Nov. 12: German singer Judith Holofernes is 37-years-old today.

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Judith is best known as the lead singer of the German Pop-Rock band Wir sind Helden.

Born Judith Holfelder von der Tann in Berlin, Germany, she moved across the country with her mother to Freiburg im Breisgau in Southern Germany when she was six-years-old. After finishing secondary school, she returned to Berlin to study Communications at Universität der Künste Berlin.

Holofernes's was as a street musician in Freiburg where she gained a little popularity as a solo artist. Her stage name, Holofernes, references the general of the Babylonian King Nebuchadrezzar, whose decapitation by Judith in the Old Testament. Judith and Holofernes is also a commonly covered topic in art history; it was depicted on canvas by Gustav Klimt and Reubens, and even the Italian sculptor Donatello.

Holofernes sings, plays the guitar and writes the lyrics for Wir sind Helden.

In 2002, Wir sind Helden broke onto the German music scene with their first song "Guten Tag," which reached #53 on the German singles charts and got significant airplay on MTV Europe, even though the band did not have a record deal. The band's debut album Die Reklamation (2003) entered the German album charts at number six and eventually reached number two.

 

Their second album Von hier an blind (2005) entered at the top of German and Austrian charts and remained in the top ten for twenty weeks.

 

Their popularity was significantly increased when Judith Holofernes appeared on television on the Harald Schmidt Show, which led their small club tour to sell out immediately. Judith's and Wir sind Helden lyrics after are related to criticism of consumerism and the media.

 

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The band's more well known songs (Außer dir, Aurélie) are taken right off of Holofernes' solo-album Kamikazefliege which was released in 1999 and was met with little success, selling only 500 copies. Due to the breakthrough of Wir sind Helden more copies of Holofernes' solo-album have been sold.

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