Results: Weird Music Wednesday: Klaus Nomi

Klaus Nomi (born Klaus Sperber) was a German-born, classically- trained singer who plied his countertenor vocal range to operatic arias, 1960's pop oldies, and new wave rock of the kind that was fashionable during his late 1970's-early '80's music career. Were you familiar with Nomi before reading this question?

After emigrating from Bavaria to New York City, Sperber found work as a pastry chef with a hoity toity clientele. He may not have transformed himself into the androgynous and alien-looking Nomi had he not seen in 1978 a flier soliciting acts for the New Wave Vaudeville stage show. Nomi's unusual look and impressive voice made him an uber-freak among already freaky Manhattan artists; he soon transcended the new wave revue that inspired him to adopt his alter ego to headlining shows at the East Coast and Midwestern venues. Have you ever undergone a personal radical revision of yourself?

The 2004 documentary The Nomi Song recounts an amusing (though likely not so for those involved at the time) episode wherein, via the New Wave Vaudeville associates with whom he was hanging and helped develop his stage show, Nomi performed once as an opening act for New Jersey glam metal group Twisted Sister. One might think both Nomi's and Dee Snider's band's penchant for gender-bending might have made for a compatible bill. Concert attendees generally thought not. Have you ever miscalculated your approach to a situation making a better fit than it wound up being?

Though Nomi became a highly buzzed about live draw and magnet for media attention, all that attention wasn't making him much money. The investment of a well-heeled third party investor and sketchy management deal led to a major label record deal (though only in Europe) and opportunities such as an appearance in the new wave/punk/etc. concert film, Urgh!: A Music War, but at the cost of smoothing over some of Nomi's eccentricity. Have you ever made compromises in order to advance your career?

A sadder Nomi Song segment features a fellow German immigrant neighbor of Nomi's warning him that his homosexual promiscuity could adversely affect his health. Nomi succumbed to AIDS at 39 in 1983. At the time of his death, little was known about his disease apart from it taking the lives of many men who engaged in same-sex fornication. The mystery surrounding Nomi's condition had friends wary of physical contact, leaving him especially lonely in his last earthly days. I'd liked to have heard how Nomi could've grown artistically over more than three studio albums (one issued posthumously) had he lived a longer, healthier life. You?