Rio Reiser

Born Ralph Christian Möbius in Berlin in 1950, Rio Reiser was the singer and chief lyricist of Ton Steine Scherben, the West Berlin rock band that became the musical voice of the country's squatter movement and extra-parliamentary left from 1970 to 1985. Songs like Rauch-Haus-Song and Keine Macht für Niemand turned street politics into blues-rock anthems, direct and unpolished. After the band dissolved under crushing debt, Reiser began a solo career, opening with the album König von Deutschland in 1986 and drifting toward warmer, melodic pop and chanson. Openly gay at a time when almost no West German rock star was, he remained an independent voice until his death in Fresenhagen in 1996.