PRAGUE, CR. (THECOUNT) — Czech pop singer, Karel Gott, who became a “star behind the Iron Curtain,” has passed away. He was 80.
Gott died late Tuesday at his home after battling a long illness, his wife Ivana said in a statement. The singer recently announced he was suffering from acute leukemia.
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Gott released some 300 albums starting in the 1960s and sold tens of millions of copies in his country, the Soviet Union and elsewhere in the Communist world, reports citynews.
Gott was also a rare example of a pop singer from eastern Europe whose music became popular in some Western European countries, especially in West Germany.
Czech President Milos Zeman announced the death on Wednesday saying it was “sad news” for the entire country.
Geo quick facts: Prague, capital city of the Czech Republic, is bisected by the Vltava River. Nicknamed “the City of a Hundred Spires,” it’s known for its Old Town Square, the heart of its historic core, with colorful baroque buildings, Gothic churches and the medieval Astronomical Clock, which gives an animated hourly show. Completed in 1402, pedestrian Charles Bridge is lined with statues of Catholic saints – wikipedia.