Nomi, Klaus

Born

Klaus Sperber

Years

January 24, 1944 - August 8, 1983

From

Germany

Styles

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Category Description

Klaus Nomi may have been a German native and New York City dweller who came about in the Punk/New Wave era, but he was of his own time and place that others could only visit. Singing in an operatic style, with a range that extended from baritone to countertenor, Nomi sounded like no one else, though he cited Maria Callas and Elvis Presley as his greatest influences.

Klaus Nomi was born Klaus Sperber in 1944 in either the Bavarian Alps or Essen, Germany; reports are conflicting. His widowed mother raised him with the help of his aunt and uncle. As a young man, Sperber moved to Berlin, where he got a job as an usher at the Berlin Opera, indulging his great love of the music. Meanwhile, he was also a fan of pop and rock.

When he moved to New York City in the early 1970s, Sperber performed in one production of The Ring Cycle; he had yet to find his musical (and some would say, personal) identity. In the late '70s, Klaus Sperber became Klaus Nomi and, with the help of a group of friends and acquaintances, fused his disparate musical interests into a sound unlike any other and created an audio-visual spectacle. As for his unique look, it appears that this was his own creation, though elements of theatrical makeup styles and David Bowie's costumes can be seen in his style.

Hearing Nomi is not necessarily enough to appreciate him. Video performances are rare today, but some survive and can be seen in the film The Nomi Song. It's here that Nomi's robotic movements and dramatic gestures, along with his alien looks and persona, can be fully appreciated. With his black-painted bow lips, half-plucked eyebrows, whiteface makeup, and triple-pointed blue-black hair, Nomi recreated himself in an image that would be a perfect match for the unusual sound and story of Nomi. He claimed to be an alien, and other people seemed inclined to agree.

Nomi covered pop classics of earlier decades, including Lou Christie's "Lightning Strikes" and the Elvis Presley hit "Can't Help Falling In Love", and sang arias nearly true to form, but with his own signature. In early live performances, Nomi was surrounded by similarly attired friends and used props and set decoration. After he signed a record deal, his label hired new musicians and stripped away the set pieces, as can be seen in Urgh! A Music War.

Nomi's later career is filled with dramatic accusations and hurt feelings, which are discussed partially in The Nomi Song, but the full story can never be known because, sadly, Nomi is not here to answer the charges against him. Nomi died of AIDS at age 39, in 1983, but inspires cultlike devotion in fans to this day.