Janine Scholz, better known by her simple stage name Kira, is a former German singer-songwriter who was born in Wuppertal on October 20, 1978. History From the beginning of her musical development Kira had an unstoppable will to write her own music and songs. At the age of ten she started studying the violin, but after six years it became clear to her that she would not be able to develop herself on this instrument. She subsequently got a job at a metalworks factory and used her earnings to buy her first guitar and begin writing her songs. "If you write your own material," she has said, "there’s a personal meaning and the greatest sense of credibility behind every word and every note. And that’s also the most important factor for me—it doesn’t matter whether I’m listening to music or writing it. A song has to say something to me, be honest and touch me." In her early years Kira often devoted more time to her guitar studies and songwriting than to her school work. With the help of her guitar teacher, she recorded one of her first songs and submitted it to a home recording competition in 1997. The material was passed on to Hamburg-based producer Michael Hagel, and Kira received feedback on it a year later. This considerably influenced her decision to set herself apart with her talent and her work, and also created an important mutual trust. Her work on new songs began. "I’ve always written my music and lyrics together," she has said. "At first [I wrote my lyrics] in English, but my producer took me aside again and again and wanted me to write something in German. As soon as I tried that, we were both immediately convinced by the result and the new feeling it generated." From then on she was no longer interested in writing English lyrics. "Today I can't imagine singing in English any more," she said in another interview years later. "I love my language and the many possibilities it offers me to express myself and to define who I am." Kira’s confidence heightened her resolve to work even more strongly toward her music. As a result, in 2000 she decided to move from her home town, Wuppertal, to Hamburg. "I stopped going to school after twelfth grade," she has said. "It was difficult for me to leave my family, but