Judith Holofernes
| Judith Holofernes | |
|---|---|
Holofernes performing at the 2010 Open Flair Festival in Eschwege, Germany
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| Background information | |
| Birth name | Judith Holfelder-von der Tann |
| Also known as | Judith Holfelder-Roy |
| Born | 12 November 1976 |
| Origin | Berlin, Germany |
| Genres | Rock, pop, alternative |
| Occupation(s) | Singer, guitarist, songwriter, author |
| Instruments | Vocals, guitar |
| Years active | Late nineties to present |
| Labels | Labels (EMI), Columbia (Sony), Four Music (Sony) |
| Associated acts | Wir sind Helden |
| Website | www |
Judith Holfelder-Roy (née Holfelder-von der Tann; born 12 November 1976), known by her stage name Judith Holofernes, is a German singer, guitarist, songwriter and author. She is best recognized as the lead singer of Wir sind Helden, a German pop rock band that came to fame in Germany following the release of the song "Guten Tag" in 2002. The band received critical acclaim owing in part to Holofernes' lyrics, which are characterized by their playful use of words and their often sociocritical nature.
After recording four albums that were chart successes in the German-speaking world, Wir sind Helden went on indefinite hiatus in 2012. Since then, Holofernes has recorded a solo album (Ein leichtes Schwert, 2014) and has also had a book of poems published (Du bellst vor dem falschen Baum, 2015).
Holofernes was born in Berlin and moved at the age of six with her mother to the city of Freiburg im Breisgau in the south of Germany. From the age of 14, she busked in the city's pedestrian zone as a singer/guitarist. After she received her secondary education at Staudinger Gesamtschule, she returned to Berlin to study Communication in Social and Economic Contexts at Berlin University of the Arts, but did not complete her studies. At the university, she was concerned with anti-consumerism, one of her activities being to set up the German website of Adbusters, a Canadian-based anti-consumerist magazine.
Holofernes was able to focus on music after leaving university. Towards the end of the nineties, she performed in Berlin clubs as a solo artist and self-released the EP Kamikazefliege (1999), though only 500 copies were produced. Some of the songs from the EP, such as "Außer dir" and "Aurélie", would be later re-recorded by Wir sind Helden for the band's debut album.
In mid-2000, Holofernes met drummer Pola Roy, keyboardist/guitarist Jean-Michel Tourette and bassist Stefan Nietzky at a pop music workshop in Hamburg. They formed a band together, though Nietzky was later replaced by bassist Mark Tavassol. The band was initially briefly called Helden (which means "Heroes") before being renamed Wir sind Helden (which means "We are heroes"). Wir sind Helden's breakthrough came in 2002 without the support of a record label, when the band's song "Guten Tag" was played by radio stations and a self-produced music video for the song received heavy rotation on MTV Germany. The band subsequently signed to Labels and released its debut album Die Reklamation (2003), which was a top 5 hit in Germany and Austria and sold over half a million copies in Germany alone. The band went on to record the albums Von hier an blind (2005), Soundso (2007) and Bring mich nach Hause (2010), all of which reached high positions in the German, Austrian and Swiss charts. In April 2012, the band announced that it was taking an indefinite break owing to family commitments, the long distances between the band members' home cities, and "signs of wear and tear".
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