Nina Hagen
 Nina Hagen was born in the Eastern section of Berlin on 11 March
1955 to actress Eva Marie Hagen and writer Hans Hagen.
Her parents
divorced when she was two, and at the age of six she began school
in East Germany. In 1965 she joined the Thalmann Pioneers, a
Communist youth organization, and a year later the dissident poet
and songwriter Wold Biermann became her stepfather.
Hagen joined the FDJ (Freie Deutsche Jugend), another
East German youth movement in 1968 but was thrown out in disgrace
a year later because of her involvement with Biermann.
Foremost
was her part in a Biermann protest of the participation of East
German troops in the invasion of Czechoslovakia.
Leaving school in 1977, Nina travelled to Poland where she sang
for the first time with a band.
She sang four songs each evening
and remembers them as one blues song, two by Janis Joplin and a
Tina Turner song. It was also in Poland that she first thought of
going over to the West.
 In 1978 she began at the Studio für Unterhaltungsmusik
(Studio for popular music) and left with outstanding honours, and
as part of her training toured East Germany for two months. On the
tour she sang two songs, one English blues and Der Hahn (The
Rooster) - an East German rock & roll song.
A few more years were spent touring East Germany with the
Aldons Wonneberg Orchestra, but tiring of this Nina decided to
start her own band - initially an outfit called Automobil, and
then Fritzens Dampferband (Fred's Steamboat Band).
When Wodl Biermann was expelled from East Germany in 1976,
Hagen decided to exit as well. On 9 December she arrived in the
Federal Republic of Germany and soon had a recording contract. She
flew to London, met up with The Slits, and wrote some songs with
Ari Up.
Meeting guitarist Bernhard Potschka in West Berlin, she
formed The Nina Hagen Band and released the single African
Reggae.
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