She was born Henriette Strobel in Amsterdam to a family where her father was a dentist and her mother a secretary. She studied in Amstelveen and had private lessons in Obertsdorf.
When she finished her education she was a figure skater, a beautician and worked as a dental assistant. While in a restaurant she met Wolfgang Heichel who needed some dental treatment after knocking a tooth on his microphone. They married on 9th April 1976 and with him became a member of the successful German group Dschinghis Kahn (Genghis Kahn) in 1979 when they were brought together to compete in the Eurovision Song Contest. Their song “Dschinghis Kahn” was 4th.
She and Wolfgang divorced in around 1986 and the group disbanded soon after. They reformed in 2005 to make concert appearances in Moscow and then in Ulan Bator, Mongolia.
In recent years she has been living in Mallorca and working in the fashion industry.
Genghis Khan Recordings
Genghis Khan (Ralph Siegel/Bernd Meinunger – Christian Dornaus)
Desert Land (Ralph Siegel/Kurt Hertha – Bernd Meinunger – Christian Dornaus)
Sources:
- https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Henriette_Heichel
- www.dschinghis-khan.com/#
- http://dk-english.blogspot.co.uk/2010/11/how-they-live-henriette-and-wolfgang.html
- www.sbmusic.de/frameset.html
- http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Henriette_Heichel