Nina Hagen: Difference between revisions

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* actress
* actress
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| years_active      = 1971-present
| years_active      = 1971–present
| spouse            = {{plain list|
| spouse            = {{plain list|
* {{marriage|David Lynn|1996|2000}}
* {{marriage|David Lynn|1996|2000}}
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| signature          = Nina Hagen signature.svg
| website            = {{URL|https://ninahagendas.beepworld.de}}
| website            = {{URL|https://ninahagendas.beepworld.de}}
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'''Catharina''' "'''Nina'''" '''Hagen''' ({{IPA|de|ˈniːna ˈhaːɡn̩|lang|De-Nina Hagen.ogg}}; born 11 March 1955)<ref name="LarkinGE">{{cite book|title=[[Encyclopedia of Popular Music|The Guinness Encyclopedia of Popular Music]]|editor=[[Colin Larkin (writer)|Colin Larkin]]|publisher=[[Guinness Publishing]]|date=1992|edition=First|isbn=0-85112-939-0|page=1053}}</ref> is a German singer, songwriter, and actress. She is known for her theatrical vocals and rise to prominence during the [[Punk subculture|punk]] and [[Neue Deutsche Welle]] movements in the late 1970s and early 1980s. She is known as "The Godmother of German Punk".
'''Catharina''' "'''Nina'''" '''Hagen''' ({{IPA|de|ˈniːna ˈhaːɡn̩|lang|De-Nina Hagen.ogg}}; born 11 March 1955)<ref name="LarkinGE">{{cite book|title=[[Encyclopedia of Popular Music|The Guinness Encyclopedia of Popular Music]]|editor=[[Colin Larkin (writer)|Colin Larkin]]|publisher=[[Guinness Publishing]]|date=1992|edition=First|isbn=0-85112-939-0|page=1053}}</ref> is a German singer, songwriter, and actress. She is known for her theatrical vocals and rise to prominence during the [[Punk subculture|punk]] and [[Neue Deutsche Welle]] movements in the late 1970s and early 1980s. She is known as "The Godmother of German Punk".


Born and raised in the former [[East Berlin]], [[East Germany|German Democratic Republic]],<ref name="LarkinGE"/> Hagen began her career as an actress when she appeared in several German films alongside her mother [[Eva-Maria Hagen]]. Around that same time, she joined the band Automobil and released the [[Schlager music|schlager]] single "[[Du hast den Farbfilm vergessen]]". After her stepfather [[Wolf Biermann]]'s East German citizenship was withdrawn in 1976, Hagen followed him to [[Hamburg]]. Shortly afterwards, she was offered a record deal from [[Columbia Records|CBS Records]] and formed the [[Nina Hagen Band]]. Their [[Nina Hagen Band (album)|self-titled debut album]] was released in late 1978 to critical acclaim and was a commercial success selling over 250,000 copies. The band released one more album, ''[[Unbehagen]]'', before their break-up in 1979.
Born and raised in the former [[East Berlin]], [[East Germany|German Democratic Republic]],<ref name="LarkinGE"/> Hagen began her career as an actress when she appeared in several German films alongside her mother [[Eva-Maria Hagen]]. Around that same time, she joined the band Automobil and released the [[Schlager music|schlager]] single "[[Du hast den Farbfilm vergessen]]". After her stepfather [[Wolf Biermann]]'s [[East German]] citizenship was withdrawn in 1976, Hagen followed him to [[Hamburg]]. Shortly afterwards, she was offered a record deal from [[Columbia Records|CBS Records]] and formed the [[Nina Hagen Band]]. Their [[Nina Hagen Band (album)|self-titled debut album]] was released in late 1978 to critical acclaim and was a commercial success selling over 250,000 copies. The band released one more album, ''[[Unbehagen]]'', before their break-up in 1979.


In 1982, Hagen signed a new contract with CBS and released her debut solo album ''[[NunSexMonkRock]]'', which became her first record to chart in the United States. She followed it with two more albums: ''[[Angstlos|Fearless]]'' (1983) and ''[[Nina Hagen in Ekstasy]]'' (1985), before her contract with CBS expired and was not renewed. In 1989, she was offered a record deal from [[Mercury Records]]. She released three albums on the label: ''[[Nina Hagen (album)|Nina Hagen]]'' (1989), ''[[Street (Nina Hagen album)|Street]]'' (1991), and ''[[Revolution Ballroom]]'' (1993). However, none of the albums achieved notable commercial success. Hagen made her musical comeback with the release of her album ''[[Return of the Mother]]'' (2000).
In 1982, Hagen signed a new contract with CBS and released her debut solo album ''[[NunSexMonkRock]]'', which became her first record to chart in the United States. She followed it with two more albums: ''[[Angstlos|Fearless]]'' (1983) and ''[[Nina Hagen in Ekstasy]]'' (1985), before her contract with CBS expired and was not renewed. In 1989, she was offered a record deal from [[Mercury Records]]. She released three albums on the label: ''[[Nina Hagen (album)|Nina Hagen]]'' (1989), ''[[Street (Nina Hagen album)|Street]]'' (1991), and ''[[Revolution Ballroom]]'' (1993). However, none of the albums achieved notable commercial success. Hagen made her musical comeback with the release of her album ''[[Return of the Mother]]'' (2000).


Besides her musical career, Hagen is also a [[Voice acting|voice-over actress]]. She wrote three autobiographies: ''Ich bin ein Berliner'' (1988), ''Nina Hagen: That's Why the Lady Is a Punk'' (2003), and ''Bekenntnisse'' (2010). She is also noted for her human and animal rights activism.
Besides her musical career, Hagen is also a [[Voice acting|voice-over actress]]. She wrote three autobiographies: ''Ich bin ein Berliner'' (1988), ''Nina Hagen: That's Why the Lady Is a Punk'' (2003), and ''Bekenntnisse'' (2010). She is also noted for her human and [[animal rights]] [[activism]].


==Life and career==
==Life and career==
===1955-1976: Early life and career beginnings===
===1955-1976: Early life and career beginnings===
[[File:Bundesarchiv Bild 183-R0409-0012, Berlin, Friedrichstadt-Palast, "Guten Abend".jpg|thumb|right|upright|Hagen with [[Magdi Body]], [[Manfred Krug]], and [[Tatjana Archipowa]], April 1976]]
[[File:Bundesarchiv Bild 183-R0409-0012, Berlin, Friedrichstadt-Palast, "Guten Abend".jpg|thumb|right|upright|Hagen with [[Magdi Body]], [[Manfred Krug]], and [[Tatjana Archipowa]], April 1976]]
[[File:Villa Carlshagen Potsdam.jpg|thumb|[[Villa Carlshagen]], a villa owned by the Hagen family that was confiscated by the Nazis, [[Potsdam]], 2016.]]


