Highlights - Muses

 

The Queen of New Wave!

Nina Hagen was born in the Eastern sector of Berlin on March 11, 1955, to actress Eva Marie Hagen and writer Hans Hagen. Her parents divorced when she was two; eight years later her mother remarried. Nina's new step-father was the dissident poet-songwriter Wold Biermann. Throughout her childhood Nina joined various East German youth organizations, although the presence of protester Biermann in her life proved to be a bit of a problem.

 
 
When she was 17, she failed her examination of the government-controlled East German Actors School in Berlin-Schonweide. Instead, she went to Poland for several months where she sang with a band for the first time. The following year, upon returning to East Germany, she enrolled at the Studio fur Unterhaltungsmusik (Studio for Popular Music) and graduated a year later with outstanding honours. As part of her training she toured East Germany for two months.
She spent several more years touring East Germany with the Alfons Wonneberg Orchestra, but, eventually tiring of this, she started her own band, Automobil. From then on she did full-scale concerts, often performing for eight hours straight, and working so hard that she was ordered by her doctor to take a break. She did, but then re-emerged a few months later with another group, Fritzens Dampferband. Tiring of this as well, Nina took the opportunity to leave to country when her step-father was expelled from East Germany in 1976 (in fact, she was practically begged to leave by the authorities at this point). She arrived in the Federal Republic of Germany (that is, West Germany) and soon secured a recording contract.  
 
 
 
 
 
  A year or so later, Nina flew to London to see what the music scene was over in the UK. She didn't waste any time meeting the Slits and writing a few songs with that group's vocalist, Ari Up. Back in West Berlin in mid-1977, she met up with the members of her future group, the Nina Hagen Band: guitarist Bernard Potschka, bassist Manfred Praeka, drummer Herwig Mitteregger and keyboardist Reinhold Heil.
 
 
 
Nina recorded her initial albums in German. The first one, called simply The Nina Hagen Band (1978), was more reminicient of the American new wave sound than of English punk. Her frenetic, gutteral voice and wide vocal range were distinctive on songs such as TV Glotzer (a reworking of the Tubes' "White Punks on Dope"), Gott Im Himmel (a cover of Norman Greenbaum's "Spirit in the Sky") and the powerful, anthemic Auf'm Friedhof. Her second LP Unbehagan, released in 1979, spawned the single African Reggae, which received a considerable amount of airplay on alternative radio stations.  
 
 
 
 
 
  In 1979, her appearance in the film Cha Cha captured the impact of new wave on the Amsterdam underground scene. The soundtrack for this film featured the first of several collaborations with new wave diva Lene Lovich, whom Nina met on the set of the film. They have since maintained a personal friendship and professional relationship. In fact, Nina included a German-language version of Lovich's new wave hit "Lucky Number" (Wir Leben Immer Noch) on Unbehagan; and in 1986 the two of them sang together in on "Don't Kill the Animals", an animal-rights song that has since appeared on various compilations.
 
 
 
 
Nina dissolved her band after the release of their second album in 1979, deciding instead to pursue a solo career. She went on to achieve a certain level of infamy, if not exactly fame, in her home country, as her decidedly anti-establishment lyrics resulted in a high level of press condemnation.  
 
 
 
 
 
 
  Nina continues to enjoy a rock'n'roll lifestyle as well as a certain level of fame and notoriety, especially back home in Germany. In 1985, her concert in Tokyo was accompanied by the Japanese Philharmonic Orchestra and directed by Eberhard Schoener; also in 1985, Nina played live for more than a million fans at "Rock in Rio". More recently, Nina completed the "Brecht" Tour together with German actress Meret Becker. She has also continued to appear in films, such as Portrait Of A Woman Drinker and Pedro Almodovar's Pepi, Luci, Bom. For a more complete listing Nina's cinematic accomplishments, please check out The Internet Movie Database.
 
 
 
 
 
B-live it or not: Nina Hagen has two children: daughter Cosma Shiva (born in 1981, who is becoming somewhat of an accomplished actress herself) and son Otis (born in 1990).

Retrospective of Nina Hagen

1955 Nina Hagen born to the actress Eva-Maria Hagen and scriptwriter Hans Hagen

1976 Exile from the German Democratic Republic

1977 Debut Album: "Nina Hagen Band"

1979 Second Album: "Unbehagen"

1981 Birth of her daughter Cosma Shiva, production of "nunssexmonkrock" by Mike Thorne

1983 4th Album "Angstlos", produced by Giorgio Moroder 		 
 
 
 
 

 
 


1984 Released "In Ekstase" produced by Adam Kidron, Richard Burgess

1985 Concert in Tokyo with the Japanese Philharmonic Orchestra directed by Eberhard Schoener

1985 "Rock in Rio" 

1989 6th Album "Nina Hagen" produced in London by Zeus B. Held

1990 Birth of Otis, her first son.....1991: Releases "Street" produced by Zeus B. Held
 
 
 
 
 
1993 8th Album "Revolution Ballroom", produced by Phil Manzanera (Roxy Music)

1995 Released "Freu (D) Euch" produced by Ralf Goldkind

1998 "Brecht" Tour together with the german actress Meret Becker

1999 Releases "OM NAMAH SHIVAY" available only on her website

2000 New single "Der Wind...." and release of a new album "Return of the Mother"

OFFICIAL NINA HAGEN'S SITE