Tamara Danz
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Tamara Danz in a 1986 photo on the cover of her 1997 biography |
Tamara Danz (
14 December 1952 -
22 July 1996) was the lead singer and lyricist of the
East German rock group Silly. She died at the age 43 of
breast cancer.
Tamara Danz was born on
14 December 1952 in Breitungen/Werra. Her childhood was spent in
Romania and
Bulgaria, where she attended a
Russian school. She made her singing debut in
1971 in
East Berlin with the band Die Cropies. After two years at university, she broke off her linguistics studies; however, her application to the Hans Eisler Music Academy was rejected. She continued to sing with various bands, including the Oktoberklub, a politically oriented vocal group. Finally, in
1977 she received her diploma from the Friedrichshain School of Music, following three years of study; this was necessary in East Germany to perform as a professional musician. In
1978 she joined the band Familie Silly, which was renamed
Silly in 1980. In 1981 Danz was chosen as best female rock singer in
East Germany ("Rocklady Nr. 1 der DDR"), and again in 1983, 1985, and 1986.
Danz was the singer of the all-star band
Gitarreros in
1986, where she became acquainted with guitarist Uwe Hassbecker of
Stern Meissen, who would later become her lover and would join Silly in
1988. With the Gitarreros she performed a duet of
Bryan Adams and
Tina Turner's "It's Only Love" with
Mike Kilian of
Rockhaus; after this she was often referred to as the "Tina Turner of the East," owing in part to their similarly raspy singing voices and
bouffant hairstyles.
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Silly's final studio album Paradies, released the year of her death |
On
18 September 1989 she was a co-author and signatory of the "Resolution der Rockmusiker und Liedermacher" (Resolution of Rock Musicians and Songwriters). This was a petition to the
GDR government, in which political reforms and the legalization of opposition political groups were demanded. Danz also read the text illegally at concerts. In
1990, she was on several different
round tables for the reform of the GDR.
Danz was diagnosed with breast cancer in
1995, during the recording of Silly's final album,
Paradies. She underwent an immediate operation and subsequent
chemotherapy, but the cancer had already spread. Danz married Uwe Hassbecker shortly before her death on
22 July 1996.
*Alexander Osang:
Tamara Danz: Legenden. Ch. Links Verlag, Berlin 1997, ISBN 3-86153-124-0
