New Wave is a subgenre of rock music that emerged in the mid to late 1970s alongside punk rock. The term at first generally was synonymous with punk rock before being considered a genre in its own right that incorporated aspects of electronic and experimental music, mod subculture, disco and 1960s pop music. New Wave, as a term, has been used to describe all post-punk rock music, yet, it distances itself from other post-punk movements as it displays characteristics common to pop music, rather than the more "arty" post-punk.^[14]

As a genre, it incorporates much of the original punk rock sound and ethos, such as an emphasis on short and punchy songs,^[7][15] yet it is characterized by greater complexity in both music and lyrics. Common characteristics of New Wave music, aside from its punk influences, include the use of synthesizers and electronic productions, the importance of styling and the arts, as well as a great amount of diversity.^[14] As a term, New Wave is often used to describe music which was quirky and eccentric, yet also catchy and pop at heart, incorporating clear melodious hooks. In such a way, its style varies greatly, ranging from 1950s and 60s rock revivalism, ska and reggae-styled music, to synthpop-oriented dance.^[16]

New Wave is seen as one of the definitive genres of the 1980s;^[17] at the time, it enjoyed commercial success as several of the major artists and groups of the time were labelled New Wave. The genre became a fixture on MTV,^[14][16] and the popularity of several New Wave artists has been partially attributed to the exposure that was given to them by the channel.^[16] Despite commercial success in the 1980s, it was criticised by some at the time for its particular style and music.^[16] The genre started to fade out by c. 1984; nevertheless, it never truly died, and it enjoyed resurgences since the 1990s, after a "nostalgia" for New Wave swept across the music scene, influencing several artists.^[16] The revivals in the 1990s and early 2000s were small, but became popular by 2004; subsequently, the genre has influenced a variety of music genres.^{[10][11][18][19][20][21][22]}

Overview[link]

The term "New Wave" itself has been a source of much confusion and controversy. It first circulated as a rock music genre in the early 1970s, used by critics like Nick Kent and Dave Marsh to classify such New York-based groups as the Velvet Underground and New York Dolls.^[9] It gained a much wider currency beginning in 1976 when it appeared in UK punk fanzines such as Sniffin' Glue, and also in newsstand music weeklies such as Melody Maker and New Musical Express.^[23] In a November 1976 article in Melody Maker, Caroline Coon used Malcolm McLaren's term "New Wave" to designate music by bands not exactly punk, but related to, and part of the same musical scene;^[24] the term was also used in that sense by music journalist Charles Shaar Murray in his comments about The Boomtown Rats.^[25] For a period of time in 1976 and 1977 the two terms were interchangeable.^[9][26] By the end of 1977, "New Wave" had replaced "Punk" as the definition for new underground music in the UK.^[23]

In the United States, Sire Records needed a term by which it could market its newly signed bands, who had frequently played the club CBGB. Because radio consultants in the United States had advised their clients that punk rock was a fad, they settled on the term "New Wave". Like the filmmakers of the French New Wave movement whom the genre was named after, its new artists, such as the Ramones and Talking Heads, were anti-corporate and experimental. At first most American writers exclusively used the term "New Wave" to describe British punk acts. Starting in December 1976, The New York Rocker, which was suspicious of the term "punk," became the first American journal to enthusiastically use the term starting with British acts, and later appropriating it to acts associated with the CBGB scene.^[23]

Talking Heads performing in Toronto in 1978.

