into the music industry and made his debut with the 1985 album Night Rocker
while still working on the show. After two moderately successful albums, he
recorded "Looking for Freedom" in the summer of 1989 and released just as
the Berlin Wall came down.
In Germany, his song became an anthem of sorts at the time, and the album
went gold and triple platinum, topping the charts for three months whilst
the single managed a mere eight weeks. He was later announced as the best
selling artist of 1989 in Germany even prompting the newspaper headline "Hasselhoff:
not since the Beatles". Since then another six of his albums have gone
platinum in Europe.
Hasselhoff and Catherine Hickland in the Knight Rider episode "Let It Be
Me", which helped launch Hasselhoff's singing careerNorm MacDonald, Saturday
Night Live's Weekend Update newscaster, had a popular running joke that
always ended with "Which once again proves my theory - the Germans love
David Hasselhoff".
Looking for … the Best has become an exceptionally highly rated CD on
Amazon.com, receiving an incredible number of 5-star ratings. This was the
culmination of a spontaneous internet joke[1] that has been going on for
several years, in which Amazon customers review the album. Almost all give
it 5 stars and pen sarcastic reviews which include egregious misspellings of
Hasselhoff's name and usually end with the phrase, The song "Hot Shot City"
is particularly good!. (Equally amusing, however, are the incredulous
entries on the site from those people impervious to blatant sarcasm and
therefore completely bemused at the plaudits).
In early 2005, it was reported that Hasselhoff had teamed with rapper Ice-T
and was planning to record a rap album under the handle of Hassel the
Hoff[2]. As of the end of 2005, the recording had not been released. In
fact, Ice-T went on Late Night with Conan O'Brien to confirm that he was not
involved in any such project. In June 2006 Hasselhoff confirmed that the
project was a "prefabrication" on The Kevin and Bean Show on KROQ, Los
Angeles.
His contract stipulated royalties to be paid to him from the rerun profits,
which gave him the financial liberty to buy back the rights to Baywatch from
NBC.
Baywatch had premiered in 1989, but was cancelled after only one season.
Feeling the series had potential, Hasselhoff revived it for the first-run
syndication market in 1991, investing his own money and additionally
functioning as executive producer.
The success of Baywatch was enormous. Running for another ten seasons, it
was also well-received internationally and is said to be the
highest-grossing show in syndication worldwide. It has been shown in over
140 countries around the world.
This success combined with his royalties and his other ventures have placed
Hasselhoff's fortune at more than $100m[3].
In 1994, he was scheduled to perform a concert on pay-per-view from Atlantic
City. It was supposed to help reignite his singing career in the United
States. On the night of his concert, O.J. Simpson was involved in a police
chase on the California highway. People who were watching the concert
switched over to watch the news. Since then, Hasselhoff has not attempted
another concert.
In 1995, he and Kathy Ireland were among the first celebrities to watch the
first ever Toronto Raptors regular season basketball game in Toronto.
In 1996, he was given a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.
In 2004, Hasselhoff played the lead role in London performances of Chicago,
for three months, starting July 16.
Hasselhoff has made several self-parodic appearances in movies. He had a
cameo appearance in The SpongeBob SquarePants Movie, released November 19,
2004, starring as himself (though very much in bygone Baywatch character)
and meeting SpongeBob and Patrick. He also had another short appearance in
the movie Dodgeball: A True Underdog Story as, fittingly, the dodgeball
coach to the East German national dodgeball team. Scolding his team to play
better, he shouts "Ihr seid alle schweine!" (translated: "You are all
pigs!") and smashes a photo of himself in his Baywatch attire. In 2004's
Eurotrip, Hasselhoff lip-syncs his song "Du" in a fantasy sequence.
David presented a musical award with Gretel Killeen at the ARIA's on Sunday
October 23, 2005 in Sydney, and during the course of the night, he was
apparently French kissed in a celebratory fashion by musician, Ben Lee. He
was recently signed to Pepsi appearing in a massive outdoor campaign in
January 2006. David will also tour Australia with his band mid-2006.
He will next appear as Adam Sandler's despicable boss in Click.
