name	Thomas D.
background	solo_singer
birth name	Thomas Dürr
birth date	December 30, 1968
origin	Ditzingen, Germany
genre	German hip hop
associated acts	Die Fantastischen VierSon Goku
website	www.thomasd.net
notable instruments	}}

Thomas D. (born Thomas Dürr, December 30, 1968 in Ditzingen close to Stuttgart, Germany) is a rapper in the German hip hop group Die Fantastischen Vier. He frequently works on solo projects.

Life

After finishing Realschule he took on an apprenticeship as a barber. Because he frequently worked as a caretaker (German: Hausmeister), he gave himself the stage name "Hausmeister Thomas D."

He has been vegan for several years and supports the animal welfare organization PETA. In 2003, he was criticised for his approval of their exhibition ''Holocaust on Your Plate'', which compared keeping animals in mass stocks to the crimes of the Holocaust.

He sees himself as a member of the Lohas ("Lifestyle of Health and Sustainability") movement and is fond of green ecologial initiatives. On stage he often wears T-Shirts from Fairtrade Label armedangels, all of his Merchandise items are fair traded as well.

Thomas D. is married, has one daughter and one son.

Work

Thomas D. is a member of Die Fantastischen Vier, but was also successful with his solo albums ''Solo'' (1997), ''Lektionen in Demut'' (2001), and ''Kennzeichen D'' (2008). Singles released from these albums include ''Rückenwind'', ''Frisör'', ''Liebesbrief'', and ''Solo'' (featuring Nina Hagen). Outside Germany, he is probably best known for ''Wish (Komm zu mir)'' which he performed with Franka Potente on the soundtrack of the movie Run Lola Run.

He was also the singer and songwriter of the band Son Goku, who entered the German charts with ''Alle für Jeden'' (album: ''Crashkurs'') in 2002.

In 2010 he made the song "Million Voices (7 Seconds)" The biggest online choir from Thomas D and Telekom (T-Mobile).

In 2012, he will be the jury president of Unser Star für Baku, the German selection for the Eurovision Song Contest 2012 in Baku.

External links

Official website

Discography at Discogs

Thomas D. at Four Music

Category:1968 births Category:Living people Category:German rappers Category:People from Stuttgart

de:Thomas D he:תומאס דה pl:Thomas D

Name	Nina Hagen
Background	solo_singer
Birth name	Catharina Hagen
Birth date	March 11, 1955
Origin	East Berlin, German Democratic Republic
Genre	Punk rockPost-punkNew wave Gothic rockGlam rockNeue Deutsche WelleGospel
Occupation	Singer, Activist
Years active	1971–present
Associated acts	Automobil The Nina Hagen Band Apocalyptica
Label	Columbia Records Mercury Records
Website	nina-hagen.com}}

Nina Hagen (born 11 March 1955) is a German singer and actress.

Early years

Hagen was born as Catharina Hagen in the former East Berlin, East Germany, the daughter of Hans Hagen (also known as Hans Oliva-Hagen), a scriptwriter, and Eva-Maria Hagen, an actress and singer. Her paternal grandfather died in the Sachsenhausen concentration camp (one of her great-grandparents was Jewish). Her parents divorced when she was two years old, and growing up she saw her father infrequently. At age four, she began to study ballet, and was considered an opera prodigy by the time she was nine.

When Hagen was 11, her mother married Wolf Biermann, an anti-establishment singer-songwriter. Biermann's political views later influenced young Hagen.

Hagen left school at age sixteen, and went to Poland, where she began her career. After that, she returned to Germany and joined the cover band Fritzens Dampferband (''Fritzen's Steamboat Band'', together with Achim Mentzel and others). She added songs by Janis Joplin and Tina Turner to the "allowable" set lists during shows.

From 1972–73, Hagen enrolled in the crash-course performance program at The Central Studio for Light Music in East Berlin. Upon graduation, she formed the band Automobil.

Music career

1970s

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") in 1974. However, her musical career in East Germany was cut short when she and her mother left the country in 1976, following the expulsion of her stepfather.