Music historian Vernon Joynson states that New Wave emerged in the UK in late 1976, when many bands began disassociating themselves from punk.^[27] Music that followed the anarchic garage band ethos of the Sex Pistols was distinguished as "punk", while music that tended toward experimentation, lyrical complexity, or more polished production, came to be categorized as "New Wave". This came to include musicians who had come to prominence in the British pub rock scene of the mid-1970s, such as Ian Dury, Nick Lowe, Eddie and the Hot Rods and Dr. Feelgood;^[28] and according to Allmusic "angry, intelligent" singer-songwriters who "approached pop music with the sardonic attitude and tense, aggressive energy of punk" such as Elvis Costello, Joe Jackson, and Graham Parker.^[29] In the U.S., the first New Wavers were the not-so-punk acts associated with the New York club CBGB, such as Talking Heads, Mink DeVille and Blondie.^[10] CBGB owner Hilly Kristal, referring to the first show of the band Television at his club in March 1974, said, "I think of that as the beginning of new wave."^[30] Furthermore, many artists who would have originally been classified as punk were also termed New Wave. A 1977 Phonogram Records compilation album of the same name (New Wave) features US artists including the Dead Boys, Ramones, Talking Heads and The Runaways.^[10][31]

The New Wave sound of this era represented a break from the smooth-oriented blues and rock & roll sounds of late 1960s to mid 1970s rock music. According to music journalist Simon Reynolds, the music had a twitchy, agitated feel to it. New Wave musicians often played choppy rhythm guitars with fast tempos. Keyboards were common as were stop-and-start song structures and melodies. Reynolds noted that New Wave vocalists sounded high-pitched, geeky and suburban.^[15]

Power pop, a genre that started before punk at the very beginning of the 1970s, became associated with New Wave at the end of the decade because their brief catchy songs fit into the mood of the era. The Romantics, The Records, The Motors,^[10] Cheap Trick, and 20/20 were groups that had success playing this style.^[32] Helped by the success of power pop groups such as The Knack, skinny ties became fashionable among New Wave musicians.^[9]

A revival of ska music led by The Specials, Madness and the The Beat/English Beat added humor and a strong dance beat to New Wave.^[3]

Later still, "New Wave" came to imply a less noisy, often synthesizer-based, pop sound. The term post-punk was coined to describe groups such as Siouxsie and the Banshees, Joy Division, Gang of Four and The Cure, which were initially considered part of the New Wave but were more ambitious, serious and challenging, darker, and less pop oriented. Some of these groups would later adopt synths.^[33][34] Although distinct, punk, New Wave, and post-punk all shared common ground: an energetic reaction to what they perceived as the overproduced, uninspired popular music of the 1970s.^[35]

Allmusic explained that New Wave's stylistic diversity occurred because New Wave "retained the fresh vigor and irreverence of punk music, as well as a fascination with electronics, style, and art". This diversity extended to the numerous one hit wonders that came out of the genre.^[37][38]

The term fell out of favour in the United Kingdom during the early 1980s because its usage had become too general.^[10] Conventional wisdom holds that the genre "died" in the middle of the 1980s. Theo Cateforis, Assistant Professor of Music History and Cultures at Syracuse University, contends New Wave "receded" during this period when advances in synthesizer technology caused New Wave groups and mainstream pop and rock groups to sound more alike.^[9]

MTV brought an "image is everything" mantra to New Wave during the 1980s. New Wave men put eyeliner on and New Wave women wore pants. Pants were tucked inside boots. Lingerie was worn on the outside, and sequined gloves were popular. Hair was dyed red, gold and green.^[39]

Related movements in Europe[link]

In Finland in the wake of Punk and New Wave the Suomi-Rock phenomenon occurred. Eppu Normaali were the seminal act of this phenomenon.^[12] During the late 1970s and early 1980s in Amsterdam a movement that mixed the post punk and New Wave early 1980s emerged called Ultra, which was an abbreviation for ultra modern. More garage-oriented New Wave became popular in Holland during the late 1980s. Clan of Xymox and Minny Pops became successful abroad and contributed to the maturation of Dutch Alternative Pop.^[40]

The New Romantic scene had developed in the London nightclubs Billy's and The Blitz and was associated with bands including Duran Duran, Japan, Ultravox, Visage, Adam and the Ants, Bow Wow Wow, Soft Cell, Spandau Ballet, ABC and Culture Club.^[41] They adopted their visual and musical style from David Bowie and Roxy Music.^[42] The Italian scene between the end of '70s and the '80s was very important for the new wave, because^[who?] there were some groups and singers like Krisma, Franco Battiato, Giuni Russo, Alice, Diaframma, Pankow, Garbo, Fausto Rossi, Alberto Camerini, Garbo Litfiba and CCCP Fedeli alla linea. Some of them, like Krisma and Battiato, experimented with a very avant-garde music.^{[citation needed][original research?]}

