Hailed as one of Poland’s greatest musicians of the 20th century, he made his debut in the early 1960s, performing mainly rock and soul music.
In 1964, famous German-American singer and actress Marlene Dietrich came to Warsaw to perform, and Niemen played as a supporting act.
When Dietrich heard Niemen’s song entitled Czy mnie jeszcze pamiętasz (Do you still remember me?), she reportedly liked it so much that she wrote her own lyrics to the chords and created her own rendition of the song, which is entitled Mutter, Hast du Mir Vergeben (Mother, have you forgiven me?).
Niemen’s 1967 chart-topping hit Dziwny jest ten świat (This world is strange) is considered to be Poland's first major protest song. In 1972, an English version was recorded and released by well-known American record label CBS.
The long-haired Polish icon was also one of the first musicians in Poland to flaunt a hippie lifestyle and introduce psychedelia-inflected sounds to the then communist-ruled country, something which upset officials.
He died on January 17, 2004 in Warsaw.
For more information on Niemen, click here.
(jh/pk)
Source: culture.pl