Klaus Nomi: Klaus Nomi 1981 + Simple Man 1982

                 

 

Klaus Sperber (January 24, 1944 – August 6, 1983), known professionally as Klaus Nomi, was a German countertenor and baritone noted for his wide vocal range and an unusual, otherworldly

stage persona. He was born Klaus Sperber in Immenstadt, Bavaria, Germany in 1944, but moved to New York in the mid-'70s, working as a pastry chef and nightclub singer. One of his sets impressed David Bowie, and Nomi soon found himself backing the star on Saturday Night Live. He was ne of the first prominent persons to die of AIDS, Klaus Nomi mixed rock and disco stylings with a classical and operatic repertoire.
                                      

In the 1970s, Nomi immersed himself in the East Village art scene. He was known for his bizarre and visionary theatrical live performances, heavy make-up, unusual costumes, and a highly stylized

signature hairdo that flaunted a receding hairline. His songs were equally unusual, ranging from synthesizer-laden interpretations of classical opera to post-punk covers of 1960s pop standards like Chubby Checker's "The Twist" and Lou Christie's "Lightnin' Strikes". In October 1978, he took the artistic name "NOMI", initially as a mononym before rendering it as "Nomi" and adopting it as a last name. It stood as an anagram for "omni" ("all" or "every"), after the then-newly released science fiction magazine Omni. 
                     

In 1977, Nomi appeared in a satirical camp production of Richard Wagner's Das Rheingold at Charles Ludlam's Ridiculous Theater Company as the Rheinmaidens and the Wood Bird. He began touring Europe and the U.S. as a cabaret act and signed to RCA in 1980. At the New Wave Vaudeville show Nomi met

Kristian Hoffman, a songwriter for the Mumps. Anya Phillips, then manager of James Chance and the Contortions, suggested Nomi and Hoffman form a band. Hoffman became Nomi's de facto musical director, assembling a band that included Page Wood from another New Wave vaudeville act, Come On, and Joe Katz, who was concurrently in The Student Teachers, the Accidents, and The Mumps. His first single was a cover of Elvis Presley's "Can't Help Falling in Love," and his 1982 debut album included compositions from Chubby Checker alongside Charles Camille Saint-Saëns. 
                         

Nomi played a supporting role as a Nazi official in Anders Grafstrom's 1980 underground film The Long Island Four. The 1981 rock documentary film Urgh! A Music War features Nomi's live

performance of "Total Eclipse". His performance of "Mon cœur s'ouvre à ta voix" was used for the closing credits. In the liner notes of Nomi's 1981 self-titled record, 666 Fifth Avenue was listed as the contact address. He released his second album, Simple Man, in November 1982. He also collaborated with producer Man Parrish, appearing on Parrish's 1982 album Man Parrish as a backup vocalist on the track "Six Simple Synthesizers".
                             

In the last several months of his life, Nomi changed his focus to operatic pieces and adopted a Baroque era operatic outfit complete with full collar as his typical onstage attire. The collar helped

cover the outbreaks of Kaposi's sarcoma on his neck, one of the numerous AIDS-related diseases Nomi developed toward the end of his life. Nomi's body started to deteriorate rapidly in 1982. By the spring of 1983 his immune system was destroyed and he was diagnosed with AIDS. Nomi was admitted to the infectious disease ward of Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center in New York City. Most of Nomi's friends were afraid to visit him because no one knew how the virus spread at that point. Nomi died on August 6, 1983, as a result of complications from AIDS. 
                           

                               
He was one of the earliest known figures from the arts community to die from the illness. Nomi's close

friend Joey Arias was executor of his estate. Nomi's ashes were scattered in New York City. Filmmaker Andrew Horn and writer 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.
                              

DISCOGRAPHY
                                          

Klaus Nomi 1981     Label: RCA
Simple Man 1982     Label: RCA

01.  KLAUS NOMI - KLAUS NOMI 1981

                                     

Klaus Nomi – Klaus Nomi
Label: RCA – PD70027, Spindizzy – PD70027
Format: CD, Album
Country: Europe
Released: 1985
Genre: Electronic, Classical
Style: Synth-pop, Modern

TRACKS

                              

01. Keys Of Life   2:26
Written-By – K. Moni
02. Lightning Strikes   2:59
Written-By – Lou Cristy, Herbert
03. The Twist   3:10
Written-By – Chubby Checker
04. Nomi Song   2:47
Written-By – K. Hoffman
05. You Don't Own Me   3:39
Written-By – D. White, Jay Madara
06. The Cold Song   4:03
Written-By – H. Purcell
07. Wasting My Time   4:14
Written-By – K. Nomi, S. Woody
08. Total Eclipse   3:29
Written-By – K. Hoffman
09. Nomi Chant   1:55
Written-By – M. Parrish
10. Samson And Delilah (Aria)  3:52 
Written-By – Saint-Saëns

LINE - UP

                                  

Vocals – Klaus Nomi
Backing Vocals – Jon Cobert, Julie Burger, Klaus Nomi, Scott Woody
Bass – Rick Pascual
Drums – Daniel Elfassy
Guitar [Guitars] – Scott Woody
Keyboards – Jon Cobert
Musician [Additional Musicians] – Brian McEwan, Man Parrish, Monti Ellison

Flac Size: 313 MB

02.  KLAUS NOMI - SIMPLE MAN 1982
                                  

Klaus Nomi – Simple Man
Label: RCA – PD 70229, RCA – PD70229
Format: CD, Album
Country: France
Released: 1985
Genre: Electronic, Rock, Pop
Style: Synth-pop

TRACKS

                           

01. From Beyond   2:51
Arranged By – Jack Waldman
Written-By [Based On] – John Dowland
02. After The Fall   4:43
Written-By – Kristian Hoffman
03. Just One Look   3:19
Written-By – Doris Payne, Gregory Carroll
04. Falling In Love Again   2:39
Arranged By [Arr. By:] – Kristian Hoffman
Written-By – Hollander, Lerner
05. Icurok   4:24
Written-By – George Elliot
06. Rubberband Lazer   4:20
Written-By – Anthony Frere, Joseph Arias
07. Wayward Sisters   1:43
Arranged By – Jack Waldman
Written-By [From Dido & Anaes] – H. Purcell
08. Ding Dong   3:03
Written-By – E.Y. Harburg, Harold Arlen
09. Three Wishes   3:18
Written-By – George Elliot, Jamie Dalglish, Sierra 
10. Simple Man   4:17
Written-By – Kristian Hoffman
11. Death   4:18
Arranged By – Jack Waldman
Written-By [From Dido & Anaes] – H. Purcell
12. Return   2:07
Arranged By – Jack Waldman
Written-By [Based On] – John Dowland

LINE - UP

                                

Vocals – Klaus Nomi
Backing Vocals – Klaus Nomi (tracks: A2 to A4, B2, B4)
Bass – John Kay (tracks: A3, A5, A6, B3)
Drums – Kevin Tooley (tracks: A2, A6, B2, B4), Robert Medici (tracks: A3, A5, B3)
Percussion – Daniel Elfassy (tracks: A2, B2 to B4)
Programmed By [Synthesizer] – Man Parrish (tracks: A2, A5, A6, B2, B4)

Flac Size: 408 MB

Klaus Nomi: The Collection 1991 On Urban Aspirines HERE