Nina Hagen was born in what was then [[East Berlin]], [[East Germany]], the daughter of [[Hans Oliva-Hagen]], a scriptwriter, and [[Eva-Maria Hagen]] (née Buchholz), an actress and singer. Her father Hans survived [[the Holocaust]], being held as a prisoner at a prison in [[Moabit]] between 1941 and 1945 until the liberation by the [[Red Army|Soviet Army]]. Her paternal grandfather [[Hermann Carl Hagen]], who was Jewish, was murdered at the [[Sachsenhausen concentration camp]] on 28 May 1942, at age 56.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.stolpersteine-berlin.de/en/biografie/4441 |title= Stolpersteine in Berlin |website= stolpersteine-berlin.de| publisher= | date=  |access-date=1 December 2021}}</ref><ref>{{cite web| url= https://www.stolpersteine-berlin.de/en/biografie/4441 |title= Hermann Hagen| website= stolpersteine-berlin.de| publisher= | date= }}</ref><ref name=hsr>{{Cite news| last= Scally| first=Derek|title=She has calmed down since her baptism |newspaper= [[The Irish Times]]| date= 18 September 2010| url= https://www.irishtimes.com/culture/music/rock-pop/she-has-calmed-down-since-her-baptism-1.652738 |access-date=17 September 2010}}</ref> Hedwig Elise Caroline Staadt, Nina's paternal grandmother, was also murdered at Sachsenhausen. Nina's maternal grandfather Fritz Buchholz died during World War II.<ref>{{cite book |last=von Burden |first=Zora |date=2010 |title=Women of the Underground: Music Cultural Innovators Speak for Themselves |url= https://books.google.com/books?id=rfctDwAAQBAJ&dq=%22Nina+Hagen%22+%22Jewish%22&pg=PT178 |location=San Francisco |publisher=Manic D Press, Incorporated |page= |isbn=978-1-933149-50-9| via= Google Books}}</ref> Her parents divorced when she was two years old. During her childhood, she saw her father infrequently. At age four, she began to study ballet, and she was considered an opera [[child prodigy|prodigy]] by the time she was nine.
Nina Hagen was born in what was then [[East Berlin]], [[East Germany]], the daughter of [[Hans Oliva-Hagen]], a scriptwriter, and [[Eva-Maria Hagen]] (née Buchholz), an actress and singer. Descended from a once prominent [[Cologne]] banking family who founded Bankhaus A. Levy & Co., a bank that included [[BMW]] among its customers<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.uswarmemorials.org/html/people_details.php?PeopleID=26478 |title=Karl Viktor Hagen |publisher=[[American War Memorials Overseas]] |accessdate=2025-11-14}}</ref>, her great-grandfather [[Carl Levy (banker)|Carl Hagen]] was a banker and [[philanthropist]]. Her father Hans survived [[the Holocaust]], being held as a prisoner at a prison in [[Moabit]] between 1941 and 1945 until the liberation by the [[Red Army|Soviet Army]]. Her paternal grandfather [[Hermann Carl Hagen]], who was Jewish, was murdered at the [[Sachsenhausen concentration camp]] on 28 May 1942, at age 56.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.stolpersteine-berlin.de/en/biografie/4441 |title= Stolpersteine in Berlin |website= stolpersteine-berlin.de| publisher= | date=  |access-date=1 December 2021}}</ref><ref>{{cite web| url= https://www.stolpersteine-berlin.de/en/biografie/4441 |title= Hermann Hagen| website= stolpersteine-berlin.de| publisher= | date= }}</ref><ref name=hsr>{{Cite news| last= Scally| first=Derek|title=She has calmed down since her baptism |newspaper= [[The Irish Times]]| date= 18 September 2010| url= https://www.irishtimes.com/culture/music/rock-pop/she-has-calmed-down-since-her-baptism-1.652738 |access-date=17 September 2010}}</ref> Hedwig Elise Caroline Staadt, Nina's paternal grandmother, was also murdered at Sachsenhausen. Nina's maternal grandfather Fritz Buchholz died during World War II.<ref>{{cite book |last=von Burden |first=Zora |date=2010 |title=Women of the Underground: Music Cultural Innovators Speak for Themselves |url= https://books.google.com/books?id=rfctDwAAQBAJ&dq=%22Nina+Hagen%22+%22Jewish%22&pg=PT178 |location=San Francisco |publisher=Manic D Press, Incorporated |page= |isbn=978-1-933149-50-9| via= Google Books}}</ref> The Nazis confiscated the Hagen family's properties, including [[Villa Carlshagen]] and Birlinghoven Castle. In 2020, the Beratende Kommission recommended compensation to Hagen heirs due to the theft of a painting.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/international-journal-of-cultural-property/article/from-leader-to-pariah-on-the-dutch-restitutions-committee-and-the-inclusion-of-the-public-interest-in-assessing-nazispoliated-art-claims/F0527EF6B4825D2CB6A9E37CE2786B53 |title=From “Leader to Pariah”? On the Dutch Restitutions Committee and the inclusion of the public interest in assessing Nazi-spoliated art claims |publisher=[[Cambridge University Press]] |accessdate=2025-11-13}}</ref>


When Hagen was 11, her mother had a relationship with [[Wolf Biermann]], an [[wikt:anti-establishment|anti-establishment]] singer-songwriter. Biermann's political views later influenced young Hagen.  She later returned to Germany and joined the [[cover band]] Fritzens Dampferband ("Fritzen's Steamboat Band"),<ref name="LarkinGE"/> 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 vocal training performance program at The Central Studio for Light Music in East Berlin ([[:de:Zentrales Studio für Unterhaltungskunst|de]]). Upon graduating, she joined the band Automobil.<ref name="LarkinGE"/>
Her parents divorced when she was two years old. During her childhood, she saw her father infrequently. At age four, she began to study ballet, and she was considered an opera [[child prodigy|prodigy]] by the time she was nine. When Hagen was 11, her mother had a relationship with [[Wolf Biermann]], an [[wikt:anti-establishment|anti-establishment]] singer-songwriter. Biermann's political views later influenced young Hagen.  She later returned to Germany and joined the [[cover band]] Fritzens Dampferband ("Fritzen's Steamboat Band"),<ref name="LarkinGE"/> 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 vocal training performance program at The Central Studio for Light Music in East Berlin ([[:de:Zentrales Studio für Unterhaltungskunst|de]]). Upon graduating, she joined the band Automobil.<ref name="LarkinGE"/>


In [[East Germany]], she performed with the band Automobil, becoming one of the country's best-known young stars. Her most famous song from the early part of her career was "[[Du hast den Farbfilm vergessen]] (You Forgot the Colour Film)", with words by [[Kurt Demmler]] to music by Michael Heubach, a subtle dig mocking the sterile, gray, Communist state,<ref>{{cite web |last=Metzger |first=Richard |url=http://www.dangerousminds.net/comments/pre_punk_nina_hagen_in_east_germany_1974 |title=Pre-punk Nina Hagen in East Germany, 1974 |website=DangerousMinds.net |date=15 December 2011 |access-date=15 July 2012 }}{{Dead link|date=April 2025 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}</ref> in 1974. Hagen performed comic songs like "Hatschi-Waldera" and "Was denn" in [[Karel Gott]]´s Czech TV show in [[Slaný]].<ref>{{cite web| url= https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TJSY1D93s88 |title= Karel Gott uvádí Ninu Hagen v divadle ve Slaném| first= Nina |last= Hagen| year= 1975| via= YouTube| access-date= 12 December 2017}}</ref> and "Wir tanzen Tango" in 1976.<ref>{{cite web| url= https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OjTjpyUDsC8 |title= Wir tanzen Tango| first= Nina |last= Hagen| year= 1976| via= YouTube| access-date= 12 December 2017}}</ref> Her musical career in the DDR was cut short, when she and her mother left the country in 1976, following the expulsion of her stepfather.
In [[East Germany]], she performed with the band Automobil, becoming one of the country's best-known young stars. Her most famous song from the early part of her career was "[[Du hast den Farbfilm vergessen]] (You Forgot the Colour Film)", with words by [[Kurt Demmler]] to music by Michael Heubach, a subtle dig mocking the sterile, gray, Communist state,<ref>{{cite web |last=Metzger |first=Richard |url=http://www.dangerousminds.net/comments/pre_punk_nina_hagen_in_east_germany_1974 |title=Pre-punk Nina Hagen in East Germany, 1974 |website=DangerousMinds.net |date=15 December 2011 |access-date=15 July 2012 }}{{Dead link|date=April 2025 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}</ref> in 1974. Hagen performed comic songs like "Hatschi-Waldera" and "Was denn" in [[Karel Gott]]´s Czech TV show in [[Slaný]].<ref>{{cite web| url= https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TJSY1D93s88 |title= Karel Gott uvádí Ninu Hagen v divadle ve Slaném| first= Nina |last= Hagen| year= 1975| via= YouTube| access-date= 12 December 2017}}</ref> and "Wir tanzen Tango" in 1976.<ref>{{cite web| url= https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OjTjpyUDsC8 |title= Wir tanzen Tango| first= Nina |last= Hagen| year= 1976| via= YouTube| access-date= 12 December 2017}}</ref> Her musical career in the DDR was cut short, when she and her mother left the country in 1976, following the expulsion of her stepfather.


