Till Lindemann

Till Lindemann
Lindemann in 2010
Background information
Birth name	Till Lindemann
Born	4 January 1963 (1963-01-04) Leipzig, Saxony, East Germany
Origin	East Berlin, East Germany
Genres	Neue Deutsche Härte, industrial metal, heavy metal
Occupations	Musician, Pyrotechnician, Actor, Poet
Instruments	Vocals, drums, guitar, bass, keyboards
Years active	1985–present
Labels	Motor Music, Republic, Slash, Universal Music Group
Associated acts	Rammstein, First Arsch, Feeling B, Apocalyptica

Till Lindemann (born 4 January 1963) is a German musician, actor and poet who is the frontman for the German Neue Deutsche Härte band Rammstein.

Biography

Till Lindemann was born in Leipzig, East Germany, but he grew up in the village of Wendisch-Rambow near Schwerin (in East Germany). His father is Werner Lindemann and his mother, Brigitte "Gitta" Hildegard Lindemann, was a journalist and writer until she retired. Lindemann has one sister who is six years younger. At age 11 he went to a sports school at the Rostock Sport Club, and from 1977 to 1980 attended a boarding school. His parents divorced in 1975. In 1978 Lindemann was a participant in the European Junior Swimming Championships in Florence, and was shortlisted to go to 1980 Olympics in Moscow but discontinued the sport soon after. According to Lindemann, "I never liked the sport school actually, it was very intense. But as a child you don't object." Lindemann later worked as an apprentice carpenter, a gallery technician, a peat cutter and a basket weaver. In 1981, he apparently refused to do his eighteen months of compulsory military service and was almost imprisoned as a result.

Personal Life

In 1985, Lindemann's first daughter Nele, was born. Lindemann and Nele's mother married after she was born, but they separated and he has raised Nele alone. Lindemann says, "I used to play drums in a punk band and we had our studio in the house where I lived. Seven years I had been a father raising my daughter, but nowadays I'm sharing the upbringing with her mother, because I'm gone for six months of the year with the band." Lindemann has a second daughter, Marie Louise, with Anja Köseling. An interview with Richard Kruspe revealed that Till has at least four children.^{[citation needed]}.

Career

Till at a Rammstein show during the song "Rammstein" wielding two flamethrower gauntlets

Main article: Rammstein

Lindemann started to play drums for First Arsch, who released an album titled Saddle Up, and played one song ("Lied von der unruhevollen Jugend") with a punk band called Feeling B (which was the former band of Rammstein members Paul H. Landers and Christian "Flake" Lorenz). In the 1990s, Lindemann began to write lyrics. In 1994, the trio entered and won a contest in Berlin that allowed them to record a four track demo professionally. Lindemann moved to Berlin.

In November 2002 Lindemann's poetry book Messer was published. It consists of 54 poems compiled by Gert Hof, who is author of the book Rammstein and has been the band's pyrodesigner for the last seven years.

In January of 2012, Lindemann, along with Flake, was interviewed by heavy metal anthropologist Sam Dunn for the VH1 Classic series Metal Evolution, on the topic of shock rock. This is surprising, due to the lack of interviews he, and the band, does in North America.

Stage persona

Lindemann has a powerful on-stage presence and a resonant bass voice. One of his signature mannerisms is to partially squat and pound his fist onto his thigh to the beat of the riff; this move is known to Rammstein fans as the "Till-Hammer". His vocals are easily recognizable due to his tendency to roll (all) his Rs, and growl his achs.

Another attribute seen is his originality in his performances, such as setting himself on fire in the video for "Rammstein" and his questionably obscene antics in the '98 Family Values Tour when he performed "Bück Dich". Lindemann is also a qualified pyrotechnician; after an accident at the Treptow arena in Berlin on 27 September 1996, where a burning stage prop fell into the audience, Rammstein began employing a professional pyrotechnical crew and Lindemann has learned from and also trained with them. Of Lindemann, band mate Christoph Schneider says, "Till gets burned all the time, but he likes the pain".

He has also engaged in other masochistic acts on stage. During performances of 'Sehnsucht', Lindemann bludgeons his head with a microphone, thereby cutting his head open and spilling blood all over him during performances of ‘Bestrafe Mich (Punish Me)’, he hits himself with a Cat o' nine tails (Lindemann's version, however, isn’t as dangerous). Both of these can be seen on the Live aus Berlin DVD.

As guest artist

• Lindemann appeared as guest drummer on the album Hea Hoa Hoa Hea Hea Hoa by Feeling B for the song Lied von der unruhevollen Jugend, which is in the Russian language. Years later this track was performed live at a Rammstein gig in St. Petersburg on the 19th November 2001 during the Mutter-tour.
• Lindemann provides vocals for the track Helden (a cover of Bowie's Heroes) on the Apocalyptica album Worlds Collide.
• Lindemann also sings on "Wut Will Nicht Sterben" by Die Puhdys.
• Till Lindemann & Richard Kruspe covered the Aria song Shtil and released it as Schtiel.
• Till Lindemann also appeared on Knorkator's music video to the song Du nich.

External links

• Till Lindemann at the Internet Movie Database