The circumstances surrounding the family's emigration were exceptional: Biermann was granted permission to perform a televised concert in Cologne, but denied permission to re-cross the border to his 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. Just four days later her request was granted, and she settled in Hamburg, where she was signed to a CBS-affiliated record label. Her label advised her to acclimate herself to Western culture through travel, and she arrived in London during the height of the punk rock movement. Hagen was quickly taken up by a circle that included The Slits and the Sex Pistols; Johnny Rotten was a particular admirer.

Back in Germany by mid-1977, Hagen formed the Nina Hagen Band in West Berlin's Kreuzberg district. In 1978 they released their self-titled debut album, which 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.

According to reviewer Fritz Rumler:

''… she thrusts herself into the music, aggressively, directly, furiously, roars in the most beautiful opera alto, then, through shrieks and squeals, precipitates into luminous soprano heights, she parodies, satirises, and howls on stage like a dervish''.

The album gained significant attention throughout Germany and abroad, both for its hard rock sound and for Hagen's theatrical vocals, 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 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" and a 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 another panelist. The talk show host had to step down following this controversy.

She also acted with Dutch rocker Herman Brood and singer Lene Lovich in the 1979 film ''Cha Cha''.

1980s

A European tour with a new band in 1980 was cancelled, 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.

In late 1980, Hagen discovered she was pregnant, broke up with the father-to-be Ferdinand Karmelk, and moved to Los Angeles. Her daughter, Cosma Shiva Hagen, was born in Santa Monica on 17 May 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 were becoming stranger and 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 (#45 USA) song "Ich weiss, es wird einmal ein Wunder geschehen") and the disco/punk/opera song, "New York New York" (#9 USA).

Her 1985 album ''Nina Hagen In Ekstasy'' fared less well, but did generate club hits with "Universal Radio" (#39 USA) and a cover of "Spirit In The Sky" and also featured a 1979 recording of her hardcore punk take on Frank Sinatra'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. Her contract with CBS over, she released the ''Punk Wedding'' EP independently in 1987, a celebration of her marriage to a 17-year-old-punk nicknamed 'Iroquois'. 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.

In 1989 she had a relationship with Frank Chevallier from France, with whom she has a son, Otis Chevallier-Hagen.

1990s

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 Laramy Smith recorded Nina at Ferber Studios in Paris, for the "Somebody Help Me" project, a song to aid the homeless worldwide available at laramysmith.com. In 1994, Nina 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 Jennifer Pieren 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'' appeared, 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 May 1996, she married David Lynn, who is fifteen years younger, 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. She also provided vocals to "Witness" and "Bereit" on KMFDM's ''Adios''.

Also in 1998 she recorded the official club anthem (Eisern Union !) for 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 Berthold Brecht, alongside Max Raabe. She also regularly performs songs by Kurt Weill, Hans Eisler and Paul Dessau set to Brecht's texts.

2000s

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 ''The Return of the Mother'' was released in February 2001, accompanied by another German tour. In 2001 she collaborated with Rosenstolz and Marc Almond on the single ''Total eclipse/Die schwarze Witwe'' that reached #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'', and she has also done voice work on the movie ''Hot Dogs'' by Michael Schoemann. 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'', 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. Her most recent 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 has been an active protester against the war in Iraq. In 2006 she was a part of the Popstars team. She is a vegetarian. In August 2009 she was baptized in the Protestant Reformed church of Schüttorf. On October 21 after seven years passed she visited Moscow again. Her latest album, ''Personal Jesus'' was released July 16, 2010, after a four year lapse.

Discography

''See: Nina Hagen discography''

Acting career

Filmography

+ Actor
! Year	! Film	! Role	Notes
2004		The Queen

Quotations

''Both of my parents were atheists, and I found the way to God all alone on my own. You have to invite him, so that he shows up.'' Asked if she was happy, she replied: ''Of course, I'm a family member of Christ and I have a Lord. He marched ahead of me and showed me the way.''

