MEDIA RELEASE FROM PHILIPP FANKHAUSER

Rümlang, 19. February 2021
MEDIA RELEASE FROM
PHILIPP FANKHAUSER

Important impulse for the Blues scene in Switzerland

Philipp Fankhauser signs Lucky Wüthrich to his label
By Zeno van Essel. An exciting collaboration is unfolding within the Swiss music scene: 25-year-old Lucky
Wüthrich from Thun, Switzerland, is the first musician with whom renowned Swiss Blues musician Philipp
Fankhauser has signed a comprehensive Artist Contract for his label Funk House Blues Productions. In
addition to a Publishing agreement, this contract also includes album productions and Lucky Wüthrich’s
concert bookings. «I am convinced that Lucky not only has a unique talent for the Blues, but also feels it
deeply rooted in his soul» says Philipp Fankhauser. «I am grateful for the unique opportunity to work closely
with a musician I have admired since my childhood», says Lucky Wüthrich. (spelled «view trick»)

        Twenty-five years. A voice as straight and serene as that of an established Blues warhorse, performs
songs that stir and touch the soul, songs inspired by everyday adventures from his own life, played and
sung with the nonchalance and passion of a real stage star. One who plucks and grinds the guitar until it
howls. And one who knew very early on: this is what I want, what I feel deep inside me, what I have to do!
Like Philipp Fankhauser, Lucky Wüthrich hails from Thun, in Switzerland’s beautiful Bernese Oberland
region, and was apparently born for the Blues. Becoming a musician was far more important to him than
getting good grades at school. In January 2010, one month before his fourteenth birthday, he attends a
concert by Philipp Fankhauser at the legendary live music venue Bierhuebeli in Bern, which opens up a new
world for him: the world of Blues music.

        His burgeoning talent later catapults him onto the stage of the Swiss TV casting show «The greatest
Swiss Talents» in 2011. He makes it through the «re-call» but feels that the right path to a career as a
musician lies outside the glare of the TV spotlight. This then leads him to his idol, who has subsequently
become aware of the teenager's extraordinary musical talent. Philipp Fankhauser spontaneously invites him
on stage at some of his performances - and the audience is always first surprised and then totally
enthusiastic. And on a joint trip to the USA in 2013 for «Philipp Fankhauser's Harley Blues Cruise» from New
Orleans to Chicago, Lucky gets to know «the real deal" in the clubs - the real Blues, as he calls it.

          «I vividly remember my concert in January 2010 at the Bierhuebeli» he continues. «A little boy came
up to me after the show, asked for my autograph and said he wanted to be a musician too. A few weeks
later I see Lucky again at a young talent competition in famed Café Mokka in Thun - and it knocks my socks
off: with just his guitar and this warm, honest voice, he fills the whole room. There's no doubt about it:
Lucky is an exceptional talent - and his soul feels the Blues»!

                             Philipp Fankhauser & Lucky Wüthrich. Thun, 12. February 2021. Photo by Florian Spring.

From that moment, for the time being, their lives move in different directions. Lucky completes an
apprenticeship, practices, writes songs, gets to grips with the most diverse musical styles, meets musicians,
founds a band - and finds his way back to the Blues, which has never left him. He feels ready for something
bigger, but he doesn't know how. At his mother's insistence, he sends Philipp Fankhauser his first EP, «Tell
Me Why» in 2019. The old friendship between two musical soulmates flares up again immediately.

          11 years after they first met in the Bierhuebeli, it is sealed with a record deal: Lucky Wüthrich is the
first artist to be signed and recorded by Philipp Fankhauser on his Funk House Blues Productions label. In
Soundfarm, the recording studio of Fankhauser's guitarist and bandleader Marco Jencarelli, the first
promising songs have already been recorded with Lucky and his young, very talented fellow musicians. His
first album is due to be released before the end of the year 2021.

