Short answers, pulled from the story.
Bert Kaempfert arrived in the world on the 16th of October 1923 within the bustling port city of Hamburg. Locals immediately nicknamed him Fips, a moniker that followed him through decades of musical evolution.
July 1959 marked the recording session for what became his first major hit titled Wonderland by Night. The track failed to gain release approval in Germany so Kaempfert took it directly to Decca Records in New York before topping American pop charts in fall 1960.
In 1961 Bert Kaempfert hired the Beatles to back Tony Sheridan on an album called My Bonnie during sessions in Hamburg. A customer asked Brian Epstein for a copy of My Bonnie at his Liverpool music store on the 28th of October 1961 which led directly to his discovery of the group.
Ladislav Geisler popularized the distinctive knackbass sound that defined many Kaempfert recordings using a Gibson EB bass guitar and later a Fender Jazz Bass Guitar. He initially played a Gibson EB bass guitar before switching to a Fender Jazz Bass Guitar and employed a technique involving plucking the bass string with a pick then immediately suppressing it to cancel sustain.
Kaempfert died suddenly following a stroke at his home in Mallorca on the 21st of June 1980. He was only fifty-six years old shortly after a successful appearance in the United Kingdom.