Nina Hagen

Bio

Catharina "Nina" Hagen (born on March 11, 1955) is a singer from former East Berlin, German Democratic Republic; now Berlin, Germany. Her musical career began when she left school at age sixteen, and went to Poland in 1971. After that, she returned to Germany and joined the cover band Fritzens Dampferband (Fritz's Steamboat Band), together with Achim Mentzel and others. She added songs by Janis Joplin and Tina Turner to the "allowable" set lists during shows. From 1972 to 1973, Hagen enrolled in the crash-course performance program at The Central Studio for Light Music in East Berlin. Upon graduation, she joined the band Automobil (picture), which released a well-received album in Germany, including her first hit "Du hast den Farbfilm vergessen" in 1974. After a concert for a West German labour union in 1976 her stepfather, Wolf Biermann, was forbidden to return to the GDR. Because of their protests against it her mother, Eva-Maria Hagen and Nina were thrown out of GDR in 1977, and followed Biermann to his hometown Hamburg. Nina subsequently met West-Berlin photographer Jim Rakete (who also produced some bands he shot the cover-photos for - like "Nena" some years later). He brought Nina together with the politically left-wing band "Lokomotive Kreuzberg" (later known as "Spliff"): thus the "Nina Hagen Band" was born. 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 operatic alto, then, through shrieks and squeals, precipitates herself into luminous soprano heights... she parodies, satirises, and howls on stage like a dervish. Nina Hagen's eccentricity led to big disputes in the band and 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 (in addition to the obvious pun on her name, in German this 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"/"Wir leben immer... noch" (a cover of Lene Lovich's "Lucky Number"). The headless 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, along with Lene Lovich and various Dutch bands. An European tour with a new band in 1980 was cancelled, she had a love affair with a 16 year old punk from Amsterdam called Noddy (www.noddyriot.co.uk) and sang a RHCP rapduet with him at the OneWorldPoetry festival at the MilkyWay and lived with him in New York and in the Bahamas. 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 even stranger; over the years they frequently included discussions of God, UFOs, her social and political beliefs, animal rights / vivisection and claims of alien sightings. The English version of Angstlos, 'Fearless', generated two major club hits in America , "Zarah" and the disco/punk/opera classic, "New York New York". 1985's 'Nina Hagen In Ekstasy' fared less well, but it did generate club hits with "Universal Radio" and a cover of "Spirit In The Sky", and it 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. 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. Nina has a strong interest in various religions, but that is mainly driven by her urge to build a better world and her own colorful freedom within it. In 2000, her song Schön ist die Welt became the official song of Expo 2000. The album The Return of the Mother was released in February 2001, accompanied by another German tour. Hagen dubbed the voice of Sally in the German release of Tim Burton's The Nightmare Before Christmas and she also did some voice work in Hot Dogs by Michael Schoemann. Hagen has been featured on many songs by other bands, for instance Oomph!'s song Fieber, a cover of Rammstein's "Seemann" with Apocalyptica and in 2008 appeared readily on psy-trance act S.U.N. Project's X Black Album, most notably on the fully vocal track We're In Space. She also sang the song "Garota de Berlim" with Brazilian singer Supla in her early years. Her two children are Cosma Shiva and Otis. URLs: BEST archive for Nina Hagen pictures and stuff (regrettably just in German), incl. very old GDR pics like a beautiful one at the age of 18 and one shot by the "Stasi" (together with her stepfather Wolf Biermann - wiki) . User-contributed text is available under the Creative Commons By-SA License; additional terms may apply.

Similar artists

Nina Hagen Band, Lene Lovich, Klaus Nomi, Siouxsie and the Banshees, The Creatures

Genres

female vocalists,german,new wave,post-punk,punk,german punk,neue deutsche welle,brazilian rock,

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Videography

Nina Hagen - Smack Jack

Nina Hagen - Smack Jack

Aug/2025

Artist discography

by

Last FM

All Time Best

Jan/2014

Original Album Classics

Original Album Classics

Jan/2011

Heiß

Jan/2005

TV-Glotzer

Jan/2004

Rangeh'n

Jan/2004

Rangeh'n: Das Beste von Nina Hagen

Rangeh'n: Das Beste von Nina Hagen

Jan/2004

The collection

Jan/2003

Sternenmädchen

Jan/2001

Volksbeat [Explicit]

Volksbeat [Explicit]

Nov/2011

Volksbeat

Jan/2011

Personal Jesus

Personal Jesus

Jan/2010

Bekenntnisse

Jan/2010

Street (CD 2)

Jul/2009

Die Reise zur Schneekönigin

Die Reise zur Schneekönigin

Jan/2006

die reise zur schneekönigin - nina hagen erzählt ein orchestermärchen

die reise zur schneekönigin - nina hagen erzählt ein orchestermärchen

Jan/2006

A Journey to the Snowqueen

A Journey to the Snowqueen

Jan/2006

Irgendwo auf der Welt

Irgendwo auf der Welt

Jan/2006

Immer Lauter - Single

Immer Lauter - Single

May/2004

Immer Lauter

May/2004

Big Band Explosion

Big Band Explosion

Nov/2003

Was Denn… ? (The Amiga Recordings)

Was Denn… ? (The Amiga Recordings)

Feb/2020

Was denn?

Was denn?

Feb/2020

Honigmann

Feb/2020

Rangehn (AMIGA Version)

Rangehn (AMIGA Version)

Feb/2020

Zieh die Schuhe aus

Zieh die Schuhe aus

Feb/2020

Unity (Reconciliation Vibration Mix) - Single

Unity (Reconciliation Vibration Mix) - Single

Sep/2020

Unity - Single

Sep/2020

Unity

Unity

Sep/2020

Was Denn…? (The Amiga Recordings)

Was Denn…? (The Amiga Recordings)

Feb/2020

Rangehn

Feb/2020

Shadrack

Jan/2022

Shadrack - Single

Shadrack - Single

Jan/2022

Unity (Reconciliation Vibration Mix)

Unity (Reconciliation Vibration Mix)

Sep/2020

16 tons - Single

16 tons - Single

Oct/2022

United Women of the World - Single

United Women of the World - Single

Nov/2022

United Women of the World

United Women of the World

Nov/2022

16 tons

Oct/2022

Unity (Agar Agar Remix) - Single

Unity (Agar Agar Remix) - Single

Dec/2022

Unity (Agar Agar Remix)

Unity (Agar Agar Remix)

Dec/2022

Geld, Geld, Geld (Perera Elsewhere Remix)

Geld, Geld, Geld (Perera Elsewhere Remix)

Apr/2023

Geld, Geld, Geld (Perera Elsewhere Remix) - EP

Geld, Geld, Geld (Perera Elsewhere Remix) - EP

Apr/2023

Gib Mir Deine Liebe (ÄTNA Edit) - Single

Gib Mir Deine Liebe (ÄTNA Edit) - Single

Jan/2023

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