===1976-1979: Migration to West-Germany and Nina Hagen Band===
===1976–1979: Migration to West Germany and Nina Hagen Band===
 
The circumstances surrounding the family's emigration were exceptional: Biermann was granted permission by East German authorities to perform a televised concert in [[Cologne]], but denied permission to re-cross the border to his adopted home country. Hagen submitted an application to leave the country. In it, she claimed to be Biermann's biological daughter, and threatened to become "the next" [[Wolf Biermann]] if not allowed to rejoin her father.{{clarify|date=December 2013}} Just four days later her request was granted,{{Citation needed|date=October 2008}} and she settled in [[Hamburg]], where she was signed to a [[CBS]]-affiliated record label. Her label advised her to acclimatize herself to [[Western culture]] through travel, and she arrived in London during the height of the [[punk rock]] movement.<ref name="LarkinGE"/> Hagen was quickly taken up by a circle that included [[The Slits]].<ref name="LarkinGE"/>
The circumstances surrounding the family's emigration were exceptional: Biermann was granted permission by East-German authorities to perform a televised concert in [[Cologne]], but denied permission to re-cross the border to his adopted home country. Hagen submitted an application to leave the country. In it, she claimed to be Biermann's biological daughter, and threatened to become "the next" [[Wolf Biermann]] if not allowed to rejoin her father.{{clarify|date=December 2013}} Just four days later her request was granted,{{Citation needed|date=October 2008}} and she settled in [[Hamburg]], where she was signed to a [[CBS]]-affiliated record label. Her label advised her to acclimatize herself to Western culture through travel, and she arrived in London during the height of the [[punk rock]] movement.<ref name="LarkinGE"/> Hagen was quickly taken up by a circle that included [[The Slits]].<ref name="LarkinGE"/>


Back in West Germany by mid-1977, Hagen formed the Nina Hagen Band in [[West Berlin]]'s [[Kreuzberg]] district.<ref name="LarkinGE"/> They released their self-titled debut album, ''[[Nina Hagen Band (album)|Nina Hagen Band]]'' in late 1978:<ref name=chart>{{cite web|url=https://www.offiziellecharts.de/album-details-8784 |title=''Nina Hagen Band'' Album |publisher=offiziellecharts.de|language=de|access-date=2 April 2022|quote=''Nina Hagen band'' First week entry in the German Albums chart on 20 November 1978}}</ref> it included the single "[[TV-Glotzer]]" (a cover of "White Punks on Dope" by [[The Tubes]], though with entirely different German lyrics), and "Auf'm Bahnhof Zoo", about [[West Berlin|West-Berlin]]'s then-notorious [[Berlin Zoologischer Garten railway station|Berlin Zoologischer Garten station]]. The album also included a version of "Rangehn" ("Go for it"), a song she had previously recorded in East-Germany, but with different music.
Back in West Germany, by mid-1977, Hagen formed the Nina Hagen Band in [[West Berlin]]'s [[Kreuzberg]] district.<ref name="LarkinGE"/> They released their self-titled debut album, ''[[Nina Hagen Band (album)|Nina Hagen Band]]'' in late 1978:<ref name=chart>{{cite web|url=https://www.offiziellecharts.de/album-details-8784 |title=''Nina Hagen Band'' Album |publisher=offiziellecharts.de|language=de|access-date=2 April 2022|quote=''Nina Hagen band'' First week entry in the German Albums chart on 20 November 1978}}</ref> it included the single "[[TV-Glotzer]]" (a cover of "White Punks on Dope" by [[The Tubes]], though with entirely different German lyrics), and "Auf'm Bahnhof Zoo", about [[West Berlin|West-Berlin]]'s then-notorious [[Berlin Zoologischer Garten railway station|Berlin Zoologischer Garten station]]. The album also included a version of "Rangehn" ("Go for it"), a song she had previously recorded in East-Germany, but with different music.


The debut album gained significant attention throughout Germany and abroad both for its [[hard rock]] sound and for Hagen's theatrical vocals which drew heavily from her operatic training, far different from the straightforward singing of her East German recordings. However, relations between Hagen and the other band members deteriorated over the course of the subsequent European tour, and Hagen decided to leave the band in 1979, though she was still under contract to produce a second album. This [[LP album|LP]], ''[[Unbehagen]]'' (which in German means "discomfort" or "unease"), was eventually produced with the band recording their tracks in Berlin and Hagen recording the vocals in Los Angeles. It included the single "African Reggae"<ref name="LarkinGE"/> and "Wir Leben Immer... Noch", a German language cover of [[Lene Lovich]]'s "[[Lucky Number (song)|Lucky Number]]". The other band members, sans Hagen, soon developed a successful independent musical career as [[Spliff (band)|Spliff]].
The debut album gained significant attention throughout Germany and abroad both for its [[hard rock]] sound and for Hagen's theatrical vocals which drew heavily from her operatic training, far different from the straightforward singing of her East German recordings. However, relations between Hagen and the other band members deteriorated over the course of the subsequent European tour, and Hagen decided to leave the band in 1979, though she was still under contract to produce a second album. This [[LP album|LP]], ''[[Unbehagen]]'' (which in German means "discomfort" or "unease"), was eventually produced with the band recording their tracks in Berlin and Hagen recording the vocals in Los Angeles. It included the single "African Reggae"<ref name="LarkinGE"/> and "Wir Leben Immer... Noch", a German language cover of [[Lene Lovich]]'s "[[Lucky Number (song)|Lucky Number]]". The other band members, sans Hagen, soon developed a successful independent musical career as [[Spliff (band)|Spliff]].
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She also acted with Dutch rocker [[Herman Brood]] and singer [[Lene Lovich]] in the 1979 film ''[[Cha Cha (film)|Cha Cha]]''. Brood and Hagen would have a long romantic relationship that would end when Hagen could no longer tolerate Brood's drug abuse. She would refer to Brood as her "soulmate" long after Brood committed suicide in 2001.<ref>[http://krant.telegraaf.nl/krant/archief/20010713/teksten/bin.herman.nina.rock.moment.html De Telegraaf Binnenland.] ''De Soulmates van Herman Brood.'' Retrieved 25 December 2016.</ref>
She also acted with Dutch rocker [[Herman Brood]] and singer [[Lene Lovich]] in the 1979 film ''[[Cha Cha (film)|Cha Cha]]''. Brood and Hagen would have a long romantic relationship that would end when Hagen could no longer tolerate Brood's drug abuse. She would refer to Brood as her "soulmate" long after Brood committed suicide in 2001.<ref>[http://krant.telegraaf.nl/krant/archief/20010713/teksten/bin.herman.nina.rock.moment.html De Telegraaf Binnenland.] ''De Soulmates van Herman Brood.'' Retrieved 25 December 2016.</ref>


===1980-1988: International breakthrough===
===1980–1988: International breakthrough===
 
[[File:Nina Hagen (1980) by Erling Mandelmann.jpg|thumb|left|upright|Hagen in 1980]]
[[File:Nina Hagen (1980) by Erling Mandelmann.jpg|thumb|left|upright|Hagen in 1980]]
A European tour with a new band in 1980 was canceled, and Hagen turned to the United States. A limited-edition 10-inch EP was released on vinyl that summer in the U.S. Two songs from her first album ''[[Nina Hagen Band (album)|Nina Hagen Band]]'' were on the A side, and two songs from her second album ''[[Unbehagen]]'' were on the [[B-side]].  All four songs were sung in German, although two had English titles and the other two were covers of English-language songs with new German lyrics.
A European tour with a new band in 1980 was canceled, and Hagen turned to the United States. A limited-edition 10-inch EP was released on vinyl that summer in the U.S. Two songs from her first album ''[[Nina Hagen Band (album)|Nina Hagen Band]]'' were on the A side, and two songs from her second album ''[[Unbehagen]]'' were on the [[B-side]].  All four songs were sung in German, although two had English titles and the other two were covers of English-language songs with new German lyrics.