Reception in the United States[link]

In the summer of 1977 both Time^[43] and Newsweek magazines wrote favorable lead stories on the "punk/new wave" movement.^[37] Acts associated with the movement received little or no radio airplay or music industry support. Small scenes developed in major cities. Continuing into the next year, public support remained limited to select elements of the artistic, bohemian and intellectual population,^[23] as arena rock and disco dominated the charts.^[38]

Debbie Harry from the band Blondie, performing at Maple Leaf Gardens, Toronto, in 1977.

Starting in late 1978 and continuing into 1979, acts associated with punk and acts that mixed punk with other genres began to make chart appearances and receive airplay on rock stations. Blondie, Talking Heads, The Police and The Cars would chart during this period.^[9][38] "My Sharona", a single from The Knack, was Billboard magazine's number one single of 1979. The success of "My Sharona" prompted record companies to rush out and sign New Wave groups.^[9] New Wave music scenes developed in Ohio^[38] and Athens, Georgia.^[44] 1980 saw brief forays into New Wave-styled music by non-New Wave artists Billy Joel and Linda Ronstadt.^[9] The release during this period of Gary Numan's album The Pleasure Principle would be the pop chart breakthrough for Synthpop acts with a cool, detached stage presence and no "definable gender characteristics".^[38]

Early in 1980 highly influential radio consultant Lee Abrams wrote a memo saying with a few exceptions "we're not going to be seeing many of the New Wave circuit acts happening very big over here (in America). As a movement, we don't expect it to have much influence." Lee Ferguson, a consultant to KWST interviewed at the time, said Los Angeles radio stations were banning disc jockeys from using the term and noted, "Most of the people who call music New Wave are the ones looking for a way not to play it."^[45] Second albums by artists who had successful debut albums, along with the newly signed artists, both failed to sell and radio pulled most New Wave programming.^[9]

The arrival of MTV in 1981 would usher in New Wave's most successful era. British artists, unlike many of their American counterparts, had learned how to use the music video early on.^[38][46] Several British acts signed to independent labels were able to outmarket and outsell American artists that were signed with major labels. Journalists labeled this phenomenon a "Second British Invasion".^[46][47] MTV continued its heavy rotation of videos by New Wave-oriented acts until 1987, when it changed to a heavy metal and rock dominated format.^[48]

Martha Davis of The Motels performs at Hollywood Park.

In a December 1982 Gallup poll, 14% of teenagers rated New Wave music as their favorite type of music, making it the third most popular.^[49] New Wave had its greatest popularity on the West Coast. Unlike other genres, race was not a factor in the popularity of New Wave music, according to the poll. ^[49] Urban Contemporary radio stations were the first to play dance-oriented New Wave artists such as the B-52's, Culture Club, Duran Duran and ABC.^[50] By this period the definition of New Wave music in the United States (and the Philippines^[39]) had changed from the less rebellious, more commercial version of punk that it had been described as a few years earlier. For most of the remainder of the 1980s the term "New Wave" was used in America to describe nearly every new pop or pop rock artist that largely used synthesizers. New Wave is still used today to describe these acts, as well as late 1970s and 1980s post-punk and alternative acts.^[3][51][52]

Fans, music journalists, and artists rebelled against this catch-all definition by inventing dozens of genre names.^[9][38] Synthpop or "Technopop" as it was described by the U.S. press,^[53] which filled a void left by disco,^[20] was a broad subgenre that included groups such as The Human League, Depeche Mode, Soft Cell, a-ha, New Order, Orchestral Manoeuvres In The Dark, Yazoo,^[54] Ultravox,^[38] Kajagoogoo,^[55] and the Thompson Twins.^[56]

