Nina Hagen
Nina Hagen (born
Catharina Hagen on
March 11,
1955) is a singer from
East Berlin,
Germany.
Nina's parents were Hans Oliva, a (
Jewish) scriptwriter and
Eva Maria Hagen, an actress. Oliva died when Nina was still a child, and her mother married
Wolf Biermann, a singer/songwriter. Nina left school in the 10th grade and joined the cover band "Fritzens Dampferband" (together with
Achim Mentzel and others). Biermann, something of a revolutionary, was kicked out of Stalinist
East Germany, and Hagen and her mother followed suit. Eventually she formed the band
Automobil, which released a well-received album in Germany. By
1977, Hagen had formed her own band,
The Nina Hagen Band.
In
1978 The Nina Hagen Band released their self-titled debut album, which included titles like
TV-Glotzer (a cover of
White Punks on Dope by
The Tubes) and
Auf'm Bahnhof Zoo.
According to reviewer Fritz Rumler,
… she thrusts herself into the music, aggressively, directly, furiously, roars in the most beautiful opera alto, then, through shrieks and squeals, precipitates into luminous soprano heights, she parodies, satirises, and howls on stage like a dervish.
During a subsequent European tour Hagen decided to leave the band, though she was still under contract to produce a second album in
1979. This LP,
Unbehagen (which in German also means
discomfort or
unease), was eventually produced with the band recording their tracks in
Berlin and Hagen recording the vocals in
Los Angeles,
California. It included the single
African Reggae and a cover of
Lene Lovich's
Lucky Number. (The Nina Hagen Band soon developed a successful independent musical career as
Spliff.)
Meanwhile, Hagen's public persona was steadily creating an increasing media uproar and she became infamous for an appearance on an
Austrian talk show called
Club 2, in which she performed an explicit simulation of
masturbation. She also acted with
Dutch sex, drugs, and rock 'n' roll legend
Herman Brood in the movie
Cha Cha.
A European tour with a new band in
1980 was cancelled, but in
1982 her first solo album
NunSexMonkRock, a dissonant mix of punk, funk and opera, was a minor hit, and led to a world tour with the
No Problem Orchestra.
In
1983 came the album
Angstlos and a minor European tour. By this time, Hagen's public appearances were becoming yet stranger and over the years frequently included discussions of
God,
UFOs, her social and political beliefs,
animal rights and
vivisection and claims of alien sightings. The English version of
Angstlos, Fearless, generated two major club hits in America ,
Zarah (a cover of the
Zarah Leander song
Ich weiss, es wird einmal ein Wunder geschehen) and the disco/punk/opera classic,
New York New York.
1985's
Nina Hagen In Ekstasy fared less well, but did generate club hits with "Universal Radio" and a cover of "Spirit In The Sky" and also featured her hardcore punk take on
Frank Sinatra's
My Way, which had been one of her signature live tunes in previous years. Her contract with
CBS over, she released the
Punk Wedding EP independently in 1987, a celebration of her marriage to an 18-year old punk. It followed an independent 1986 one-off single with Lene Lovich, the anthemic
Don't Kill The Animals.
In
1989 Hagen released the album
Nina Hagen which was backed up by another German tour. Now living in
Paris with her daughter
Cosma Shiva, in
1991 she toured
Europe in support of her new album
Street. Hagen also has a son, Otis.
In
1992 Hagen became the host of a TV show on
RTLplus. The
following year she released
Revolution Ballroom and two years later the German-language album
Freud Euch appeared, recorded in English as
Beehappy in
1996. Also in 1996, Hagen collaborated with electronic music composer
Christopher Franke on "Alchemy of Love", the theme song for the
Tenchi Universe movie
Tenchi Muyo! in Love.
In
1998, Hagen became the host of a weekly
science fiction show on the British Sci-Fi-Channel, in addition to embarking on another tour of Germany. In
1999, she released the devotional album
Om Namah Shivay, which was distributed exclusively online. She also sang "Witness" on
KMFDM's
Adios.
In
2000, her song
Schön ist die Welt became the official song of
Expo 2000. Another cover of a
Zarah Leander song "Der Wind hat mir ein Lied erzählt" was a minor hit the same year. The album
The Return of the Mother was released in February
2001, accompanied by another German tour. In
2001 she collaborated with
Rosenstolz and
Marc Almond on the single
Total eclipse/Die schwarze Witwe that reached #22 in Germany.
Hagen
dubbed the voice of Sally in the German release of
Tim Burton's
The Nightmare Before Christmas and she has also done voice work in
Hot Dogs by
Michael Schoemann.
Hagen has been featured on many songs by other bands, for instance on
Oomph!'s song Fieber. Most recently, she did a cover of
Rammstein's
Seemann with
Apocalyptica. She sang the song
Garota de Berlim with
Brazilian singer
Supla in her early years.
Albums
*
Nina Hagen Band (1978)
*
Unbehagen (1979)
*
NunSexMonkRock (1982)
*
Angstlos (1983), released in English language as
Fearless (1984)
*
In Ekstase (1985), released in English language as
In Ekstasy (1985)
*
Punk Wedding EP (1987)
*
Nina Hagen (1989)
*
Street (1991)
*
Du hast den Farbfilm vergessen from the
Rock aus Deutschland series, compilation of pre Nina Hagen Band singles (1992)
*
Revolution Ballroom(1993)
*
Freud Euch (1995), released in English language as
Beehappy (1996)
*
Om Namah Shivay (1999)
*
Return of the Mother (2000)
*
Big Band Explosion (2003)
*
Irgendwo auf der Welt (2006)
* [
1] biography
*
Official Interim Webspace*
Nina Hagen discography*
Nina Hagen Electronic Shrine*
das Nina Hagen Archiv*
Nina Hagen - The Photo Book: SIGNED BY NINA!*
Nina Hagen - Live,Videoseite*
Nina Hagen - myspace page*
German Nina Hagen Page*
Nina Hagen: Interview (Germany)
