R.I.P. Gabi Delgado (18 April 1958 – 22 March 2020)

Gabriel "Gabi" Delgado-López (18 April 1958 – 22 March 2020^[1]), commonly known as Gabi Delgado, was a Spanish-born German composer, lyricist and producer, best known as singer and co-founder, with Robert Görl, of the German electronic band Deutsch Amerikanische Freundschaft.

Delgado-López grew up in Córdoba. In 1966, his family moved to Germany ("My father had to leave Spain under Franco"),^[2] where they lived in Remscheid, Wuppertal, Dortmund and Düsseldorf.

He formed D.A.F. with Görl in 1978. In 1980, he moved to London, where he lived until D.A.F. first split in 1984. He then moved to Zürich and released the solo album Mistress, which did not sell well in Germany but was top 20 in Japan,^[3] then reuniting with Görl to record the 1986 D.A.F. album 1st Step to Heaven.

In 1986, he moved to Berlin to become a DJ and organise house parties. He organized (with WestBam and Marc Gubler) the first house party in Germany. With Saba Komssa, he founded the techno-house labels Delkom Club Control, BMWW and Sunday Morning Berlin.^[2][3]

In 1995, he founded, with Wotan Wilke Möhring, the band DAF/DOS, who recorded the album Allein, zu zweit, mit Telefon (Alone, As A Couple, With Telephone) on Sony/Columbia, with the singles "Ich glaub' ich fick' dich später" ("I Think I'll Fuck You Later") and "Zurück nach Marzahn" ("Back to Marzahn"). In 2003, Delgado reunited again with Görl for another D.A.F. album, Fünfzehn neue D.A.F-Lieder (Fifteen New D.A.F. Songs).

His brother, Eduardo Delgado-López, is a bass player.

Delgado-López was bisexual and spoke at length about it publicly.^[2]