In late 1980, Hagen discovered she was pregnant, broke up with the father-to-be [[Ferdinand Karmelk]],<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.einfach-nina.de/biografie.html |title=Nina Hagen Archiv |publisher=Einfach-nina.de |access-date=15 July 2012}}</ref> and moved to Los Angeles. Her daughter, [[Cosma Shiva Hagen]], was born in [[Santa Monica]] on 17 June 1981. In 1982, Hagen released her first [[English-language]] album: ''[[NunSexMonkRock]]'', a dissonant mix of punk, funk, reggae, and opera. She then went on a world-tour with the No Problem Orchestra.
In late 1980, Hagen discovered she was pregnant, broke up with the father-to-be [[Ferdinand Karmelk]],<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.einfach-nina.de/biografie.html |title=Nina Hagen Archiv |publisher=Einfach-nina.de |access-date=15 July 2012}}</ref> and moved to Los Angeles. Her daughter, [[Cosma Shiva Hagen]], was born in [[Santa Monica]] on 17 June 1981. In 1982, Hagen released her first [[English-language]] album: ''[[NunSexMonkRock]]'', a dissonant mix of punk, funk, reggae, and opera. She then went on a world-tour with the No Problem Orchestra.


In 1983, she released the album ''[[Angstlos]]'' and a minor European tour. By this time, Hagen's public appearances 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, "[[Ich weiss, es wird einmal ein Wunder geschehen|Zarah]]" (a cover of the [[Zarah Leander]] (No. 45 USA) song "Ich weiß, es wird einmal ein Wunder geschehen") and the disco/punk/opera song, "[[New York / N.Y.|New York New York]]" (No. 9 USA). During 1984, Hagen spent a lot of time in London- and UK-based ''MusicSzene'' magazine chief-editor Wilfried Rimensberger, in conjunction with Spree Film, produced a first TV feature on her and what was remaining from London's 70 Punk movement induced by artist and model [[Frankie Stein]].
In 1983, she released the album ''[[Angstlos]]'' and a minor European tour. By this time, Hagen's public appearances 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, "[[Ich weiss, es wird einmal ein Wunder geschehen|Zarah]]" (a cover of the [[Zarah Leander]] (No. 45 USA) song "Ich weiß, es wird einmal ein Wunder geschehen") and the disco/punk/opera song, "[[New York / N.Y.|New York New York]]" (No. 9 USA). During 1984, Hagen spent a lot of time in London, and UK-based ''MusicSzene'' magazine chief-editor Wilfried Rimensberger, in conjunction with Spree Film, produced a first TV feature on her and what was remaining from London's 70 Punk movement induced by artist and model [[Frankie Stein]].


[[File:NINA HAGEN 1981.jpg|thumb|right|upright|Hagen in 1981]]
[[File:NINA HAGEN 1981.jpg|thumb|right|upright|Hagen in 1981]]
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[[Wilfried Rimensberger]] and award-winning film director [[Lothar Spree]] produced a TV documentary for the German television station [[ZDF]]. This was followed by a launch of Nina's UFO fashion underwear at anti-SAFT in Zurich, where again Rimensberger joined her up with [[New Romantics|New Romantic]] icon [[Steve Strange]] performing on stage. Simultaneously fashion photographer Hannes Schmid produced a Nina Hagen cover for German ''[[Cosmopolitan (magazine)|Cosmopolitan]]'' magazine. This also coincided with leading music publications like ''BRAVO'' and ''MusicSzene'' running cover stories that all put Hagen back on the forefront of something that, in retrospect, became a final highpoint of what the punk movement was all about. At the end of 1986, her contract with [[CBS]] was over and she released the ''[[Punk Wedding]]'' EP independently in 1987, a celebration of her marriage to an 18-year-old punk South African nicknamed 'Iroquois'. It followed an independent 1986 one-off single with [[Lene Lovich]], "Don't Kill the Animals" (see ''[[Animal Liberation (album)|Animal Liberation]]'').<ref>{{Cite news|date=16 August 1987|title=Gott sei Punk|language=de|work=Der Spiegel|url=https://www.spiegel.de/panorama/gott-sei-punk-a-c1d699ae-0002-0001-0000-000013525317|access-date=17 March 2023|issn=2195-1349}}</ref>
[[Wilfried Rimensberger]] and award-winning film director [[Lothar Spree]] produced a TV documentary for the German television station [[ZDF]]. This was followed by a launch of Nina's UFO fashion underwear at anti-SAFT in Zurich, where again Rimensberger joined her up with [[New Romantics|New Romantic]] icon [[Steve Strange]] performing on stage. Simultaneously fashion photographer Hannes Schmid produced a Nina Hagen cover for German ''[[Cosmopolitan (magazine)|Cosmopolitan]]'' magazine. This also coincided with leading music publications like ''BRAVO'' and ''MusicSzene'' running cover stories that all put Hagen back on the forefront of something that, in retrospect, became a final highpoint of what the punk movement was all about. At the end of 1986, her contract with [[CBS]] was over and she released the ''[[Punk Wedding]]'' EP independently in 1987, a celebration of her marriage to an 18-year-old punk South African nicknamed 'Iroquois'. It followed an independent 1986 one-off single with [[Lene Lovich]], "Don't Kill the Animals" (see ''[[Animal Liberation (album)|Animal Liberation]]'').<ref>{{Cite news|date=16 August 1987|title=Gott sei Punk|language=de|work=Der Spiegel|url=https://www.spiegel.de/panorama/gott-sei-punk-a-c1d699ae-0002-0001-0000-000013525317|access-date=17 March 2023|issn=2195-1349}}</ref>


===1989-1994: ''Nina Hagen'', ''Street'', and ''Revolution Ballroom''===
===1989–1994: ''Nina Hagen'', ''Street'', and ''Revolution Ballroom''===
 
In 1989, Hagen released the album, ''[[Nina Hagen (album)|Nina Hagen]]'', which was backed up by another German tour. In 1989, she had a relationship with French stylist and music manager Franck Chevalier which yielded their son, Otis Chevalier-Hagen (b. 1990).<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.einfach-nina.de/biografie.html|title=Nina Hagen Archiv|website=Einfach-nina.de|access-date=9 September 2021}}</ref>
In 1989, Hagen released the album, ''[[Nina Hagen (album)|Nina Hagen]]'', which was backed up by another German tour. In 1989, she had a relationship with French stylist and music manager Franck Chevalier which yielded their son, Otis Chevalier-Hagen (b. 1990).<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.einfach-nina.de/biografie.html|title=Nina Hagen Archiv|website=Einfach-nina.de|access-date=9 September 2021}}</ref>


In the 1990s, Hagen lived in Paris with her daughter [[Cosma Shiva Hagen|Cosma Shiva]] and son Otis. In 1991 she toured Europe in support of her new album ''[[Street (Nina Hagen album)|Street]]''. In 1992 Hagen became the host of a TV show on [[RTL Television|RTLplus]]. Also in the same year (1992) she collaborated with [[Adamski]] on the European smash and minor UK hit single "Get Your Body". The following year, she released ''[[Revolution Ballroom]]''. In 1994, Hagen starred in the acclaimed San Francisco [[Goethe Institut]]'s ''The Seven Addictions and Five Professions of [[Anita Berber]]'', playing the singer version of "Anita" alongside dancer Darla Teagarden who portrayed the other "professions" of "Anita". Also, her voice was heard on the Freaky Fukin Weirdoz single "[[Hit Me with Your Rhythm Stick]]". 1995 brought the German-language album ''[[FreuD euch]]'', equally recorded in English as ''[[BeeHappy]]'' in 1996. Nina returned to San Francisco to star in another San Francisco Goethe Institut show, "Hannusen, Hitler's Jewish Clarvoyant". Hagen also collaborated with [[electronic music]] composer [[Christopher Franke]], along with Rick Palombi (credited as Rick Jude) on "Alchemy of Love", the theme song for the film ''[[Tenchi Muyo! in Love]]''.
In the 1990s, Hagen lived in Paris with her daughter [[Cosma Shiva Hagen|Cosma Shiva]] and son Otis. In 1991 she toured Europe in support of her new album ''[[Street (Nina Hagen album)|Street]]''. In 1992 Hagen became the host of a TV show on [[RTL Television|RTLplus]]. Also in the same year (1992) she collaborated with [[Adamski]] on the European smash and minor UK hit single "Get Your Body". The following year, she released ''[[Revolution Ballroom]]''. In 1994, Hagen starred in the acclaimed San Francisco [[Goethe Institut]]'s ''The Seven Addictions and Five Professions of [[Anita Berber]]'', playing the singer version of "Anita" alongside dancer Darla Teagarden who portrayed the other "professions" of "Anita". Also, her voice was heard on the Freaky Fukin Weirdoz single "[[Hit Me with Your Rhythm Stick]]". 1995 brought the German-language album ''[[FreuD euch]]'', equally recorded in English as ''[[BeeHappy]]'' in 1996. Nina returned to San Francisco to star in another San Francisco Goethe Institut show, "Hannusen, Hitler's Jewish Clarvoyant". Hagen also collaborated with [[electronic music]] composer [[Christopher Franke]], along with Rick Palombi (credited as Rick Jude) on "Alchemy of Love", the theme song for the film ''[[Tenchi Muyo! in Love]]''.