        Fankhauser, in summary says «I'm really looking forward to this collaboration. Lucky's songs are
about the here and now, his music is authentic and comes from the deepest soul. He deserves to be heard
throughout Switzerland and beyond! »

HIGHLIGHTS
   Ø On 12 February 2021, Lucky Wüthrich signs a Publishing and Artist contract with Philipp
      Fankhauser's label and publishing company «Funk House Blues Productions». The first album from
      this collaboration is planned for December 2021.
   Ø In 2019, Lucky sings a duet with Philipp Fankhauser «Chasch mers Gloube» on the latter's #1 selling
      vinyl long-player «Let Life Flow».
   Ø In 2019, the first Lucky Wüthrich EP «Tell Me Why» is released. Fankhauser's response: «You're
      almost where you want to be, Lucky. But only almost! »
   Ø Excerpt of guest appearances with Philipp Fankhauser: Stockhorn Arena opening Thun, 4th Rock &
      Blues Cruise, Bierhübeli Bern, Alte Taverne Adelboden, Blues Festival Baden, Alti Moschti
      Mühlethurnen, Mühle Hunziken Rubigen and many more.
   Ø In 2013, Lucky travels with Philipp on «Philipp Fankhauser's Harley Blues Cruise» from New Orleans
      to Chicago for a fortnight and he experiences the home of Blues music up close.
   Ø On 5 February 2011, shortly before his 15th birthday, Lucky takes part in the Swiss television show
      «Die groessten Schweizer Talente». The enthusiastic audience and the judges Christa Rigozzi and
      Roman Kilchsberger want him back for the next show. But Lucky doesn't want to: «I want to have a
      real music career, not a TV show career», he told Philipp Fankhauser at the time.

VIDEO

I JUST WANNA DO MY THING
Youtube: https://youtu.be/kpK7SsaxX8k
Produced by Lucky Wüthrich, 2021
Written by Lucky Wüthrich & Freda Goodlett
Horns arranged by Daniel Durrer
Filmed by Janik Scheuing

FUN FACTS

                                PHILIPP FANKHAUSER               LUCKY WÜTHRICH

Birthday                        20 February 1964                 17 February 1996

Place of birth                  Thun, Switzerland                Thun, Switzerland

Hometown                        Town of Trub, Emmental           Town of Langnau, Emmental

Coffee                          No                               No

Black tea                       Without sugar                    Without sugar

Choice of profession            Blues musician                   Blues musician

Instruments                     Singer, guitarist                Singer, guitarist

School performance              Just so-so                       Just so-so

Family status                   Child of divorced parents        Child of divorced parents

Completed professional          Yes, coerced by his dad!         Yes, coerced by his mom!
apprenticeship

The first guitar                At age thirteen                  At age ten

Favorite footwear               Philipp Fankhauser’s             Philipp Fankhauser’s
                                «Funky Socks»                    «Funky Socks»

Main influence/supporter        Johnny Copeland                  Philipp Fankhauser

The one album he’d bring
with him to a deserted island

                                B.B. King                        Donny Hathaway
                                «Live at the Regal” 1964         «Live at the Bitter End” 1972

Concerts                        Approx. 2500 since 1985          Approx. 400 since 2009

Concerts together               Quite a few                      Quite a few

TV talent show                  2012, The Voice of Switzerland   2011, Greatest Swiss Talents

Free choice of relationship     Homoerotic                       Heteroerotic

Basic state of mind             Melancholically positive         Melancholically positive

At age14 he waited backstage    Louisiana Red, 1978              Philipp Fankhauser, 2010
to meet his idol

First broken-heart-syndrom      At age fifteen                   At age fifteen

Ever present idols              Muddy Waters, B.B. King,         Muddy Waters, B.B. King,
                                Johnny Copeland, Margie Evans    Freddie King, John Lee Hooker

Release of his first album      1989, at age 25                  2021, at age 25

New album                       Dezember 2022                    December 2021

CONTACT LUCKY WÜTHRICH

PROMOTION, PR & MEDIA                        LABEL & PUBLISHING
Rolf Schlup, Das Office                      Funk House Blues Productions GmbH
E-mail: rolf@dasoffice.ch                    8153 Rümlang, Switzerland
Phone: +41 79 417 26 87                      E-Mail: info@philippfankhauser.com
www.dasoffice.ch                             www.philippfankhauser.com

CONCERT BOOKINGS                             SOCIAL MEDIA
Philipp Fankhauser Productions AG            www.facebook.com/LuckyWuethrichOfficial
8153 Rümlang, Switzerland                    www.instagram.com/LuckyWuethrich
Sabine Ziegler, Manager Philipp Fankhauser   www.youtube.com/LuckyWüthrich
E-mail: info@philippfankhauser.com           www.luckywuethrich.ch
Phone: +41 31 302 04 08
www.philippfankhauser.com                    PRESS PICTURES
                                             www.philippfankhauser.com/media-downloads

                                                  Bierhübeli Bern, 2011
Bierhübeli Bern, 2011

                                                  Mühle Hunziken, 2012

4. Rock & Blues Cruise, 2011

                                                  Recording Session, 2019
Photo Session, 2019