Overview
- Peter Petrel died peacefully at home in Koblenz on September 18, 2026, his wife Tina told Bild and other outlets and said he spoke by phone with their son shortly before passing.
- He rose to mass fame in 1972 as half of the duo The Windows when their recording of "How Do You Do?" reached No.1 on the German charts and became a long-running radio staple.
- Petrel began as a jazz singer in the 1960s, won early recognition including a 1968 Golden Microphone, and later received the Deutscher Schallplattenpreis for a Dixieland album in 1981.
- His later career mixed roles in the Hamburg music scene, membership in the Hamburger Rentnerband, solo TV shows on ZDF, a 2000 honorary citizenship of New Orleans, and a return to performing after a 2015 stroke.
- Major German media published obituaries and retrospectives based on the family statement, and fans and fellow musicians have begun posting tributes to a performer who worked across jazz, swing and schlager for more than six decades.