Hungarian songwriter Szabolcs Szörényi dies at 81

Songwriter-guitarist Szabolcs Szörényi, a member of seminal Illés and Fonográf bands in the 1960s through the ’80s, has died aged 81, his family said on Saturday.

Szörényi’s career took off in 1965 when Illes shared second prize at the Táncdalfesztivál, a Hungarian talent contest. The band comprising Szabolcs Szörényi, his brother Levente, Lajos Illés, János Bródy and Zoltán Pásztory became one of the most popular bands in the country, with Szabolcs Szörényi playing the bass.

Mourning: Szabolcs Szörényi dies at 81. Photo: Stekovics Gáspár/Wikimedia Commons

From 1974 the Szörényi brothers and Bródy played in Fonográf, another band, for a decade. Szörényi also performed at the Illés concerts held in 1990, 1996, 2001 and 2005, and the 2014 concert marking the band’s 50th anniversary.

He co-wrote István, a király, a rock opera on Hungary’s first king.

Szörényi received the Kossuth Prize in 2000 and the For Budapest Prize in 2012.

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