New Wave soundtracks were used in mainstream "Brat Pack" films such as Valley Girl, Sixteen Candles, Pretty In Pink, and The Breakfast Club.^[38][57] John Hughes, a director of several of these films, was enthralled with British New Wave Music and put music from acts such as The Psychedelic Furs, Simple Minds, and Echo and The Bunnymen into his films, helping put New Wave into the mainstream. Several of these songs remain standards of the era.^[58] Critics described the MTV acts as shallow or vapid,^[38][46] but the danceable quality of the music and quirky fashion sense associated with New Wave artists appealed to audiences.^[38] The use of synthesizers by New Wave acts influenced the development of house music in Chicago and techno in Detroit. New Wave’s indie spirit would be crucial to the development of college rock and grunge/alternative rock in the latter half of the 1980s and beyond.^[38] New Wave is considered part of alternative rock today.^[3]

Post-1980s revivals and influence[link]

Franz Ferdinand performing in 2006.

In 1991 retro futurist acts such as Stereolab and Saint Etienne mixed New Wave and kitschy 1960s pop.^[59] In the aftermath of grunge, the British music press launched a campaign to promote the New Wave of New Wave. This campaign involved overtly punk and New Wave influenced acts such as Elastica and Smash but was eclipsed by Britpop.^[10] Other acts of note during the 1990s included No Doubt, Metric,^[60] Six Finger Satellite, and Brainiac.^[11][61] During that decade the synthesizer-heavy dance sounds of British and European New Wave acts influenced various incarnations of Eurodisco and trance.^[20][38] Chris Martin was inspired to start Coldplay by a-ha.^[62]

During the 2000s a number of acts emerged that mined from a diversity of New Wave and post-punk influences. Among these were The Strokes, Interpol, Yeah Yeah Yeahs, Franz Ferdinand, The Epoxies, She Wants Revenge, Bloc Party, Foals,^[63] Kaiser Chiefs, and The Killers. These acts were sometimes labeled "New New Wave". By 2004 these acts were described as "hot".^[18] New Wave became revived during the mid 2000s with acts such as The Sounds, The Ting Tings, The Birthday Massacre,^[64] Hot Chip,^[65][66] Passion Pit,^[67] The Presets,^[68] La Roux, Ladytron,^[69] Shiny Toy Guns,^[70] Hockey,^[71] Gwen Stefani, Ladyhawke, and Marina and the Diamonds.^{[11][18][72][73][74][75][76][77][78][79][80]} While some journalists and fans regarded this as a revival, others argue that the phenomenon is a continuation of the original movements.^{[11][81][82][83]} The Drums are an example of the current trend in the United States indie pop scene that mines both the sounds and attitudes of the British New Wave Era. British group La Roux, who had a number 8 single on Billboard's Hot 100, is an example of the influence New Wave is having on indie dance.^{[19][20][21][84]} In addition, in the late 2000s a New Wave influenced genre called Chillwave developed. Notable artists are Toro Y Moi, Neon Indian, Twin Shadow and Washed Out.^[85][86][87]

Disney Channel stars such as Jonas Brothers and Hannah Montana embraced new wave sounds.^[22] Hip-hop artists commonly sample 1980s synthpop and R&B artists such as Rihanna have also embraced that subgenre.^[22]

Many have claimed that daring, spunky and over-the-top fashions of today's stars such as Katy Perry and Lady Gaga channel 1980s New Wave fashion.^[39]

Parallel movements[link]

• Coldwave
• Dark Wave
• Neue Deutsche Welle
• No Wave
• Yugoslav New Wave
• Movida española

See also[link]

• List of New Wave bands and artists
• Electronic rock

References[link]

External links[link]

