Klaus Nomi

Infobox musical artist
Name = Klaus Nomi
Img_capt = Klaus Nomi's stage persona
Img_size = 200px
Background = solo_singer
Birth_name = Klaus Sperber
Alias =
Born = birth date|1944|1|24|mf=y
Died = death date and age|1983|8|6|1944|1|24|mf=y in New York, NY, U.S.
Origin = Immenstadt, Germany
Instrument = Vocals
Genre = New Wave, Synth pop, Experimental music, Dark Cabaret, Disco [ [http://wc08.allmusic.com/cg/amg.dll?p=amg&token=&sql=11:k9fqxq85ldse Klaus Nomi at allmusic] ]
Occupation = Vocalist: (Tenor - Falsetto), Pastry Chef
Years_active = 1977-1983
Label = RCA Records
URL =
Notable_instruments =

Klaus Sperber (January 24, 1944 - August 6, 1983), better known as Klaus Nomi, was a German countertenor noted for remarkable vocal performances and an unusual, otherworldly, elven stage persona. Nomi is remembered for his bizarrely 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".

Personal life

Klaus Nomi was born Klaus Sperber in Immenstadt, Bavaria, Germany on January 24 1944. In his youth in the 1960s, he worked as an usher at the Deutsche Oper in West Berlin where he would sing on stage in front of the fire curtain after the shows for the other ushers and maintenance crew. Around that time he also sang operatic arias at a Berlin gay club called Kleist Casino.

Nomi moved from Germany to New York City in the mid-1970s. He began his involvement with the art scene based in the East Village. According to a documentary film made by Andrew Horn, Nomi took singing lessons and supported himself working as a pastry chef. Nomi was somehow notoriously known throughout all the cities he performed at for his favorite color, blue.fact|date=August 2008

Nomi died on August 6, 1983 in New York City, one of the first celebrities to die of an illness complicated by AIDS.citation |title=Klaus and effect |url=http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m1589/is_2005_Feb_15/ai_n9538132 |periodical=The Advocate |date=February 15, 2005 |first=Michele |last=Kort |accessdate=2007-11-02] His ashes were scattered over New York City. [ cite web | url=http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=gr&GRid=12508120 | title = Klaus Nomi ]

Career

Nomi appeared in a satirical camp production of Richard Wagner's "Das Rheingold" with Charles Ludlam's Ridiculous Theater Company in 1972. ("Art After Midnight: The East Village Scene" by Steven Hager; 1986 St. Martin's Press)

But Nomi first 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 skin-tight spacesuit with clear plastic cape, Klaus sang the aria "Mon coeur s'ouvre a 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 recalls, "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. [http://www.psychotica.net/evb/nomi/scene.html] [http://www.psychotica.net/evb/nomi/attitude.html]

Nomi assembled a group of then up-and-coming artists around him which at times included Joey Arias, Jean-Michel Basquiat, Keith Haring, John McLaughlin (who also used the pseudonym "Johnny Sex") and Kenny Scharf. [http://www.psychotica.net/evb/nomi/scene.html]

David Bowie had been hearing about Nomi's performances in NYC and after meeting him and Joey Arias at the Mudd Club one night, he hired them as performers and back-up singers for his appearance on "Saturday Night Live" which aired on December 15, 1979.

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

He played a supporting role as a Nazi official in Anders Grafstrom's underground film "The Long Island Four". [http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0995044/]

The 1981 rock documentary film, "Urgh! A Music War" features Nomi's live performance of "Total Eclipse." [http://www.psychotica.net/evb/nomi/scene.html] [http://www.psychotica.net/evb/nomi/attitude.html]

Influence and cultural significance

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 gallery.

Nomi's influence can be measured by references and homages to him in significant cultural mass media.

British pop icon Morrissey used the song "Wayward Sisters" [http://opera.stanford.edu/iu/libretti/dido.html#act2 *] as an introduction prior to appearing on stage to begin a concert for his Kill Uncle tour. He used the song "After the Fall" for the same purpose during his 2007 American tour. Morrissey included Nomi's song "Death" in his compilation of influential songs titled "Under the Influence".

On television, a fictionalized version of Klaus Nomi appears in a two-part episode of animated comedy/adventure series "The Venture Bros." In "Showdown at Cremation Creek (Part I)," he appears as one of David Bowie's bodyguard henchmen (alongside an animated Iggy Pop, another Bowie collaborator). "Klaus" attacks his opponents with ultra-high-pitched singing and the over-sized bow tie of his famous costume, spun and ejected as a battering weapon. In "Showdown at Cremation Creek (Part II)," "Klaus" seems to have been killed after betraying Bowie in order to become a henchman of a villain known as The Phantom Limb.

Nomi's flamboyant 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 does not change the gender of the song, singing, "Don't say I can't play with other... BOYS!"

Discography

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Albums

*"Klaus Nomi" 1981
*"Simple Man" 1982
*"Encore" 1983
*"In Concert" 1986
*"Za Bakdaz" 2007 (posthumous compilation of an "unfinished opera")

ingles

*"You Don't Own Me" / "Falling in Love Again" (1981)
*"Nomi Song" / "Cold Song" (1982)
*"Lightning Strikes" / "Falling in Love Again" (1982)
*"Simple Man" / "Death" (1982)
*"Ding Dong" / "ICUROK" (1982)
*"ICUROK" / "Ding Dong" (Canadian 12")
*"Za Bak Daz" / "Silent Night" (CD single, 1998)
*"After the Fall"
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Music videos

*"Simple Man"
*"Lightning Strikes"
*"Nomi Song"
*"After the Fall"
*"Falling in Love Again"
*"The Cold Song" (from Henry Purcell's 1691 opera "King Arthur")

Movie appearances

*"Urgh! A Music War" (1982)
*"Long Island Four" (1979)

References

External links

* [http://keepkey.yochanan.net/nomi.htm Klaus Nomi Keys Of Life]
* [http://zabakdaz.com Klaus Nomi Za Bakdaz]
* [http://perso.wanadoo.fr/klaus.nomi/home_ve Klaus Nomi Home Page]
* [http://www.thenomisong.com "The Nomi Song"] , a documentary feature film devoted to the life of Klaus Nomi
* [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c3Tte08ieTg "Lightning Strikes" music video]
* [http://youtube.com/watch?v=k2Nn5JhKQyU "Falling in Love Again" music video]
* [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0Ri8_C5mQx8 "The Cold Song" music video]
* [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kQeWvFPb5zA "Samson and Delilah Aria" music video]