===1995-1999===
===1995–1999===
 
[[File:Union-Fans-Choreographie.jpg|thumb|left|upright|In 1998, Hagen recorded the official club anthem "Eisern Union" for [[1. FC Union Berlin]].]]
[[File:Union-Fans-Choreographie.jpg|thumb|left|upright|In 1998, Hagen recorded the official club anthem "Eisern Union" for [[1. FC Union Berlin]].]]
In May 1996, she married David Lynn, but divorced him in the beginning of 2000. In 1997 she collaborated with German [[Hip hop music|hip hop]] musician [[Thomas D]]. In 1998, Hagen became the host of a weekly science fiction show on the British [[Syfy (UK and Ireland)|Sci-Fi Channel]], in addition to embarking on another tour of Germany. In 1999, she released the devotional album ''[[Om Namah Shivay (album)|Om Namah Shivay]]'', which was distributed exclusively online and included an unadulterated musical version of the [[Hare Krishna (mantra)|Hare Krishna]] mantra. Hagen believes that the Hindu incarnation of [[Lord Vishnu]] known as Krishna was "the King of Jerusalem", and sometimes refers to Krishna as "Christ". She also provided vocals to "Witness" and "Bereit" on [[KMFDM]]'s ''[[Adios (KMFDM album)|Adios]]''.
In May 1996, she married David Lynn, but divorced him in the beginning of 2000. In 1997 she collaborated with German [[Hip hop music|hip hop]] musician [[Thomas D]]. In 1998, Hagen became the host of a weekly science fiction show on the British [[Syfy (UK and Ireland)|Sci-Fi Channel]], in addition to embarking on another tour of Germany. In 1999, she released the devotional album ''[[Om Namah Shivay (album)|Om Namah Shivay]]'', which was distributed exclusively online and included an unadulterated musical version of the [[Hare Krishna (mantra)|Hare Krishna]] mantra. Hagen believes that the Hindu incarnation of [[Lord Vishnu]] known as Krishna was "the King of Jerusalem", and sometimes refers to Krishna as "Christ". She also provided vocals to "Witness" and "Bereit" on [[KMFDM]]'s ''[[Adios (KMFDM album)|Adios]]''.


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In 1999, she played the role of Celia Peachum in ''[[The Threepenny Opera]]'' by [[Kurt Weill]] and [[Bertolt Brecht]], alongside [[Max Raabe]]. She also regularly performs songs by Kurt Weill, [[Hanns Eisler]] and [[Paul Dessau]] set to Brecht's texts.
In 1999, she played the role of Celia Peachum in ''[[The Threepenny Opera]]'' by [[Kurt Weill]] and [[Bertolt Brecht]], alongside [[Max Raabe]]. She also regularly performs songs by Kurt Weill, [[Hanns Eisler]] and [[Paul Dessau]] set to Brecht's texts.


===2000-2009: ''Return of the Mother''===
===2000–2009: ''Return of the Mother''===
 
[[File:Nina Hagen 2003aa zmf ubt.jpeg|thumb|right|upright|Hagen performing in Denmark, October 2003]]
[[File:Nina Hagen 2003aa zmf ubt.jpeg|thumb|right|upright|Hagen performing in Denmark, October 2003]]
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 ''[[Return of the Mother]]'' was released in February 2001, accompanied by another German tour. Hagen wrote the song "Handgrenade" on the album ''Return of the Mother'' for [[Christine Maggiore]].<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.canada.com/vancouversun/columnists/story.html?id=b0cb194b-51d3-4140-88f7-e4099445c554 |title=Aids 'denialism' gathers strange bedfellows |publisher= | website= canada.com |access-date=8 September 2014 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140730105830/http://www.canada.com/vancouversun/columnists/story.html?id=b0cb194b-51d3-4140-88f7-e4099445c554 |archive-date=30 July 2014 }}</ref><ref>{{cite magazine |url=http://www.newsweek.com/hiv-disbelievers-158813 |title=The HIV Disbelievers |date=27 August 2000 |publisher= | magazine= [[Newsweek]] |access-date=8 September 2014}}</ref> In 2001 she collaborated with [[Rosenstolz]] and [[Marc Almond]] on the single "Total eclipse"/"Die schwarze Witwe" that reached No.&nbsp;22 in Germany. On 14 October 2002 Nina hit Moscow by coming there with her concert, while interviews with the eccentric singer were aired on many TV-channels.
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 ''[[Return of the Mother]]'' was released in February 2001, accompanied by another German tour. Hagen wrote the song "Handgrenade" on the album ''Return of the Mother'' for [[Christine Maggiore]].<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.canada.com/vancouversun/columnists/story.html?id=b0cb194b-51d3-4140-88f7-e4099445c554 |title=Aids 'denialism' gathers strange bedfellows |publisher= | website= canada.com |access-date=8 September 2014 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140730105830/http://www.canada.com/vancouversun/columnists/story.html?id=b0cb194b-51d3-4140-88f7-e4099445c554 |archive-date=30 July 2014 }}</ref><ref>{{cite magazine |url=http://www.newsweek.com/hiv-disbelievers-158813 |title=The HIV Disbelievers |date=27 August 2000 |publisher= | magazine= [[Newsweek]] |access-date=8 September 2014}}</ref> In 2001 she collaborated with [[Rosenstolz]] and [[Marc Almond]] on the single "Total eclipse"/"Die schwarze Witwe" that reached No.&nbsp;22 in Germany. On 14 October 2002 Nina hit Moscow by coming there with her concert, while interviews with the eccentric singer were aired on many TV-channels.