Hasselhoff has also become something of an internet phenomenon / figure of
fun. Numerous websites (e.g. www.dropitlikeitshoff.com) have appeared and
there is currently a campaign to get "the Hoff" to a number 1 spot in the UK
singles charts (www.gethasselhofftonumber1.com)
In May 2006, Hasselhoff returned to the spotlight after he was mentioned in
an interview of NBA star and native of Germany, the Dallas Mavericks' Dirk
Nowitzki. Dirk was asked what he does to concentrate when shooting foul
shots. Dirk's replied that he sings "Looking for Freedom" to himself.
Shortly thereafter, Hasselhoff attended the May 26, 2006 Mavericks home
playoff game where they faced the Phoenix Suns in the NBA Western Conference
Finals. Interviewed by Craig Sager, Hasselhoff stated he was as much a fan
of Nowitzki as Nowitzki was a fan of him.
Also in May 2006, Hasselhoff was shown on American Idol, openly crying after
Taylor Hicks was announced as the next American Idol. This has become fodder
for late night talk show hosts such as Jay Leno.
After failing out of Atlanta's Marist School, Hasselhoff attended and
graduated high school at Lyons Township High School, with campuses located
in Western Springs, Illinois and La Grange, Illinois. He participated in
many extracurricular acting and singing events at the world renowned
"Corral" near-by the south campus of Lyons Township.
Hasselhoff had been married to actress Pamela Bach since December 9, 1989,
with whom he has two daughters, Taylor Ann and Hayley Amber. Although
Hasselhoff was raised Roman Catholic, he and his family attend
non-denominational church services. He was married to actress Catherine
Hickland from March 24, 1984 to March 1, 1989, when they divorced.
On January 13, 2006, Hasselhoff announced his filing for divorce from his
wife Pamela Bach after 16 years of marriage, citing irreconcilable
differences. His publicist has stated that the couple has agreed to an
amicable settlement. However, on March 9, 2006, Bach accused Hasselhoff of
violent behavior towards her[4]. Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Mark A.
Juhas signed the order March 6, 2006 ordering the former "Baywatch" star to
stay at least 100 yards from Bach except for "peaceful contacts related to
court ordered visitation" of one their two teenage daughters. Pamela is
seeking sole custody of their two daughters.
Hasselhoff's memoir, called "Making Waves," will be released in the UK in
September 2006. In an interview in April 2006, he promised that the book
will present the "last chapter" regarding controversial elements of his
personal life.
Hasselhoff received media attention in 2003/2004 for an alleged drinking
problem. He attended a rehabilitation program in 2002, at the Betty Ford
Center.
His problems with alcohol abuse apparently continued, as he was arrested on
June 5, 2004, on suspicion on driving while intoxicated as a misdemeanor Los
Angeles.
On October 28, 2004, his lawyer entered his no contest plea while he was
absent from the court hearing. He was fined $390 (due to California's
"Alcohol Abuse Education and Prevention Assessment" law, and other fees, the
total amount paid to the court is assumed to be over $1400), sentenced to
self-supervised probation for 3 years, ordered to attend Alcoholics
Anonymous meetings twice a week for 6 months, spend six months in a DUI
program (several hundred more dollars), and to perform 200 hours of
community service. While his driver's license was restricted for the next 90
days, he could drive only to his work, to take his children to school, and
to Alcoholics Anonymous meetings.
On April 21, 2006 anonymous fans of David Hasselhoff launched the
tongue-in-cheek website Get Hasselhoff to Number 1 in an attempt to generate
the momentum required to send the 1980s hit, "Looking for Freedom", to the
top of the UK music charts based on internet downloads of the single. The
campaign is ongoing and has attracted attention in the British national
press and on the internet . Over 18,000 people have signed up so far. When
the total number of sign-ups on the site reaches 75,000 the owners of the
site will send a "Hoff Alert" email to all those who have registered
alerting them that the time has come to purchase the single. The intention
is that the surge in sales generated will propel the former hit to the top
spot in the British chart ensuring radio plays and television appearances
for Hasselhoff.
Sadly, chart rules currently state "Digital Singles without a physical
variant will not be eligible", so the song will be unable to enter the main
singles chart as planned. |
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DAVID HASSELHOFF PICTURES |
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