I watched The Nomi Song this evening, the documentary about Klaus Nomi, the countertenor born in Berlin who tried his luck in New York at the beginning of the 70s and was able to enjoy a few years of fame before dying of AIDS in 1983 as one of the first celebrities. I saw Klaus Nomi for the first time at the beginning of the 80s when he appeared on “Na Sowas” with Thomas Gottschalk, I must have been around 10 years old. Most people probably only know the song “Total Eclipse” from Rosenstolz with Marc Almond.
The documentation I found rather disappointing, as for example the time frame of Nomi’s individual career steps remains unclear. The influences of the 20s (some of the costumes remind me of the costumes of the Bauhaus Theater) are almost unmentioned. Nevertheless, there is some interesting film material that had not been published before, especially private recordings that show Nomi without makeup. The statements of his former band members are sad, who no longer visited him in the hospital when he was dying; he must have been very alone, because nobody knew at the time whether “gay cancer” was contagious or not (this should also be mentioned, as his former band members were not malicious, and he had also treated them unfairly beforehand).
A truly beautiful video is also this one, The Cold Song, where Nomi was already somewhat drawn: