Catharina “Nina” Hagen was born March 11, 1955, in (communist) East Berlin, where she was an opera prodigy-turned pop star by age 17. At 21, she was kicked out of East Germany for being a provocative punk rocker. That’s a false Urban myth that rings close enough to the truth: her Emigration Petition was approved.

Nina Hagen has since become a household name in much of Europe (Eastern and Western) and has a cult following around the world. This singer-songwriter-actress has a reputation as wide as her 5-octave vocal prowess, from some variation of “scandalous lunatic“ that repels, to a divine force of nature that compels (having a devout loyal following).

In 1983, “the Mother of Punk” birthed her 4th LP with the father of disco, Giorgio Moroder. Fearless’ vinyl grooves of dance-new-wave sounds polarized fans, but sold enough spins in D.J. frequencies (nightclubs). It landed a U.S. Top Ten 12” dance mix. Nina sings the refrain, “New York, New York”, in the high-end of her contralto opera pitches.

Ten years earlier, as the singer for the East German band Automobil, the government (being the post WW2 Soviet-controlled Eastern “GDR” Bloc of Germany) approved one of their songs for release,“Du hast den Farbfilm Vergessen”. Translation: “You Forgot the Colour Film”. This 1974 song wasn’t “punk”, but in a sense it was, given the ambiguous lyrical metaphor, a snapshot at the constraining drab gray of walled-in East Germany. Meant to be a parody of Germany’s “Schlagger” genre, it was a big hit. Resonating in time outgoing Chancellor Angela Merkel chose it as one of 3 for her ceremonial military send-off in 2021.

Nina’s rise in the punk scenes of the late 1970s and early 1980s began in earnest with 1978’s Nina Hagen Band in West Berlin, West Germany, and beyond. The second Nina Hagen Band album delivered “African Reggae”, one of her most popular songs. In 1984, she declared herself to the world:I’m the mother of punk, so what the funk?.

Her first album as “Nina Hagen” was the proto-punk alternative-1982 NunSexMonkRock (originally on CBS Records). That album, her 2001 “comeback” album, Return of the Mother, and her 2010 Christian-blues-gospel record Personal Jesus are the only three Nina albums-proper available through major North American streaming outlets.

Her repertoire of 15 studio albums includes a double album; the Vedic chanting Om Namah Shivay. Proceeds were for charity.

Her spiritual and activist nature, whether viewed with disdain or adoration, commands attention, entertainingly, on whatever platform (or non-platform). Whether chanting as a “shiva diva” or singing “Ave Maria”, she’s best known for her own songs, and self-adulatory lyrics, e.g., “I’m a goddess; plus I’m modest" (from “So Bad”). 2023 will mark 3 decades since Revolution Ballroom’s lead song “So Bad” declared “The World is so bad, the I.R.A. and R.A.F.?…are we really blind and deaf?”, along with a litany of assertions, most effectively resonate on screen.