• About.com Profile of the New Wave Genre
• Encyclopædia Britannica Definition
• St. James Encyclopedia of Pop Culture Article
• Punk 2 New Wave Top 100 list and short reviews
• Rolling Stone Magazine's Rock and Roll Daily blog Favorite 1980s New Wave Lists Reporters, Readers
• A Real New Wave Rolls Out of Ohio Robert Christgau for The Village Voice 17 April 1978
• 1997 Interview with Brat Pack Film Director John Hughes Published MTV 7 August 2009
• Walking on the Moon: The Untold Story of the Police and the Rise of New Wave book by Chris Campion previewed by Google Books
• Rock Against the Bloc A look back at the Punk/New Wave movement in Poland by the Krakow Post 1 February 2010
• Drowning In My Nostalgia Philippine Inquirer 7 September 2002 A critic looks back at her teenage fan days in The Philippines and Los Angeles

Further reading[link]

• Cateforis, Theodore. Are We Not New Wave?: Modern Pop at the Turn of the 1980s . University of Michigan Press, June 7, 2011. ISBN 978-0-472-03470-3.
• Buckszpa, Danial. The Encyclopedia of New Wave. Sterling Publishing, May 1, 2012 ISBN 978-1-4027-8472-9

v t e Punk rock Sub-Genres 2 Tone Anarcho-punk Art punk Celtic punk Christian punk Cowpunk Crust punk Dance-punk Deathrock Digital hardcore Folk punk Garage punk Glam punk Gothic rock Gypsy punk Hardcore punk Horror punk Nazi punk New Wave No Wave Noise rock Oi! Pop punk Post-hardcore Post-punk Psychobilly Punk blues Punk jazz Punk Pathetique Queercore Rapcore Riot grrrl Scottish Gaelic punk Ska punk Skate punk Street punk Synthpunk Taqwacore Trallpunk Other topics Afro-punk Protopunk DIY ethic First wave punk musicians Second wave punk musicians List of punk bands #–K L–Z Punk subculture Punk fashion Punk ideologies Punk visual art Moshing Punk literature Punk zine Straight edge Punk films (list) Punk filmmakers Timeline of punk rock Portal

This article does not cite any references or sources. Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. (February 2012)

The topic of this article may not meet Wikipedia's general notability guideline. Please help to establish notability by adding reliable, secondary sources about the topic. If notability cannot be established, the article is likely to be merged, redirected, or deleted. (February 2012)

Wave Music is an independent dance music record label founded in 1995 by François Kevorkian, headquartered in New York City.

Its catalog features a wide spectrum of musical styles by many different artists, as well as several compilation series, such as Body&SOUL-NYC, Deep&Sexy, Bossa Mundo, and Frequencies.

Over the years, Wave Music has launched a variety of imprints (sub-labels) such as Wavetec, clicktracks, Wave Classics, Streetwave, and Deep Space Media. As well, it distributes other independent labels such as Chez Music and Bombay Records.

Selected List Of Artists[link]

• A Hundred Birds
• Abstract Truth
• Alphamotive
• Beat Pharmacy
• Barbara Mendes
• Blue 6
• Boyd Jarvis
• Carlos 'GoGo' Gomez
• D'Malicious
• Eric Kupper Presents Organika
• Eternal Sun
• Floppy Sounds
• Fonda Rae
• François K.
• Kevin Aviance
• Matthias 'Matty' Heilbronn
• Moments Of Soul
• Peckham Royalty
• Solu Music
• Willie Graff & T.Tauri

See also[link]

• List of record labels

External links[link]

• Wave Music Official Site
• Discogs Listing for Wave Music
• Wave Music on MySpace

Look up New Wave in Wiktionary, the free dictionary.

New Wave may refer to:

Movements in film[link]

• Australian New Wave
• French New Wave, or Nouvelle Vague, the inaugural New Wave cinema movement
• Indian New Wave, or Parallel Cinema, which began around the same time as the French New Wave
• Japanese New Wave, or Nuberu Bagu, which also developed around the same time as the French Nouvelle Vague
• Persian New Wave, or Iranian New Wave, started in the 1960s
• New German Cinema, new wave of German cinema
• Czechoslovak New Wave
• Cinema Novo or Novo Cinema, a movement in Brazilian and Portuguese film
• Hong Kong New Wave, a movement in Hong Kong film led by Tsui Hark
• Romanian New Wave
• British New Wave
• Taiwan New Wave
• Thai New Wave
• New Hollywood, also known as the American New Wave