Hagen [[Dubbing (filmmaking)|dubbed]] the voice of Sally in the German release of [[Tim Burton]]'s ''[[The Nightmare Before Christmas]]'', Yubaba/Zeniba in ''[[Spirited Away]]'' and she has also done voice work on the movie ''Hot Dogs'' by Michael Schoemann. Due to the death of [[Elisabeth Volkmann]] (†2006), the German voice of Marge, during the dubbing of the hit TV show "The Simpsons" 17th season, Nina was a strong contender for the role, which eventually went to [[Anke Engelke]]. Hagen has been featured on songs by other bands, for instance on [[Oomph!]]'s song "Fieber". She did a cover of [[Rammstein]]'s "[[Seemann (Rammstein song)|Seemann]]" with [[Apocalyptica (band)|Apocalyptica]]. Later albums include ''[[Big Band Explosion]]'' (2003), in which she sang numerous [[swing music|swing]] covers with her then husband, Danish singer and performer, Lucas Alexander. This was followed by ''Heiß'', a greatest hits album. The following album, ''Journey to the Snow Queen'', is more of an audio book – she reads the ''[[The Snow Queen|Snow Queen]]'' [[fairy tale]] with [[Tchaikovsky]]'s ''[[The Nutcracker]]'' in the background. In 2005 Nina Hagen headlined the [[Drop Dead Festival]] in New York City. Hagen was an active protester against the [[war in Iraq]]. In 2006 she was a part of the [[Popstars]] team. In August 2009 she was baptized in the Protestant [[Reformed church]] of [[Schüttorf]].<ref>{{cite web| work= Focus.de| date= 17 August 2009| url= http://www.focus.de/panorama/vermischtes/nina-hagen-saengerin-wird-in-schuettorf-getauft_aid_427023.html |title= Sängerin wird in Schüttorf getauft| language= de| trans-title= Singer is baptized in Schüttorf| access-date= 24 November 2009}}</ref> On 21 October after seven years passed she visited Moscow<ref>{{cite web|url=http://nina-hagen.ucoz.ru/news/russian_media_about_nina_in_moscow_21_10_2009_russkie_smi_o_nine_v_moskve_21_10_2009/2010-03-24-21 |title=Russian media about Nina in Moscow |publisher= | work= nina-hagen.ucoz.ru |access-date=15 July 2012}}</ref> again.
Hagen [[Dubbing (filmmaking)|dubbed]] the voice of Sally in the German release of [[Tim Burton]]'s ''[[The Nightmare Before Christmas]]'', Yubaba/Zeniba in ''[[Spirited Away]]'' and she has also done voice work on the movie ''Hot Dogs'' by Michael Schoemann. Due to the death of [[Elisabeth Volkmann]] (†2006), the German voice of Marge, during the dubbing of the hit TV show "The Simpsons" 17th season, Nina was a strong contender for the role, which eventually went to [[Anke Engelke]]. Hagen has been featured on songs by other bands, for instance on [[Oomph!]]'s song "Fieber". She did a cover of [[Rammstein]]'s "[[Seemann (Rammstein song)|Seemann]]" with [[Apocalyptica (band)|Apocalyptica]]. Later albums include ''[[Big Band Explosion]]'' (2003), in which she sang numerous [[swing music|swing]] covers with her then husband, Danish singer and performer, Lucas Alexander. This was followed by ''Heiß'', a greatest hits album. The following album, ''Journey to the Snow Queen'', is more of an audio book – she reads the ''[[The Snow Queen|Snow Queen]]'' [[fairy tale]] with [[Tchaikovsky]]'s ''[[The Nutcracker]]'' in the background. In 2005 Nina Hagen headlined the [[Drop Dead Festival]] in New York City. Hagen was an active protester against the [[war in Iraq]]. In 2006 she was a part of the [[Popstars]] team. In August 2009 she was baptized in the Protestant [[Reformed church]] of [[Schüttorf]].<ref>{{cite web| work= Focus.de| date= 17 August 2009| url= http://www.focus.de/panorama/vermischtes/nina-hagen-saengerin-wird-in-schuettorf-getauft_aid_427023.html |title= Sängerin wird in Schüttorf getauft| language= de| trans-title= Singer is baptized in Schüttorf| access-date= 24 November 2009}}</ref> On 21 October after seven years passed she visited Moscow<ref>{{cite web|url=http://nina-hagen.ucoz.ru/news/russian_media_about_nina_in_moscow_21_10_2009_russkie_smi_o_nine_v_moskve_21_10_2009/2010-03-24-21 |title=Russian media about Nina in Moscow |publisher= | work= nina-hagen.ucoz.ru |access-date=15 July 2012}}</ref> again.


===2010–present: ''Personal Jesus'', ''Volksbeat'' and ''Unity''===
===2010–present: ''Personal Jesus'', ''Volksbeat'',  ''Unity'' and ''Highway to Heaven''===
 
After a four-year lapse her next album, ''[[Personal Jesus (Nina Hagen album)|Personal Jesus]]'', was released 16 July 2010, followed by ''[[Volksbeat (Nina Hagen album)|Volksbeat]]'', released 11 November 2011.
After a four-year lapse her next album, ''[[Personal Jesus (Nina Hagen album)|Personal Jesus]]'', was released 16 July 2010, followed by ''[[Volksbeat (Nina Hagen album)|Volksbeat]]'', released 11 November 2011.


When [[Angela Merkel]] ended her 16-year chancellorship of Germany in December 2021, she chose Hagen's song ''Du hast den Farbfilm vergessen'' (You Forgot the Colour Film) as one of the three pieces to be played at her ''[[Großer Zapfenstreich]]'' military leaving ceremony.<ref>{{Cite news |title=Merkel's punk pick for leaving ceremony raises eyebrows |last=Oltermann |first=Philip |newspaper=The Guardian |date=29 November 2021 |url= https://www.theguardian.com/world/2021/nov/29/angela-merkel-punk-pick-for-leaving-ceremony-raises-eyebrows}}</ref>
When [[Angela Merkel]] ended her 16-year chancellorship of Germany in December 2021, she chose Hagen's song ''Du hast den Farbfilm vergessen'' (You Forgot the Colour Film) as one of the three pieces to be played at her ''[[Großer Zapfenstreich]]'' military leaving ceremony.<ref>{{Cite news |title=Merkel's punk pick for leaving ceremony raises eyebrows |last=Oltermann |first=Philip |newspaper=The Guardian |date=29 November 2021 |url= https://www.theguardian.com/world/2021/nov/29/angela-merkel-punk-pick-for-leaving-ceremony-raises-eyebrows}}</ref>


===Controversies===
In 2021, Hagen released a new studio album ''Unity''. The album is the singer's first album featuring English songs since 2010's ''Personal Jesus''. In 2026 she will release a new studio album ''Highway to Heaven'', a gospel-rock-pop album.


In 1987, she caught the attention of the media by announcing her marriage to a 17-year-old South African punk named Iroquois, whom she met in Rome in 1985. The song "[[Punk Wedding]]" was written for the wedding and Hagen described the event as a marriage between the punk and new age movements. The wedding was scheduled on August 9, 1987.<ref>{{Cite news |date=1987-08-16 |title=Gott sei Punk |url=https://www.spiegel.de/panorama/gott-sei-punk-a-c1d699ae-0002-0001-0000-000013525317?context=issue |access-date=2025-01-18 |work=Der Spiegel |language=de |issn=2195-1349}}</ref> In 2020, it was announced that she had become a patron of the Detransition Advocacy Network.<ref>{{cite Tweet
==Controversies==
|title=The Detransition Advocacy Network |user=DetransAdv |lang = EN|date = 2020-03-22 |number=1241780883100663812}}</ref>
In 1987, she caught the attention of the media by announcing her marriage to a 17-year-old South African punk named Iroquois, whom she met in Rome in 1985. The song "[[Punk Wedding]]" was written for the wedding, and Hagen described the event as a marriage between the punk and new age movements. The wedding was scheduled on August 9, 1987.<ref>{{Cite news |date=1987-08-16 |title=Gott sei Punk |url=https://www.spiegel.de/panorama/gott-sei-punk-a-c1d699ae-0002-0001-0000-000013525317?context=issue |access-date=2025-01-18 |work=Der Spiegel |language=de |issn=2195-1349}}</ref>


==Discography==
==Discography==
{{main article|Nina Hagen discography}}
{{main article|Nina Hagen discography}}


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* ''[[Volksbeat]]'' (2011)
* ''[[Volksbeat]]'' (2011)
* ''[[Unity (Nina Hagen album)|Unity]]'' (2022)
* ''[[Unity (Nina Hagen album)|Unity]]'' (2022)
* ''Highway to Heaven'' (2026)


==Filmography==
==Filmography==
{{main article|Nina Hagen filmography}}
{{main article|Nina Hagen filmography}}


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==See also==
==See also==
* [[Neue Deutsche Härte]]
* [[Neue Deutsche Härte]]


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==External links==
==External links==
{{sister project links|b=no|commons=Nina Hagen|d=Q159099|n=no|q=no|s=no|v=no|wikt=no}}
{{sister project links|b=no|commons=Nina Hagen|d=Q159099|n=no|q=no|s=no|v=no|wikt=no}}
* {{AllMusic|class=artist|id=mn0000414016|label=Nina Hagen}}
* {{AllMusic|class=artist|id=mn0000414016|label=Nina Hagen}}
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{{Nina Hagen}}
{{Nina Hagen}}
{{Popstars (Germany)}}
{{Authority control}}
{{Authority control}}


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[[Category:1955 births]]
[[Category:1955 births]]
[[Category:Living people]]
[[Category:Living people]]
[[Category:Nina Hagen| ]]
[[Category:Hagen family|Nina]]
[[Category:Musicians from East Berlin]]
[[Category:Musicians from East Berlin]]
[[Category:Actors from East Berlin]]
[[Category:Actors from East Berlin]]
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[[Category:Feminist musicians]]
[[Category:Feminist musicians]]
[[Category:German-language singers]]
[[Category:German-language singers]]
[[Category:English-language singers from Germany]]
[[Category:English-language German singers]]
[[Category:German punk rock musicians]]
[[Category:German punk rock musicians]]
[[Category:CBS Records artists]]
[[Category:CBS Records artists]]
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[[Category:Obscenity controversies in television]]
[[Category:Obscenity controversies in television]]
[[Category:Sex scandals in Germany]]
[[Category:Sex scandals in Germany]]
[[Category:Female masturbation]]
[[Category:German contraltos]]
[[Category:German contraltos]]
[[Category:Actresses from Berlin]]
[[Category:Actresses from Berlin]]

Latest revision as of 07:49, 26 December 2025

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Catharina "Nina" Hagen (Script error: No such module "IPA".; born 11 March 1955)[1] is a German singer, songwriter, and actress. She is known for her theatrical vocals and rise to prominence during the punk and Neue Deutsche Welle movements in the late 1970s and early 1980s. She is known as "The Godmother of German Punk".

