Peter Alexander Makkay (born 30 August 1949), known as Peter Maffay (), is a Romanian-born German musician, singer, and composer. Early life Born in Braşov (), Romania, the son of a German (Transylvanian Saxon), he was 14 when his family relocated to his parents' West Germany in 1963. In the same year, he started his first band, The Dukes. After completing his education and working for Chemigraphics, an art manufacturer, Maffay worked in clubs, where he distributed his music. Career Maffay's career started with the publication of his first single, "Du" ("You"). It was his biggest German hit in 1970 and brought him instant fame. With the 1979 album Steppenwolf, he became a major music star in Germany. The album sold 1.6 million copies, making it one of the best selling albums at that time. In 1980, the album Revanche ("Revenge") broke his previous record, selling more than 2.1 million copies. Together with German Singer-Songwriter Johnny Tame he formed a successful country rock duo in 1976 called Tame & Maffay. They released two albums and continued a close cooperation until 1985. Maffay also created a string of fairy tales about a little green dragon named Tabaluga. The tales, which spanned across five albums, were also turned into a musical. Maffay went on tour individually with Tabaluga & Lilli in Germany; he later released a live album, DVD, and live TV broadcast. The tour included Maffay, Alexis, Nino de Angelo, Rufus Beck, and Carl Carlton, among others. In 1998, Maffay created an album in collaboration with global artists, including Aboriginal singers and musicians from Israel, called "Begegnungen". Julia Neigel, another German artist, is one of the musicians he usually works with in lyrics and singing in duets. She wrote two of his top singles, "Freiheit die ich meine" and "Siehst du die Sonne", a cover of Michel Polnareff's "La Poupée qui fait non". Maffay also starred in two films directed by Peter Patzak—Lethal Obsession in 1987 and in 1999—for which Tony Carey provided the soundtrack. In addition, Maffay played a supporting role in 1998's The Polar Bear. On 12 March 2011, Maffay received the Steiger Award. Maffay holds the German record for the most number one ranked album sales charts, including 16 albums. In addition, each of his studio albums since 1979 reached the top ten. He also holds the German record for most albums to have sold over one million