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.

[edit] Life and work

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.

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.