Born and raised in the former East Berlin, German Democratic Republic,[1] Hagen began her career as an actress when she appeared in several German films alongside her mother Eva-Maria Hagen. Around that same time, she joined the band Automobil and released the schlager single "Du hast den Farbfilm vergessen". After her stepfather Wolf Biermann's East German citizenship was withdrawn in 1976, Hagen followed him to Hamburg. Shortly afterwards, she was offered a record deal from CBS Records and formed the Nina Hagen Band. Their self-titled debut album was released in late 1978 to critical acclaim and was a commercial success selling over 250,000 copies. The band released one more album, Unbehagen, before their break-up in 1979.

In 1982, Hagen signed a new contract with CBS and released her debut solo album NunSexMonkRock, which became her first record to chart in the United States. She followed it with two more albums: Fearless (1983) and Nina Hagen in Ekstasy (1985), before her contract with CBS expired and was not renewed. In 1989, she was offered a record deal from Mercury Records. She released three albums on the label: Nina Hagen (1989), Street (1991), and Revolution Ballroom (1993). However, none of the albums achieved notable commercial success. Hagen made her musical comeback with the release of her album Return of the Mother (2000).

Besides her musical career, Hagen is also a voice-over actress. She wrote three autobiographies: Ich bin ein Berliner (1988), Nina Hagen: That's Why the Lady Is a Punk (2003), and Bekenntnisse (2010). She is also noted for her human and animal rights activism.

Life and career

1955-1976: Early life and career beginnings

File:Bundesarchiv Bild 183-R0409-0012, Berlin, Friedrichstadt-Palast, "Guten Abend".jpg
Hagen with Magdi Body, Manfred Krug, and Tatjana Archipowa, April 1976
File:Villa Carlshagen Potsdam.jpg
Villa Carlshagen, a villa owned by the Hagen family that was confiscated by the Nazis, Potsdam, 2016.

Nina Hagen was born in what was then East Berlin, East Germany, the daughter of Hans Oliva-Hagen, a scriptwriter, and Eva-Maria Hagen (née Buchholz), an actress and singer. Descended from a once prominent Cologne banking family who founded Bankhaus A. Levy & Co., a bank that included BMW among its customers[2], her great-grandfather Carl Hagen was a banker and philanthropist. Her father Hans survived the Holocaust, being held as a prisoner at a prison in Moabit between 1941 and 1945 until the liberation by the Soviet Army. Her paternal grandfather Hermann Carl Hagen, who was Jewish, was murdered at the Sachsenhausen concentration camp on 28 May 1942, at age 56.[3][4][5] Hedwig Elise Caroline Staadt, Nina's paternal grandmother, was also murdered at Sachsenhausen. Nina's maternal grandfather Fritz Buchholz died during World War II.[6] The Nazis confiscated the Hagen family's properties, including Villa Carlshagen and Birlinghoven Castle. In 2020, the Beratende Kommission recommended compensation to Hagen heirs due to the theft of a painting.[7]

Her parents divorced when she was two years old. During her childhood, she saw her father infrequently. At age four, she began to study ballet, and she was considered an opera prodigy by the time she was nine. When Hagen was 11, her mother had a relationship with Wolf Biermann, an anti-establishment singer-songwriter. Biermann's political views later influenced young Hagen. She later returned to Germany and joined the cover band Fritzens Dampferband ("Fritzen's Steamboat Band"),[1] 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 vocal training performance program at The Central Studio for Light Music in East Berlin (de). Upon graduating, she joined the band Automobil.[1]

In East Germany, she performed with the band Automobil, becoming one of the country's best-known young stars. Her most famous song from the early part of her career was "Du hast den Farbfilm vergessen (You Forgot the Colour Film)", with words by Kurt Demmler to music by Michael Heubach, a subtle dig mocking the sterile, gray, Communist state,[8] in 1974. Hagen performed comic songs like "Hatschi-Waldera" and "Was denn" in Karel Gott´s Czech TV show in Slaný.[9] and "Wir tanzen Tango" in 1976.[10] Her musical career in the DDR was cut short, when she and her mother left the country in 1976, following the expulsion of her stepfather.

1976–1979: Migration to West Germany and Nina Hagen Band

The circumstances surrounding the family's emigration were exceptional: Biermann was granted permission by East German authorities to perform a televised concert in Cologne, but denied permission to re-cross the border to his adopted home country. Hagen submitted an application to leave the country. In it, she claimed to be Biermann's biological daughter, and threatened to become "the next" Wolf Biermann if not allowed to rejoin her father.Script error: No such module "Unsubst". Just four days later her request was granted,Script error: No such module "Unsubst". and she settled in Hamburg, where she was signed to a CBS-affiliated record label. Her label advised her to acclimatize herself to Western culture through travel, and she arrived in London during the height of the punk rock movement.[1] Hagen was quickly taken up by a circle that included The Slits.[1]

Back in West Germany, by mid-1977, Hagen formed the Nina Hagen Band in West Berlin's Kreuzberg district.[1] They released their self-titled debut album, Nina Hagen Band in late 1978:[11] it included the single "TV-Glotzer" (a cover of "White Punks on Dope" by The Tubes, though with entirely different German lyrics), and "Auf'm Bahnhof Zoo", about West-Berlin's then-notorious Berlin Zoologischer Garten station. The album also included a version of "Rangehn" ("Go for it"), a song she had previously recorded in East-Germany, but with different music.

The debut album gained significant attention throughout Germany and abroad both for its hard rock sound and for Hagen's theatrical vocals which drew heavily from her operatic training, far different from the straightforward singing of her East German recordings. However, relations between Hagen and the other band members deteriorated over the course of the subsequent European tour, and Hagen decided to leave the band in 1979, though she was still under contract to produce a second album. This LP, Unbehagen (which in German means "discomfort" or "unease"), was eventually produced with the band recording their tracks in Berlin and Hagen recording the vocals in Los Angeles. It included the single "African Reggae"[1] and "Wir Leben Immer... Noch", a German language cover of Lene Lovich's "Lucky Number". The other band members, sans Hagen, soon developed a successful independent musical career as Spliff.

Meanwhile, Hagen's public persona was steadily creating media uproar. She became infamous for an appearance on an Austrian evening talk show called Club 2, on 9 August 1979, on the topic of youth culture, when she demonstrated (while clothed, but explicitly) various female masturbation positions and became embroiled in a heated argument with other panelists, in particular, writer and journalist Humbert Fink. The talk show host, Dieter Seefranz, had to step down following this controversy.[12][13]

She also acted with Dutch rocker Herman Brood and singer Lene Lovich in the 1979 film Cha Cha. Brood and Hagen would have a long romantic relationship that would end when Hagen could no longer tolerate Brood's drug abuse. She would refer to Brood as her "soulmate" long after Brood committed suicide in 2001.[14]

1980–1988: International breakthrough

File:Nina Hagen (1980) by Erling Mandelmann.jpg
Hagen in 1980

A European tour with a new band in 1980 was canceled, and Hagen turned to the United States. A limited-edition 10-inch EP was released on vinyl that summer in the U.S. Two songs from her first album Nina Hagen Band were on the A side, and two songs from her second album Unbehagen were on the B-side. All four songs were sung in German, although two had English titles and the other two were covers of English-language songs with new German lyrics.

