Horst Jankowski, born 30 January 1936 in Berlin, was a German jazz pianist, composer and conductor. After losing his father in 1944, he studied bass, piano and trumpet at the Berlin Conservatory from 1949 to 1953, then joined Kurt Hohenberger’s orchestra and later played with Caterina Valente. From 1955 to 1960, he was pianist in the Süddeutscher Rundfunk dance orchestra, and in 1957 toured Yugoslavia with Tony Scott and performed at the 1958 Brussels World’s Fair with Benny Goodman. Jankowski’s first major hit came in 1965 when "A Walk in the Black Forest" the English version of "Eine Schwarzwaldfahrt" which reached number 12 on the United States single chart and Number 1 on the Easy‑Listening chart, earning him 3 Grammy nominations, including Best New Artist, making him the first German in that category. The single also peaked at number 3 in the United Kingdom. Subsequent releases such as Simpel Gimpel (1965) and Play a Simple Melody (1966) kept him in the Easy‑Listening Top 20 until 1968. He served as chief conductor of the Berliner RIAS Dance Orchestra from 1975 to 1994. Jankowski died on 29 June 1998.