Movements in music[link]

• New Wave music, in the United Kingdom and the United States in the late 1970s and through the 1980s
• New Wave of British Heavy Metal
• New Wave of American Heavy Metal
• Neue Deutsche Welle, the German New Wave music movement in the late 1970s and early 1980s
• Yugoslav New Wave, aka Novi Val, Novi Talas or Nov Bran, the New Wave scene in Yugoslavia in the late 1970s and early 1980s
• Nueva ola, a form of Spanish language popular music inspired on the musical developments of US and Europe in the 50s and 60s

Albums and songs[link]

• New Wave (The Auteurs album), 1993
• New Wave (Against Me! album), 2007
• New Wave (The Challengers album), 1995
• New Wave (Dizzy Gillespie album), 1963
• "The New Wave", a 1994 single by the band Daft Punk
• New Wave (Against Me! song)

Other[link]

• New Wave science fiction, a movement in science fiction
• New Wave (design), a typographical design philosophy
• HP NewWave, a software product released by Hewlett-Packard circa 1988
• The New Wave (comics), a 1986 comic book by Eclipse Comics
• New Wave (comics), a fictional character in the DC Comics universe
• New Wave (competition), an annual international competition of young singers of popular music
• New Wave Kitakyushu, a Japanese football (soccer) club

This disambiguation page lists articles associated with the same title. If an internal link led you here, you may wish to change the link to point directly to the intended article.

Klaus Sperber (January 24, 1944 – August 6, 1983), better known as Klaus Nomi, was a German countertenor noted for his wide vocal range and an unusual, otherworldly stage persona.

Nomi was known for his bizarrely visionary theatrical live performances, heavy make-up, unusual costumes, and a highly stylized signature hairdo which flaunted a receding hairline. His songs were equally unusual, ranging from synthesizer-laden interpretations of classical music opera to covers of 1960s pop standards like Chubby Checker's "The Twist" and Lou Christie's "Lightnin' Strikes". He is remembered in the US as one of David Bowie's backup singers for a 1979 performance on Saturday Night Live.^[1]

Nomi died in 1983 at the age of 39 as a result of complications from AIDS.^[2]

Early life[link]

Klaus Nomi was born Klaus Sperber in Immenstadt, Bavaria, Germany on January 24, 1944. In the 1960s, he worked as an usher at the Deutsche Oper in West Berlin where he sang for the other ushers and maintenance crew on stage in front of the fire curtain after performances. Around that time he also sang opera arias at the Berlin gay discothèque Kleist Casino.^{[citation needed]}

Nomi moved to New York City in 1972.^[3][4] He began his involvement with the art scene based in the East Village. According to a documentary film made by Andrew Horn,^{[citation needed]} Nomi took singing lessons and supported himself working as a pastry chef.

Career[link]

In 1972, Nomi appeared in a satirical camp production of Richard Wagner's Das Rheingold at Charles Ludlam's Ridiculous Theater Company as the Rheinmaidens and the Wood Bird.^[5][6]

Nomi came to the attention of New York City's art scene in 1978 with his performance in "New Wave Vaudeville", a four-night event MC'd by artist David McDermott. Dressed in a skin-tight spacesuit with clear plastic cape, Klaus sang the aria Mon cœur s'ouvre à ta voix ("My heart opens to your voice") from Camille Saint-Saëns' 1877 opera Samson et Dalila. The performance ended with a chaotic crash of strobe lights, smoke bombs, and loud electronic sound effects as Nomi backed away into the smoke. Joey Arias recalled: "I still get goose pimples when I think about it... It was like he was from a different planet and his parents were calling him home. When the smoke cleared, he was gone." The reaction was so overwhelmingly positive that he was invited to perform at clubs all over New York City.^[7]

At the New Wave Vaudeville show Klaus Nomi met Kristian Hoffman, songwriter for the Mumps. Hoffman was a performer and MC in the second incarnation of New Wave Vaudeville and a close friend of Susan Hannaford and Tom Scully, who produced the show, and Ann Magnuson, who directed it.