In late 1980, Hagen discovered she was pregnant, broke up with the father-to-be Ferdinand Karmelk,[15] and moved to Los Angeles. Her daughter, Cosma Shiva Hagen, was born in Santa Monica on 17 June 1981. In 1982, Hagen released her first English-language album: NunSexMonkRock, a dissonant mix of punk, funk, reggae, and opera. She then went on a world-tour with the No Problem Orchestra.

In 1983, she released the album Angstlos and a minor European tour. By this time, Hagen's public appearances 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 (No. 45 USA) song "Ich weiß, es wird einmal ein Wunder geschehen") and the disco/punk/opera song, "New York New York" (No. 9 USA). During 1984, Hagen spent a lot of time in London, and UK-based MusicSzene magazine chief-editor Wilfried Rimensberger, in conjunction with Spree Film, produced a first TV feature on her and what was remaining from London's 70 Punk movement induced by artist and model Frankie Stein.

File:NINA HAGEN 1981.jpg
Hagen in 1981

Her 1985 album In Ekstase fared less well, but did generate club hits with "Universal Radio" (No. 39 USA) and a cover of "Spirit in the Sky" and also featured a 1979 recording of her hardcore punk take on Paul Anka's "My Way", which had been one of her signature live tunes in previous years. She performed songs from this album during the 1985 version of Rock in Rio. While in Brazil she met and befriended Brazilian musicians as diverse as samba diva Beth Carvalho and Brazilian punk singer Supla (who was leader of a punk-new wave band named Tokyo), that invited her to contribute vocals to the hit 1986 song "Garota de Berlim" (Portuguese for "girl from Berlin") that received huge airplay in radio in Brazil. To this day, Brazilians remember Nina above all things as the Berlin Girl from Tokyo's song.[16]

Wilfried Rimensberger and award-winning film director Lothar Spree produced a TV documentary for the German television station ZDF. This was followed by a launch of Nina's UFO fashion underwear at anti-SAFT in Zurich, where again Rimensberger joined her up with New Romantic icon Steve Strange performing on stage. Simultaneously fashion photographer Hannes Schmid produced a Nina Hagen cover for German Cosmopolitan magazine. This also coincided with leading music publications like BRAVO and MusicSzene running cover stories that all put Hagen back on the forefront of something that, in retrospect, became a final highpoint of what the punk movement was all about. At the end of 1986, her contract with CBS was over and she released the Punk Wedding EP independently in 1987, a celebration of her marriage to an 18-year-old punk South African nicknamed 'Iroquois'. It followed an independent 1986 one-off single with Lene Lovich, "Don't Kill the Animals" (see Animal Liberation).[17]

1989–1994: Nina Hagen, Street, and Revolution Ballroom

In 1989, Hagen released the album, Nina Hagen, which was backed up by another German tour. In 1989, she had a relationship with French stylist and music manager Franck Chevalier which yielded their son, Otis Chevalier-Hagen (b. 1990).[18]

In the 1990s, Hagen lived in Paris with her daughter Cosma Shiva and son Otis. In 1991 she toured Europe in support of her new album Street. In 1992 Hagen became the host of a TV show on RTLplus. Also in the same year (1992) she collaborated with Adamski on the European smash and minor UK hit single "Get Your Body". The following year, she released Revolution Ballroom. In 1994, Hagen starred in the acclaimed San Francisco Goethe Institut's The Seven Addictions and Five Professions of Anita Berber, playing the singer version of "Anita" alongside dancer Darla Teagarden who portrayed the other "professions" of "Anita". Also, her voice was heard on the Freaky Fukin Weirdoz single "Hit Me with Your Rhythm Stick". 1995 brought the German-language album FreuD euch, equally recorded in English as BeeHappy in 1996. Nina returned to San Francisco to star in another San Francisco Goethe Institut show, "Hannusen, Hitler's Jewish Clarvoyant". Hagen also collaborated with electronic music composer Christopher Franke, along with Rick Palombi (credited as Rick Jude) on "Alchemy of Love", the theme song for the film Tenchi Muyo! in Love.

1995–1999

File:Union-Fans-Choreographie.jpg
In 1998, Hagen recorded the official club anthem "Eisern Union" for 1. FC Union Berlin.

In May 1996, she married David Lynn, but divorced him in the beginning of 2000. In 1997 she collaborated with German hip hop musician Thomas D. 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 and included an unadulterated musical version of the Hare Krishna mantra. Hagen believes that the Hindu incarnation of Lord Vishnu known as Krishna was "the King of Jerusalem", and sometimes refers to Krishna as "Christ". She also provided vocals to "Witness" and "Bereit" on KMFDM's Adios.

Also in 1998, she recorded the official club anthem Eisern Union for 1. FC Union Berlin and four versions were issued on a CD single by G.I.B Music and Distribution GmbH.

In 1999, she played the role of Celia Peachum in The Threepenny Opera by Kurt Weill and Bertolt Brecht, alongside Max Raabe. She also regularly performs songs by Kurt Weill, Hanns Eisler and Paul Dessau set to Brecht's texts.

2000–2009: Return of the Mother

File:Nina Hagen 2003aa zmf ubt.jpeg
Hagen performing in Denmark, October 2003

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 Return of the Mother was released in February 2001, accompanied by another German tour. Hagen wrote the song "Handgrenade" on the album Return of the Mother for Christine Maggiore.[19][20] In 2001 she collaborated with Rosenstolz and Marc Almond on the single "Total eclipse"/"Die schwarze Witwe" that reached No. 22 in Germany. On 14 October 2002 Nina hit Moscow by coming there with her concert, while interviews with the eccentric singer were aired on many TV-channels.

Hagen dubbed the voice of Sally in the German release of Tim Burton's The Nightmare Before Christmas, Yubaba/Zeniba in Spirited Away and she has also done voice work on the movie Hot Dogs by Michael Schoemann. Due to the death of Elisabeth Volkmann (†2006), the German voice of Marge, during the dubbing of the hit TV show "The Simpsons" 17th season, Nina was a strong contender for the role, which eventually went to Anke Engelke. Hagen has been featured on songs by other bands, for instance on Oomph!'s song "Fieber". She did a cover of Rammstein's "Seemann" with Apocalyptica. Later albums include Big Band Explosion (2003), in which she sang numerous swing covers with her then husband, Danish singer and performer, Lucas Alexander. This was followed by Heiß, a greatest hits album. The following album, Journey to the Snow Queen, is more of an audio book – she reads the Snow Queen fairy tale with Tchaikovsky's The Nutcracker in the background. In 2005 Nina Hagen headlined the Drop Dead Festival in New York City. Hagen was an active protester against the war in Iraq. In 2006 she was a part of the Popstars team. In August 2009 she was baptized in the Protestant Reformed church of Schüttorf.[21] On 21 October after seven years passed she visited Moscow[22] again.

2010–present: Personal Jesus, Volksbeat, Unity and Highway to Heaven

After a four-year lapse her next album, Personal Jesus, was released 16 July 2010, followed by Volksbeat, released 11 November 2011.

When Angela Merkel ended her 16-year chancellorship of Germany in December 2021, she chose Hagen's song Du hast den Farbfilm vergessen (You Forgot the Colour Film) as one of the three pieces to be played at her Großer Zapfenstreich military leaving ceremony.[23]

In 2021, Hagen released a new studio album Unity. The album is the singer's first album featuring English songs since 2010's Personal Jesus. In 2026 she will release a new studio album Highway to Heaven, a gospel-rock-pop album.

Controversies

In 1987, she caught the attention of the media by announcing her marriage to a 17-year-old South African punk named Iroquois, whom she met in Rome in 1985. The song "Punk Wedding" was written for the wedding, and Hagen described the event as a marriage between the punk and new age movements. The wedding was scheduled on August 9, 1987.[24]

Discography

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Filmography

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See also

References

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  14. ↑ De Telegraaf Binnenland. De Soulmates van Herman Brood. Retrieved 25 December 2016.
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External links

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Template:Nina Hagen Template:Authority control

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