Till Lindemann (; born 4 January 1963) is a German singer, songwriter and poet. He is best known as the lead vocalist and lyricist of Neue Deutsche Härte band Rammstein and solo project Lindemann. Rammstein has sold over 25 million records worldwide, with five of their albums receiving platinum status, and Lindemann has been listed among the "50 Greatest Metal Frontmen of All Time" by Roadrunner Records. He has appeared in minor roles in films and has also published three books of poetry (see below). He has presented some of his original poems and scripts to galleries. Early life Lindemann was born on 4 January 1963 in Leipzig (then in East Germany), the son of Norddeutscher Rundfunk (NDR) journalist Brigitte Hildegard "Gitta" Lindemann and poet Werner Lindemann. His parents first met at a conference in Bitterfeld in 1959. He grew up in Wendisch-Rambow alongside his younger sister, Saskia. At age 11, Lindemann went to a sports school at the sports club SC Empor Rostock, and attended a boarding school from 1977 to 1980. His parents lived separately for career reasons after 1975, and divorced when Lindemann was still young. He lived with his father for a short time, but the relationship was unhealthy; in the book Mike Oldfield im Schaukelstuhl, his father wrote about his own problems with alcoholism and the difficulties of being a father to a teenage Lindemann. In 1978, Lindemann participated in the European Junior Swimming Championships in Florence, finishing 11th in the freestyle and 7th in the freestyle, swimming a time of ; he was shortlisted to go to the 1980 Olympics in Moscow, but left the sport due to an injury. According to Lindemann, "I never liked the sport school actually, it was very intense. But as a child you don't object." He later worked as an apprentice carpenter, a gallery technician, a peat cutter, and a basket weaver. His mother dedicated a letter titled Mein Sohn, der Frontmann von Rammstein ("My son, the frontman of Rammstein") to Lindemann in 2009. The first album he owned was Deep Purple's Stormbringer. Career Music Lindemann started to play drums for Schwerin-based experimental rock band First Arsch in 1986, who released an album titled Saddle Up in 1992, and played one song ("Lied von der unruhevollen Jugend") with a punk band called Feeling B, which was the former band of Rammstein members Paul Landers, Christoph Schneider and Christian