Antonia Maass

From HitStory, the pop encyclopedia of School of Rock · Artist

Antonia Maass is a German singer who played a small but striking part in David Bowie's Berlin years. In 1977 Bowie recorded the album Heroes at Hansa Studio, close to the Berlin Wall, with Brian Eno and the producer Tony Visconti. Maass sang along as a backing vocalist in that period.

Music and breakthrough

According to the well-known story, Bowie saw from the studio two lovers kissing by the Wall. They were Visconti and Maass. That scene became the image in the title song: two people who, just for a moment, are heroes by the Wall. Maass also helped with the German version of the song, Helden, in which Bowie sings part of the lyrics in German. On that version she is credited as a writer alongside Bowie and Eno. Helden was released as a single in West Germany in 1977.

Influence

In this way her name links one of the most famous rock songs of the 1970s with the divided city of Berlin. The song later became a symbol of longing for freedom on both sides of the Iron Curtain.

Listening

In School of Rock

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• Magazine: Rock Behind the Iron Curtain^NL Magazine