Romy Haag

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Romy Haag
Romy Haag at Teddy Awards 2011.jpg
Haag at Teddy Awards 2011
Background information
Born (1948-01-01) 1 January 1948 (age 77)
The Hague, South Holland, Netherlands
GenresPop
Occupation(s)Singer, dancer
InstrumentVocals
Years active1961–present
Romy Haag (age unknown) Romy Haag.jpg
Romy Haag (age unknown)

Romy Haag (born 1 January 1948) is a Dutch dancer, singer, actress and former nightclub manager. In 1999, her autobiography Eine Frau und mehr was published, in which she describes her life in the art scene in the USA and Berlin in the 1970s. She has had roles in 26 films, including Plastikfieber, The Case of Mr. Spalt (Zum Beispiel Otto Spalt), The Hamburg Syndrome and Mascara with Charlotte Rampling. She released 17 albums. [1]

Contents

Early life

Romy Haag was born Edouard Frans Verba [2] [3] in 1948 in Scheveningen, Netherlands. [3] Haag, having been assigned male at birth, felt like a girl from early on and was thus physically abused by her father and others and harassed by her peers. When she was around 12 years old, she first ran away from home to Paris, where she began to live a fully female identity under the new name Romy Haag and started hormone replacement therapy and work as a dancer. In her mid 30s, she had gender reassignment surgery. [3]

Career

In 1972, an American show manager offered Haag a tour booking and she performed her show Berlin Chanson at Fire Island, in Long Island and Atlantic City. There she met and fell in love with a street musician from Berlin and decided to move back to Europe to live in the German city with him. [4]

In 1974, at age 26, she opened her own cabaret, named Chez Romy Haag, in Berlin-Schöneberg. Visitors to the venue included Udo Lindenberg, Zizi Jeanmaire, Patricia Highsmith, Bryan Ferry, Tina Turner, Horst Buchholz, Grace Jones, Rainer Werner Fassbinder, Iggy Pop, Freddie Mercury, Lou Reed and Mick Jagger, whom she first met in 1973. [5]

In 1976, Haag and David Bowie began a romantic relationship. Bowie subsequently moved to Berlin and completed his first German tour. [5] [6]

Haag's first single "Liege-Samba" appeared in 1977, with Udo Lindenberg contributing the lyrics and music. She went on tour with Lindenberg, and in the following year, released her single "Superparadise". In 1979, The New Yorker profiled her in a photo tribute. In 1981, her first album So bin ich was released with Klaus Hoffmann contributing the lyrics.

In 1983, Haag sold her night club to travel the world. Returning to Germany in 1986, she began touring Germany, Austria, Switzerland and the U.S. with her City in the Night show. During mid 1980s, Haag was featured in the performance art video installation Queen Zero. During her career, she performed with Conny Göckel, Alexander Kraut, Lutz Woite, Friedel Schwarz, Erik Küppers, Blacky Schwarz, Roland Götz, Hansi Wallbaum, Uli Moritz, Eberhardt Fortmann.

In 2010, she had a role as a receptionist in the internet soap opera Doc Love playing alongside Dieter Bach, Oliver Bender and Ellenie Salvo González.

Honors and awards

In 1997 Haag received the Teddy Award at the Berlinale 1997 for her life work. The Teddy Award is awarded in recognition of films with LGBTQIA topics. [7]

The German astronomer Felix Hormuth named one of the minor planets he discovered on 29 January 2009 after Romy Haag. The asteroid is officially named 305660 Romyhaag. [8]

Discography

Albums

Singles

Filmography

Radio

Publications

References

  1. ↑ [Romy Haag: the forgotten muse of David Bowie https://faroutmagazine.co.uk/romy-haag-the-forgotten-muse-of-david-bowie/] Romy Haag: the forgotten muse of David Bowie
  2. ↑ Romy Haag: Eine Frau und mehr. Quadriga, Berlin 1999, ISBN 3-88679-328-1, S. 13, 16/17.
  3. 1 2 3 Iken, Katja (18 May 2017). ""Ich wollte nie ein Freak sein, ich wollte Respekt"". Der Spiegel (in German). Retrieved 19 January 2025.
  4. ↑ Ars Electronica – Archiv (PDF) Archived 29 September 2007 at the Wayback Machine : Künstlerbiografien, 1986, PDF erstellt am 1. Juni 2004 (in German)
  5. 1 2 Jän (16 November 2011). "Stones rollen mit 130 Trucks an". Die Welt (in German). Retrieved 21 August 2021.
  6. ↑ "Romy Haag freut sich auf ihren Ex-Freund David Bowie". Die Welt (in German). 16 November 2011. Retrieved 21 August 2021.
  7. ↑ [Romy Haag: the forgotten muse of David Bowie https://faroutmagazine.co.uk/romy-haag-the-forgotten-muse-of-david-bowie/] Romy Haag: the forgotten muse of David Bowie
  8. ↑ "305660 Romyhaag (2009 BJ73)". Minor Planet Center. Retrieved 6 December 2018.
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