Brauer was born on 2 May 1936 in
Leipzig. After training as a dental technician, Helga Brauer was helped by chance to begin her singing career in the summer of 1954: During a vacation in
Sellin on the island of Rügen, she took part in a singing competition with the orchestra Helmut Opel. She won first prize - and Opel immediately offered the 18-year-old a contract as an accompanist for the orchestra. On 11 November 1954, Helga Brauer gave her first public performance in Leipzig's Messehalle 2, followed by further appearances and guest performances with the Helmut Opel Orchestra, including in Switzerland. In March 1956, she passed a "microphone audition" with
GDR Radio and shortly afterwards appeared for the first time with the (Leipzig Radio Dance Orchestra), then under the direction of
Kurt Henkels. The first radio recordings followed in the same year, and the record company
Amiga also offered a six-month training contract in the summer of 1956. This was followed in 1957 by an exclusive contract and the recording of the first
single. One year later, Helga Brauer scored the first number one hit in the GDR pop rankings with
Heute spielt der Konstantin Klavier. In 1959, together with her band "Die Flamingos", she was chosen to popularize the fashionable dance
Lipsi with
Heute tanzen alle jungen Leute, and for
Mister Brown aus USA - also a Lipsi - she received
Die goldene Note at the dance music festival of the same name in the same year. Helga Brauer died in Leipzig of breast cancer at the age of 55 and was buried in the
Südfriedhof in her home town. In 2018, her husband Walter, who died on 13 March, was laid to rest with her. In 2014 a rose was registered in memory of Helga Brauer. 'Helga Brauer' is a hybrid of two old European shrub roses. ( see https://www.helpmefind.com/gardening/l.php?l=2.70764) == Discography ==