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Twenty-six-year-old Tomáš Klus was voted singer of the year in the men’s category of the Český slavík (Czech Nightingale) awards ousting pop idol Karel Gott who had 13 awards in succession to his name. The 73-year-old singer who has dominated the awards since they were established in 1962 winning 37 nightingales altogether, got a standing ovation from the audience and joked that his fans must be having problems voting over the internet. Lucie Bilá picked up the award for best female singer and was also voted overall winner. Kabát picked up the award for best band for the seventh time in succession. The winners are elected by the public.

Pop diva Lucie Bílá, singer Karel Gott and hard rock band Kábat finished first in their respective categories at the Český slavík awards (Golden Nightingale) on Saturday. Bíla racked up the most overall votes – more than 42,000 – winning for best female singer; Gott received more than 32,000 votes to pick up his 37th award for best male performer. He jokingly reminded the audience that when he was first entered in the competition when it began he received only three votes. Gabriela Gunčíková won the award for best newcomer. The Český slavík awards, originally known as Zlatý slavík, have been running since 1962. The winners are voted by members of the public.

Karel Gott won the annual Czech Nightingale pop music contest, receiving the prize for the most popular Czech pop singer at the award ceremony on Saturday night. Gott, aged 71, won his 36th Nightingale award. In 1963, he gained the prize for the first time. Since then, 44 Nightingale contests have been organised. Lucie Bilá and Kabát also defended their titles for the most popular female singer and the best band categories. Votes from the public decide who gets the Czech Nightingale prizes. Altogether, just under 148,000 votes were cast.

The legendary Big Band of Czech Radio is celebrating 50 years of its existence. The history of the band goes back to the 1960s, when it was called the Czechoslovak Radio Orchestra. Over the years, the band cooperated with most of the country’s best known jazz and pop musicians. On Wednesday it will celebrate its anniversary with a concert at Národní Dům in Prague.

The annual TýTý television popularity awards were held on Saturday night; singer Karel Gott took the overall award and the prize for most popular male singer. The latter result is hardly a surprise, as Mr Gott has never failed to take away the trophy for most popular singer in the 19-year history of the poll. He has also won the overall prize 8 times since 1991. 30-year-old Lucie Vondráčková took the award for most popular female singer, while the acting awards went to the stars of the series Ulice, Rudolf Hrušínský and Hana Maciuchová. The most popular programme was Czech Television’s “Všechnopárty” talk show. The winners of the TýTý awards are selected by viewers via text messages and the internet.

Hundreds of fans, most of the female, attended the launch of the German edition of a book about Karel Gott at the Leipzig Book Fair on Sunday. The Czech singer, who is very popular in both Germany and Austria, signed copies of Karel Gott: The Golden Voice from Prague at the trade fair. He said he had personally made changes to the German translation of the book to make it more interesting to German readers.

Czech pop singer Karel Gott, 70, has won the Český slavík (Czech Nightingale) award for the 35th time in his career. The ceremony was broadcast live on TV from the Prague State Opera on Saturday night. Others awarded on the evening were pop singer Lucie Bílá, in the female singers’ category, and the bestselling hard rock group Kabát. Martin Chodúr, a contestant on Česko-Slovenská Superstar, the local version of Pop Idol, won the award for best newcomer or find of the year. The Český slavík awards (formerly known as Zlatý slavík) began in 1962. Members of the public vote on the winners.

Ageless Czech pop star Karel Gott was made an honorary citizen of his home city, Plzeň, on Monday. The city’s highest tribute is recognition for the fact that Karel Gott is the best known living citizen from the city, a councillor said. The award for the 70-year-old international singing star comes less than a week after Karel Gott was recognised by President Václav Klaus for his positive contribution to the Czech Republic abroad at the annual awards ceremony marking Czech national day.

On Wednesday, October 28, leading politicians, cultural figures, veterans, and others marked the 91st anniversary of the founding of the independent Czechoslovak state. Ceremonies, as every year, were held throughout the country paying homage to those who fought for Czech statehood, while in the evening the country’s highest honours were awarded by the president.

Ladislav Štaidl, who was alleged to have written and signed a letter with pop star Karel Gott to the general secretary of the Communist Party nearly 40 years ago, denied on Saturday ever having done such a thing. In the letter, published in the press two weeks ago, singer Karel Gott and his accompanists, the Štaidl brothers, seemingly plead for Communist leader Gustav Husák’s pardon, having spent too long in West Germany in 1971. In the letter, all of the signatories voice their support for the hard-line Normalization process which followed the Soviet-led invasion in 1968. When questioned about the letter, Karel Gott first said he may indeed have signed the document, but then dismissed the letter altogether as ‘utter nonsense’. On Saturday, his long-term colleague Ladislav Štaidl told Právo that he on no account wrote or signed such a letter.