Judith Holofernes

Judith Holofernes

Judith Holofernes (born 12 November 1976 in Berlin) is a German musician and lyricist who is most widely known as the lead singer of the German Pop-Rock band Wir sind Helden.

Her stage name, Holofernes, alludes to the general of the Babylonian King Nebuchadnezzar, whose decapitation by Judith in the deuterocanonical Book of Judith was told of in the Old Testament. Judith and Holofernes is also a commonly covered topic in art history; it was depicted on canvas by Gustav Klimt and Reubens, and even the Italian sculptor Donatello.

Personal History

Judith Holfelder von der Tann had lived in Berlin until the age of six. Later on she moved across the country with her mother to Freiburg im Breisgau in Southern Germany. After finishing secondary school, she returned to Berlin to study Communications at Universität der Künste Berlin. In November 2001, she successfully completed her degree for Communications while working with a team for Adbusters magazine. Criticism of consumerism and the media are also quite prevalent in the lyrics of Wir sind Helden. Holofernes's first experience as a musician was as a street musician in Freiburg where she gained a little popularity as a solo artist. However, she started to study Art History in Heidelberg and dropped out after the first semester. She then spent a number of years studying various subjects at the Justus-Liebig-Universität Gießen but never graduated. During this time she had various part time jobs selling musical instruments and computers. Later she worked as waitress and bartender.

Holofernes sings, plays the guitar and writes the lyrics for Wir sind Helden. A few of the band's more well known songs (Außer dir, Aurélie) are taken right off of Holofernes' solo-album Kamikazefliege which was released in 1999 and was met with little success, selling only 500 copies. Due to the breakthrough of Wir sind Helden more copies of Holofernes' solo-album have been sold.

Holofernes married fellow band member Pola Roy on 17 July 2006. She gave birth to their son in late 2006. She gave birth to their daughter on 20 July 2009.