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)
happiness
Nina Hagen Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
but i feel sure
i wasn't made for sorrow
my time is coming for happiness
if not today
TOMORROW , I ' ve
waited so long , I ' ve
learned how to cope
H O P E
HAPPINESS waits for me somewhere out there in the world
and i dream of it with every breath I take
There's a YES just for me ,
and I hope someday we'll meet ...
one appointment , that's impossible to break
WHEN & WHERE
i'm not shure
but my heart will take me there
SO MUCH JOY
to be had ,
and it's TIME I GOT MY SHARE
Happiness could arrive almost any second NOW
WHO KNOWS WHEN WHO KNOWS WHERE WHO KNOWS HOW !!
In "Happiness," Nina Hagen sings about her longing for joy and how she has learned to cope with waiting. She feels confident that she wasn't made for sorrow and that her time for happiness is approaching, even if it doesn't come today but rather tomorrow. Nina has learned to never give up hope, as it is the key to waiting for true happiness to arrive.
Through her lyrics, Nina dreams of the day when she'll finally meet the person who will fill her heart with joy. She is unsure when or where this encounter will take place, but she trusts that her heart will guide her to the right place. She expresses the determination to no longer wait and how she is worthy of experiencing happiness, just like anyone else. The song concludes with Nina stating that happiness could arrive at any moment, and that it's impossible to predict where or how it will come.
Overall, "Happiness" is an inspiring and hopeful song that encourages listeners to never give up on their dreams of happiness, and to trust that it will eventually come their way.
Line by Line Meaning
I have such longing
I feel a deep desire for something
but i feel sure
but I am confident in myself
i wasn't made for sorrow
I am not meant to be sad
my time is coming for happiness
I believe I will find happiness soon
if not today
even if it doesn't happen today
TOMORROW , I ' ve
I am hopeful for tomorrow
waited so long , I ' ve
I have been waiting for a long time
learned how to cope
I have learned to deal with difficult situations
learned , I must never give up
I have learned that I should never give up
H O P E
I have hope
HAPPINESS waits for me somewhere out there in the world
I believe that happiness is waiting for me somewhere in the world
and i dream of it with every breath I take
I think about happiness constantly
There's a YES just for me ,
There is a positive outcome waiting for me
and I hope someday we'll meet ...
I hope I will find happiness one day
one appointment , that's impossible to break
a meeting with happiness that can't be missed
WHEN & WHERE
I don't know when or where it will happen
i'm not shure
I am not sure
but my heart will take me there
but I will follow my heart to find it
SO MUCH JOY
there is so much joy in the world
to be had ,
that can be experienced
and it's TIME I GOT MY SHARE
I deserve to experience joy too
Happiness could arrive almost any second NOW
I believe happiness could come at any moment
WHO KNOWS WHEN WHO KNOWS WHERE WHO KNOWS HOW !!
I don't know when, where, or how it will happen
Contributed by Tyler I. Suggest a correction in the comments below.
@nicopetrus
she went a bit "out" after her show un Rio'85 to more then 200thousand people... To me she really shutmeup after the 2011 album VolksBeat that I think is veryvery good