by Steve LeggettBorn as Friedrich Gunther Raab on September 27, 1960, in Munich, German singer and actor Patrick Lindner was working as a cook when his first single broke big in Germany in 1989, kick-starting a recording and acting career that has been as controversial as it has been successful. Openly gay, Lindner and his then-partner, Michael Link, made headlines in 1999 when they adopted a Russian child, and Lindner was front-page news again in 2003 when he was charged with tax evasion. Lindner and Link separated two years later in 2005. In spite of all the controversy, or maybe even because of it, Lindner remains a popular entertainer in Germany.