Teddy Stauffer

Teddy Stauffer was a Swiss Bandleader and Germany's "swing-king" of the 1930's.

He grew up in Berne, and played violin and saxophone there in an amateur band from 1927. In 1928 he began to perform in Germany with his band "Teddy And His Band". Their first engagement had the Teddies as a Caféhaus-Kapelle in Gleiwitz. After many engagements on cruise ships his popularity in Germany reached its peak in 1935-36. In 1936 Elfriede Scheibel, the owner of the Berlin "Delphi palace" awarded him a four-month engagement from July to October 1936. This guest performance justified the reputation of the Delphi as a swing stage. Until 1939, he appeared with his Original Teddies-Band especially in Berlin and Hamburg. With his jazzy swing music, however, Stauffer increasingly got in trouble with the Reichsmusikkammer.