Kraus's first disc in 1956 was a German version of Little Richard's "Tutti Frutti". In mid-1957 his first hit "Susi Rock“ followed and made it to number 8 in the charts. From then until 1964 Kraus was regularly in the German charts. 1958 he recorded "Wenn Teenager träumen" (A Teenager's Romance), "Hula Baby" and "Sugar Baby", used in the 1985 Percy Adlon film "Zuckerbaby". This was followed in 1959 by his version of Fabian's "Tiger". At first Kraus was heavily influenced by Presley, but soon he managed to find his own style. As the "nice boy from next door" he sang with his female counterpart, teen idol Conny Froboess and appeared with her in the 1958 movie "Wenn die Conny mit dem Peter" and