Bands and projects Dagmar Krause was born in
Hamburg,
West Germany on 4 June 1950. She began her professional career at the age of 14 as a singer in Hamburg clubs on the
Reeperbahn. In 1968 she was invited to join the , a contemporary
folk/
protest group she once half-jokingly described as a German version of
The Mamas & the Papas. She contributed vocals to their 1968 album
Der Kürbis, das Transportproblem und die Traumtänzer (
The Pumpkin, the Problem of Transport and the Dream-dancers), a spin-off from a German TV show. The City Preachers broke up in 1969, but their lead singer
Inga Rumpf and Krause reunited in 1970 to record
I.D. Company, the name of a studio project where each vocalist sung lead on and determined the direction of one side of the LP (Krause's side indicated her future direction with its
avant-garde slant). Hamburg had a thriving avant-garde scene that attracted numerous European musicians interested in pursuing aesthetic freedom and
experimental music. It was here that Krause met, and later married, British experimental composer
Anthony Moore. In 1972, Moore, Krause, and Moore's visiting American friend, singer-songwriter
Peter Blegvad, formed
Slapp Happy, a self-described "naive rock" group which mixed simple pop structures with obfuscatory lyrics drawing equally from
semiotic and
symbolist traditions. Slapp Happy was the beginning of Krause's international musical career. They recorded two albums in Germany for
Polydor with
Faust as their backing band,
Sort Of (1972) and what subsequently became known as
Acnalbasac Noom (not released at the time). Then they moved to London where they recorded a new arrangement of
Acnalbasac Noom for
Virgin Records, released as
Slapp Happy, also known as
Casablanca Moon (1974). The original
Acnalbasac Noom only saw the light of day in 1980 when it was released by
Recommended Records. In 1974, Slapp Happy merged with
Virgin label-mates
Henry Cow, a politically oriented
avant-rock group, and they made two albums,
Desperate Straights (1974) and
In Praise of Learning (1975). But differences in approach caused Moore and Blegvad to withdraw Slapp Happy from the merger. Krause, however, elected to remain with Henry Cow, which led to the end of Slapp Happy. Krause's singing added a new dimension to Henry Cow's repertoire and their tricky
time signatures enhanced her vocal powers. Henry Cow toured Europe for two years, during which time they released a live album
Concerts (1976) which included Krause singing duos with
Robert Wyatt. But in May 1976 she was forced to withdraw from Henry Cow's hectic tour schedule due to ill health and returned to Hamburg. In October 1977, still unable to tour she left Henry Cow, but agreed to sing on their next studio album
Hopes and Fears.
Hopes and Fears began in 1978 as a Henry Cow album but differences of opinion in the group about its content resulted in it being credited to
Art Bears, a new band consisting of Krause,
Chris Cutler and
Fred Frith. Art Bears went on to make two more albums of songs,
Winter Songs (1979) and
The World as It Is Today (1981).
Kevin Coyne worked with her on the 1979 album
Babble, with
Virgin Records. At the stage presentation, Coyne suggested that the lovers' destructive relationship could have echoed
The Moors Murderers. Negative publicity in
The Sun and
The Evening Standard resulted in short-notice cancellation of two performances at the
Theatre Royal Stratford East by
Newham Council. The show was put on at Oval House in
Kennington for four nights. Reviewing the show for the
NME,
Paul Du Noyer wrote: In 1983, Krause joined a new band
News from Babel, featuring core members Krause,
Chris Cutler,
Lindsay Cooper and
Zeena Parkins. They recorded two albums
Work Resumed on the Tower (1984) and
Letters Home (1985). After News from Babel, Krause was involved in a number of projects and collaborations. She performed on the
Michael Nyman/
Paul Richards art song, "The Kiss" with
Omar Ebrahim on the
Michael Nyman Band album
The Kiss and Other Movements (1985). She also featured on
Music for Other Occasions (1986) with Lindsay Cooper,
Domestic Stories (1992) with Chris Cutler and
Lutz Glandien,
Each in Our Own Thoughts (1994) with
Tim Hodgkinson, and
A Scientific Dream and a French Kiss (1998) with
Marie Goyette. In 1984, Krause sang backing vocals on "Here & There" by
The Stranglers. The song appeared on the b-side of their single, "Skin Deep". It was subsequently added to the 2001 remastered edition of the parent album,
Aural Sculpture. In 1991, Krause, Moore and Blegvad reunited to work on a "Camera" (Italian for "Room") a specially written television opera, made by the UK production company After Image and commissioned by
Channel 4 Television. It was based on an original idea by Krause, with words by Blegvad and music by Moore. Krause played the lead character "Melusina" and the opera was broadcast two years later on Channel 4. Slapp Happy reformed briefly in 1997 to record
Ça Va and they toured Japan in 2000. In 2010, Krause joined
Comicoperando, a tribute to the music of
Robert Wyatt whose line-up has included
Richard Sinclair,
Annie Whitehead,
Gilad Atzmon, Alex Maguire,
Chris Cutler,
John Edwards,
Michel Delville,
Karen Mantler and Cristiano Calcagnile. Krause, Moore and Blegvad reformed Slapp Happy again in November 2016 to perform with Faust at the Week-End festival in
Cologne, Germany. The two groups also played together on 10–11 February 2017 at
Cafe Oto in London. On 24 February 2017 Slapp Happy, without Faust, performed at Mt. Rainier Hall,
Shibuya in Tokyo. Krause contributed vocals to two albums by
Matthew Edwards and the Unfortunates
Folklore (2017) and
The Birmingham Poets (2019).
Solo work Krause's fascination with
Weimar-era
cabaret and her love for the work of playwright
Bertolt Brecht and his musical collaborators
Kurt Weill and
Hanns Eisler produced some of her most satisfying work. In 1978 she starred in a London art-theatre production of the Brecht and Weill play
Rise and Fall of the City of Mahagonny, and in 1985 she sang Brecht and Weill's "Surabaya Johnny" on the
Hal Willner-produced
Lost in the Stars: The Music of Kurt Weill. John Dougan wrote at
AllMusic that Krause's "elegant alto was perfectly suited to the emotionally and politically charged music of Brecht and Weill". while the latter is considered to be one of the finest interpretations of Eisler's work. She performed selections from these albums live at various venues, most notably the
Edinburgh Festival, which was documented on
Voiceprint Radio Sessions (1993).
Singing style As a vocalist, Krause has been described by some as an acquired taste. Her singing style is highly original and idiosyncratic. Her "husky,
vibrato-laden
alto" voice can range from a sweet melodious croon to the love-it-or-hate-it
Armageddon style typified on albums like
Henry Cow's
In Praise of Learning. Part of the intrigue of Krause's singing are her
German-inflected vocals, "... but whether she sings in German or English (which she often does on the same record), she retains her impeccable phrasing and ability to inject the most oft-heard lyric with almost palpable emotion." ==Discography==