Till Lindemann

Till Lindemann (German pronunciation: [tɪl lɪndɛman]; born 4 January 1963) is a German singer, songwriter, musician, actor, poet, and pyrotechnician. He is best known as the lead vocalist and frontman of the German Neue Deutsche Härte band Rammstein. He is noted for his muscular stature, unique stage performances (including the use of pyrotechnics and a specific move known as "The Till Hammer"), and bass voice. He is also known for his lyrics, some of which have caused controversy. Worldwide, Rammstein has sold over 45 million records, with five of their albums receiving platinum status.

Lindemann has been listed among The 50 Greatest Metal Frontmen of All Time by Roadrunner Records. He has appeared in some films in minor roles, and he also has two published books of poetry, one titled Messer (2002) and the other In stillen Nächten (2013). He has presented some of his original poems and scripts to galleries. In 2015, it was announced that Lindemann would start a new project with Peter Tägtgren named Lindemann.

Lindemann was born in Leipzig (then in East Germany) and grew up in the village of Wendisch-Rambow, the son of children's poet Werner Lindemann and journalist and writer Brigitte Hildegard "Gitta" Lindemann, who worked for Norddeutscher Rundfunk from 1992 until her retirement in 2002. His parents first met at a conference in Bitterfeld in 1959. Lindemann has a younger sister named Saskia. At age 11, he went to a sports school at the Empor Rostock Sport Club, and from 1977 to 1980, he attended a boarding school. His parents lived separately for career reasons after 1975, and divorced when Lindemann was still young. Lindemann lived with his father for a short time, but the relationship was unhealthy; in the book Mike Oldfield im Schaukelstuhl, Lindemann's father wrote about his own problems with alcoholism and the difficulties of being a father to a teenage Lindemann.

In 1978, Lindemann participated in the European Junior Swimming Championships in Florence, finishing 11th in the 1500m freestyle and seventh in the 400 m freestyle, swimming a time of 4'17"58; he was shortlisted to go to 1980 Olympics in Moscow. He left the sport due to an injury. According to Lindemann, "I never liked the sport school actually, it was very intense. But as a child you don't object." He later worked as an apprentice carpenter, a gallery technician, a peat cutter, and a basket weaver. His mother dedicated a letter titled Mein Sohn, der Frontmann um Rammstein ("My son, the frontman of Rammstein") to Lindemann in 2009.

Lindemann's first daughter, Nele, was born in 1985, and it was mentioned in a German interview that he spent seven years as a single father. Lindemann has one grandson through Nele, who is referred to as "Little Fritz". Lindemann has a second daughter with his former wife Anja Köseling, named Marie Louise, who was born in 1993.

In a 2011 interview, Lindemann has stated he still has strong connections to traditions of East Germany. He finds that "de-traditionalisation" is disturbing, and stated there is also no authenticity anymore. In 2014, Lindemann presented two sculptures and his original scripts of poems in his book In Silent Nights in a gallery in Dresden. Lindemann has also written some lyrics in 2014 for German schlager singer-songwriter Roland Kaiser for his album Soul Tracks. Lindemann has stated that he "hates noise", and would often go to a village in the north between Schwerin and Wismar. Among Lindemann's favourite bands are Deep Purple, Alice Cooper and Black Sabbath and singers Marilyn Manson and Chris Isaak. Lindemann is an atheist.