After selling insurance for 11 years, singer Olaf Henning wrote the uplifting dance-pop song Der Clown (Die Manege Ist Leer) and landed a recording contract with Polydor. Released as a single in 1998, the song became a big hit selling 100,000 copies thanks to its infectious melody. More light and successful club tracks followed -- Herzdame (1998) and Echt Kacke (1999) -- but his biggest hit came in 2000 when the fun Cowboy und Indianer arrived with it's own lasso-twirling line dance. The track climbed the German charts once again in 2006 when a remix of the song was released as a CD single. ~ David Jeffries, Rovi