Anya Phillips, then manager of James Chance in the Contortions, suggested Klaus and Kristian form a band. Hoffman became Klaus' de facto musical director, assembling a band that included Page Wood from another New Wave vaudeville act, Come On, and Joe Katz, who was concurrently in The Student Teachers, the Accidents, and The Mumps.

Hoffman helped Klaus choose his pop covers, including the Lou Christie song "Lightning Strikes." Hoffman wrote several pop songs with which Klaus is closely identified: "The Nomi Song", "Total Eclipse", "After The Fall", and "Simple Man", the title song of Nomi's second RCA French LP.

This configuration of the Klaus Nomi band performed at Manhattan clubs, including several performances at Max's Kansas City, Danceteria and Hurrah.

Disagreements with the management Klaus engaged led to a dissolution of this band, and Klaus continued without them.

In the late 1970s while performing at Club 57, The Mudd Club, The Pyramid Club, and other venues, Nomi assembled a group of up-and-coming models, singers, artists, and musicians to perform live with him, which at times included Joey Arias, Jean-Michel Basquiat, Keith Haring, John Sex and Kenny Scharf.^[7] He also appeared on Manhattan Cable's TV Party. David Bowie heard about Nomi's performances in New York and soon met him and Joey Arias at the Mudd Club. Bowie hired them as performers and backup singers for his appearance on Saturday Night Live which aired on December 15, 1979. The band performed "TVC 15", "The Man Who Sold the World", and "Boys Keep Swinging". During the performance of "TVC 15", Nomi and Arias dragged around a large prop pink poodle with a television screen in its mouth. Nomi was so impressed with the plastic quasi-tuxedo suit that Bowie wore during "The Man Who Sold the World" that he commissioned one to be made for himself. Nomi can be seen wearing the suit on the cover of his self-titled album, as well as during a number of his music videos. Nomi wore his variant of the outfit, in monochromatic black-and-white with spandex and makeup to match, until the last few months of his life. Klaus Nomi released his second album titled Simple Man in November, 1982 Simple Man (Klaus Nomi album) which during this time was focusing more on operatic pieces and was becoming increasingly ill with AIDS-related illnesses, including Kaposi's sarcoma, he wore a Baroque era operatic outfit complete with full collar.

Nomi also collaborated with producer Man Parrish. He appeared on Parrish's album Hip Hop Bee Bop as a backup vocalist on the track "Six Simple Synthesizers."

He played a supporting role as a Nazi official in Anders Grafstrom's 1980 underground film The Long Island Four.^[8]

The 1981 rock documentary film, Urgh! A Music War features Nomi's live performance of Total Eclipse.^[7] His performance of Mon cœur s'ouvre à ta voix was used as the music for the closing credits.

666 Fifth Avenue was listed as the contact address in the liner notes of Nomi's 1981 self-titled record.

Illness and death[link]

Nomi died on August 6, 1983 at the Sloan Kettering Hospital Center in New York City, one of the first celebrities to die of complications from AIDS.^[9] His ashes were scattered over New York City.^[10]

In popular culture[link]

Filmmakers such as Andrew Horn and writers such as Jim Fouratt consider Nomi an important part of the 1980s East Village scene, which was a hotbed of development for punk rock, music, the visual arts, and the avant-garde. Although Nomi's work had not yet met with national commercial success at the time of his death, he garnered a cult following, mainly in New York and in France.

Andrew Horn's 2004 feature documentary about Nomi's life, The Nomi Song, which was released by Palm Pictures, helped spur renewed interest in the singer, including an art exhibit in San Francisco at the New Langton Arts gallery and one in Milan (Italy) at the Res Pira Lab, which subsequently moved to Berlin's Strychnin Gallery, called "Do You Nomi?". New music pieces inspired by Nomi were commissioned by the gallery from a variety of up and coming European musicians, among these the singer who is considered by many Nomi's heir, Ernesto Tomasini.^[11]

In 2001 German band Rosenstolz, featuring alternative pop stars Marc Almond and Nina Hagen, covered "Total Eclipse" for a maxi single CD release.

