Group Tarzan Boy on the disco-pole scene she is known for such hits as, among others: “Rays”, “Caligula” and “Tarzan” (based on a song by Baltimora).
The formation whose leader he was Krzysztof Rutkowski, was a huge success in the 1990s. The band’s debut album – “Kaligula” – went gold. The band’s second album “Moje sny” was released a year later and also enjoyed considerable popularity.
“It was a hit for those years. The idea came from the lyrics of the song. This name stuck to me, which I was damned ashamed of for many years,” he revealed in “Dzień Dobry TVN”.
After achieving success Tarzan Boy disappeared from the scene. It was reactivated as a one-person project in 2008. It was then that Rutkowski returned to giving concerts and recording new songs.
“His songs and videos stood out because there was some madness, some otherness in them,” he said Łukasz Orbitowskiwho hosted the singer in his program “Dezerterzy” on TVP Kultura.
Leader Tarzan Boy revealed that although his records were gold-plated, he did not receive any money from the record company he worked with. To support his family, he became a professional driver. First he drove a truck around Europe, then he became a city bus driver in Łódź.
“Some people said they would make a business out of it (disco polo), but they were only making money for themselves. The bands only got a good dinner out of it, a high five with the boss. And that was enough for us at first, because for us simple country boys there was nothing more it was necessary. These are the first contracts that were signed,” he explained behind the scenes of the industry Marcin Miller With Boys.
“I’m the only disco polo performer who didn’t make any money. I didn’t make any money, I don’t have my own house. I was left with my hand in the potty,” Rutkowski said in the “Dezerterzy” program.
As if that were not enough, during the hernia surgery, doctors discovered that the cause of the disco polo singer’s abdominal pain was a cancer called myxoma peritonei, which quickly metastasized. “I didn’t want to publicize it at all because I was terribly ashamed of it,” he said in “DDTVN”.
Internet users and Rutkowski’s fans immediately started collecting money for the singer’s treatment. Organized, among others: special concerts to raise money for Rutkowski’s therapy. These took place on January 7 and 27, 2016. In 2016, the hit Tarzan Boy became famous again thanks to the remake prepared for Euro 2016 – “Pazdan Boy”.
Despite the treatment initiated, Tarzan Boy could not be saved. The singer died on February 23, 2017 at the age of 56. The funeral took place four days later.
“I don’t know how to write such things, I will use the simplest words. He died today Krzysiek Rutkowski, Tarzan Boy. We failed to save him. Apparently he was happy about the last few weeks, the concerts for him and the fact that he could sing again. Maybe that means something. Or maybe not,” Orbitowski wrote.
After the singer’s death, the Tarzan Boy group decided to find a new member of the group, and he became one Marcin Nowak.