References

External links

Seltene Live/Video Aufnahmen von Nina Hagen

Nina Hagen discography

Nina Hagen Electronic Shrine

Trouser Press Nina Hagen Discography

Nina Hagen - MySpace page

Nina Hagen on Europopmusic.eu (English)

''Nina Hagen:'' Interview (German)

''Nina Hagen vertreibt Wissenschaftler aus Talkshow Maischberger'' (German)

Drop Dead Magazine with issue 0 with Nina Hagen on the cover as well as a large interview inside

1979 ''Club 2'' talk show with loose translation in ''More info''

Nina Hagen interviewed on Swedish TV during the 80s (English with Swedish subtitles)

Category:1955 births Category:Living people Category:People from East Berlin Category:Converts to Christianity Category:Female punk rock singers Category:Female New Wave singers Category:Female rock singers Category:Gothic rock musicians Category:German-language singers Category:German Calvinists Category:German vegetarians Category:German autobiographers Category:German female singers Category:German punk rock musicians

ar:نينا هاغن an:Nina Hagen cs:Nina Hagen da:Nina Hagen de:Nina Hagen es:Nina Hagen eo:Nina Hagen eu:Nina Hagen fo:Nina Hagen fr:Nina Hagen ko:니나 하겐 hsb:Nina Hagen io:Nina Hagen it:Nina Hagen ka:ნინა ჰაგენი lv:Nina Hāgena lt:Nina Hagen hu:Nina Hagen nl:Nina Hagen ja:ニーナ・ハーゲン no:Nina Hagen nn:Nina Hagen oc:Nina Hagen pl:Nina Hagen pt:Nina Hagen ru:Хаген, Нина sc:Nina Hagen sl:Nina Hagen fi:Nina Hagen sv:Nina Hagen yi:נינא האגען zh:尼娜·哈根

name	Franka Potente
birth date	July 22, 1974
birth place	Münster, North Rhine-Westphalia, West Germany (present-day Münster, North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany)
other names	Franke Potente
children	Polly (b. April 2011)
website	http://www.franka-potente.org
academyawards	'Shooting Stars' by European Film Promotion (1998)
occupation	ActressSinger
years active	1995– }}

Franka Potente (born July 22, 1974) is a German film actress and singer. She first appeared in the comedy ''After Five in the Forest Primeval'' (1995) and gained critical recognition in the action thriller ''Lola rennt'' (released in English as ''Run Lola Run'') (1998). Potente received Germany's highest film and television awards for her performances in ''Run Lola Run'' and ''Opernball''. After half a decade of critically acclaimed roles in German films, Potente went on to garner the role of Barbara Buckley in ''Blow'' (2001) and as Jason Bourne's love interest in ''The Bourne Identity'' (2002).

Early life

The elder of two children, Potente was born in Münster, and raised in nearby Dülmen. Her mother, Hildegard, is a medical assistant, and her father, Dieter Potente, is a teacher. Her Italian surname stems from her great-grandfather, a Sicilian slate mason who emigrated to Germany during the 19th century. At age 17, she spent some months as an exchange student in Humble, Texas, United States.

Career

After finishing high school in Germany, Potente enrolled at the Otto Falckenberg School of Performing Arts in Munich. Potente took acting jobs outside school time and appeared in her first movie in the 1995 student film ''Aufbruch''. She was then spotted by a casting agent and appeared in the film ''Nach Fünf im Urwald'' (''It's a Jungle Out There''), directed by her then-boyfriend, Hans Christian Schmid. She received the 1995 Bavarian Film Prize for Young Talent for her work in this film. She then finished her last year of training at the Lee Strasberg Theatre Institute in Manhattan.

Potente returned to Europe and worked in German and French films. She was cast as the lead in ''Lola Rennt'' (''Run Lola Run'') after meeting the director, Tom Tykwer, in a café. The part was written for her and although the film was a small-budget, art house film production, it was popular in Europe. Franka Potente also performed on the soundtrack. She made several more German-language films, including the horror film ''Anatomy'' and the romantic thriller ''The Princess and the Warrior'' also directed by Tykwer.

