Carlo Karges (31 July 1951 – 30 January 2002) was a German musician known for his work as a guitarist and songwriter for the rock band

Nena Gabriele Susanne Kerner (born 24 March 1960), better known by her stage name Nena, is a German singer who rose to international fame in 1983 as the lead vocalist of the band Nena (band), Nena with the Neue Deutsche Welle song "99 Luftballons". I ...

Personal life

Karges was born in Hamburg in 1951 and grew up there with his single mother. He began developing his musical abilities as a student, when he started to play guitar and to compose his own songs, and thereafter played as part of a number of groups, including Tomorrow's Gift and Release Music Orchestra. In 1971 he became a founding member of the group

Novalis Georg Philipp Friedrich Freiherr von Hardenberg (2 May 1772 – 25 March 1801), pen name Novalis (; ), was a German nobility, German aristocrat and polymath, who was a poet, novelist, philosopher and Mysticism, mystic. He is regarded as an inf ...

, in which he played as a guitarist and keyboardist. Karges died at the Eppendorf Clinic in Hamburg on 30 January 2002 at the age of 50, due to

liver failure Liver failure is the inability of the liver to perform its normal synthetic and metabolic functions as part of normal physiology. Two forms are recognised, acute and chronic (cirrhosis). Recently, a third form of liver failure known as acute- ...

. He was buried in Hamburg's

Ohlsdorf Cemetery Ohlsdorf Cemetery ( or (former) ) in the Ohlsdorf, Hamburg, Ohlsdorf quarter of the city of Hamburg, Germany, is the biggest rural cemetery in the world and the fourth-largest cemetery in the world. Most of the people buried at the cemetery are c ...

Nena

In 1981 he joined Gabriele "Nena" Kerner, Rolf Brendel,

Jürgen Dehmel Jürgen Dehmel (born 12 August 1958) is a German bass player and songwriter. He was born in Berlin. Dehmel was brought by keyboardist Uwe Fahrenkrog-Petersen to join the rock band Nena in 1981. Fahrenkrog-Petersen and Dehmel had previously been ...

, and Uwe Fahrenkrog-Petersen in establishing the eponymous band

. He wrote the lyrics of the band's most famous song, "

99 Luftballons "99 Luftballons" (, "99 balloons") is a song by the West German band Nena from their 1983 self-titled album. An English-language version titled "99 Red Balloons" (), with lyrics by Kevin McAlea, was also released by Nena on the album '' 99 Lu ...

", released in 1983. He was attending a 1982 Rolling Stones concert at the

Waldbühne The Waldbühne (''Woodland Stage'' or ''Forest Stage'') is an amphitheatre at Olympiapark Berlin in Berlin, Germany. It was designed by German architect Werner March in emulation of a Greek theatre and built between 1934 and 1936 as the Dietrich ...

(the "Forest Theatre") in

West Berlin West Berlin ( or , ) was a political enclave which comprised the western part of Berlin from 1948 until 1990, during the Cold War. Although West Berlin lacked any sovereignty and was under military occupation until German reunification in 1 ...

, when they released a large mass of helium balloons into the air. He wondered how East German or Soviet forces might react if the balloons crossed the

Berlin Wall The Berlin Wall (, ) was a guarded concrete Separation barrier, barrier that encircled West Berlin from 1961 to 1989, separating it from East Berlin and the East Germany, German Democratic Republic (GDR; East Germany). Construction of the B ...

, and thus he conceived the idea for the song about a major war resulting from misidentification of a mass of balloons.

References

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* * 1951 births 2002 deaths German new wave musicians German rock guitarists German male guitarists German male songwriters Musicians from Hamburg 20th-century German guitarists Deaths from liver failure Burials at the Ohlsdorf Cemetery 20th-century German male musicians 20th-century German musicians Nena (band) members {{Germany-musician-stub