British pop icon Morrissey used the song Wayward Sisters as an introduction prior to appearing on stage to begin a concert for his Kill Uncle tour. He used the song After the Fall in the same way during his 2007 American tour. Morrissey included Nomi's song Death in his compilation of influential songs titled Under the Influence, after selecting it in 1984 as the last track for his appearance on the BBC radio show 'My Top 10'. Morrissey also chose Nomi's version of Schumann's "Der Nussbaum" ("The Walnut Tree") as one his selections on BBC Radio 4's "Desert Island Discs" in November 2009.

On television, a fictionalized version of Klaus Nomi appears in a two-part episode of animated comedy/adventure series The Venture Bros. This version is a super-villain and bodyguard for David Bowie (who in the Venture Brothers universe, is also a shape-shifting super-villain known as "The Sovereign") and possesses sonic scream powers. The episode also implies that Klaus, in the Venture Brothers universe, never contracted AIDS and is still an active musician.

Nomi's cover of Lesley Gore's 1964 hit "You Don't Own Me" has been featured on the nationally broadcast The Rush Limbaugh Show as the "Gay Update Theme".

Nomi's visual aesthetic has been noted as an influence on women's fashion such as Boudicca, Givenchy, and Paco Rabanne,^[12] as well as men's fashion designers such as Gareth Pugh and Bruno Pieters for Hugo Boss.^[13] Jean Paul Gaultier's Spring 2009 couture was influenced by Nomi^[14] and he used Nomi's recording of Nomi Song in his runway show.^[15]

Kazakh-American tenor^[16] Timur Bekbosunov,^[17] profiled in LA Weekly's Best of LA People 2011 issue as 'The Reform Tenor',^[18] recorded Total Eclipse and performed it on America's Got Talent Season 10 ^[19] with his dark glam opera band, Timur and the Dime Museum,^[20][21] and composer of the song, Kristian Hoffman, at the piano. According to Kristian Hoffman, "Timur sang Total Eclipse to the utter befuddlement of the panel of judges, with the exception of Sharon Osbourne who gave some encouragement".^[22]

A biographical musical titled You Don't Nomi is in development by French playwright Baptiste Delval and director Nicolas Guilleminot. The title role is assigned to singer Matthieu d'Aurey who will share the stage with actor Denis d'Arcangelo. The play was presented in Paris on June 10, 2011 during a public reading. The team is looking for producers.^[23][24]

Discography[link]

References[link]

External links[link]

• Klaus Nomi Keys Of Life
• Klaus Nomi Za Bakdaz
• Klaus Nomi Home Page
• The Nomi Song, a documentary feature film devoted to the life of Klaus Nomi
• "Lightning Strikes" music video
• "Falling in Love Again" music video
• "The Cold Song" music video
• "Samson and Delilah Aria" music video
• "Three Wishes" music video

This article's references may not meet Wikipedia's guidelines for reliable sources. Please help by checking whether the references meet the criteria for reliable sources. (April 2010)

This article needs additional citations for verification. Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. (April 2010)

Cetu Javu were a German synthpop band which released songs between 1987 and the mid-1990s. The band consisted of Chris Demere, Stefan Engelke, Torsten Engelke, and Javier Revilla-Diez. The lead singer of the band, Javier Revilla-Diez, was a Spaniard, so while most of the band's songs were sung in English, some were sung in Spanish.

Cetu Javu had several dance hits with "Situations", "Have In Mind (the Kalimba Mix)" and "Adónde" in 1988.^[1]

Their former lead singer Javier Revilla-Diez is currently a Professor of Geography at Leibniz University of Hannover.^[2]

Cetu Javu released two albums, Southern Lands (ZYX Music, 1990)^[3] and Where Is Where (Blanco y Negro Records, 1992).^[4]

References[link]