Potente's first English-language role was that of film editor in ''Storytelling'' in 2001. This was followed by a role in ''Blow'', with Johnny Depp, and the female lead in ''The Bourne Identity'', with Matt Damon, which she reprised in ''The Bourne Supremacy''. In 2006, she starred with Eric Bana in the Australian film ''Romulus, My Father'', for which she was nominated for an Australian Film Industry Award for Best Lead Actress. Also in 2006, she wrote and directed ''Der die Tollkirsche ausgräbt'', a silent comedy.

Starting on May 22, 2007, Potente had a three-episode recurring role in FX drama ''The Shield'', where she played Diro Kesakhian, "the ruthless godmother of LA's Armenian mafia".

In 2009, she appeared in the House M.D. television series two-part episode ''Broken''. In January 2011, she played Hilda in a BBC drama ''The Sinking of the Laconia''.

Personal life

In 2008, she was engaged to an American businessman; however, in September 2009, the couple separated and the engagement was called off. In April 2011 she gave birth to a daughter.

Filmography

! Year	! Title	! Role	Notes
1995	''After Five in the Forest Primeval''	Anna	Bavarian Film Award – Best Young Actress
1997	''Coming In''	Nina	Television film
1998		Gabrielle Becker	Television filmBavarian TV Award – Best Actress
1998	''Run Lola Run''	Lola	Bambi Award – Best Actress
1998	''Bin ich schön?''	Linda
1999	''Downhill City''	Peggy	Television film
2000		Paula Henning
2000	''''	Simone 'Sissi' Schmidt
2001		Barbara Buckley
2001		Editor
2002	''''	Marie Helena Kreutz
2002		Jane
2003	''I Love Your Work''	Mia
2003		Iris Sellin/Siri Sellin
2003	''Anatomy 2''	Paula Henning
2004	''''	Marie Helena Kreutz
2004		Kate
2005	''''	Annabelle
2006	''''	Diro Kesakhian	TV series. 3 episodes
2006	''Der die Tollkirsche ausgräbt''		Silent black-and-white movie, written and directed by Franka Potente
2007		Christine Anna Gaita (''née'' Dörr)
2007	''''	Marie Helena Kreutz	Flashbacks only
2007		Vera Less
2008
2008	''''	Elfie Bauer
2009		Joan
2009		Lydia
2010		Nadia	TV series, episode "One, Maybe Two, Ways Out"
2010		Leni
2011	''''	Hilda Smith	Television film - BBC Productions

Discography

Singles

"Believe" (1998)

"Wish (Komm Zu Mir)" (1998)

"Easy Day" (1999)

"Fly With Me" (2001)

Author/books

2005: ''Los Angeles - Berlin. Ein Jahr''

2006: ''Der die Tollkirsche ausgräbt, Drehbuch zum Film''

2009: ''Kick Ass - Das alternative Workout''

2010: ''Zehn: Stories''

References

External links

Online-Sedcard at Theaterkontakte.de

Category:1974 births Category:German expatriates in the United States Category:German film actors Category:German television actors Category:German people of Italian descent Category:Lee Strasberg Theatre Institute alumni Category:Living people Category:People from Münster

an:Franka Potente ca:Franka Potente cs:Franka Potente da:Franka Potente de:Franka Potente el:Φράνκα Ποτέντε es:Franka Potente eo:Franka Potente eu:Franka Potente fa:فرانکا پوتنته fr:Franka Potente hsb:Franka Potente id:Franka Potente it:Franka Potente he:פרנקה פוטנטה sw:Franka Potente la:Francisca Potente lt:Franka Potente hu:Franka Potente nl:Franka Potente ja:フランカ・ポテンテ no:Franka Potente nds:Franka Potente pl:Franka Potente pt:Franka Potente ru:Потенте, Франка sr:Франка Потенте fi:Franka Potente sv:Franka Potente tr:Franka Potente zh:法蘭卡·波坦特