Love, death, and sex:
A conversation with Berlin’s Terri Nunn
Editor’s note: Berlin performs Saturday, May 4 at the BeachLife Festival in Redondo Beach.
After an erratic start (different name, lineup, label,etc.) Berlin emerged on the L.A. music scene at the tail end of the ‘70s with a sound variously described as new wave, techno-pop or electro-pop, with a sultry lead singer named Terri Nunn. “Tell Me Why” b/w “The Metro” stirred up interest in the band and led to the 1982 EP “Pleasure Victim” on Enigma Records. It featured “Sex (I’m A…)” and drew the attention of Geffen Records. The group was off and running. In 1986, “Take My Breath Away” became a hit after being included in “Top Gun,” the Tom Cruise film. Success and radio play then became rather elusive. Musicians came and went. Recently, the original members collaborated on their first album together since “Love Life” in 1984. “Transcendance” is due to be released this spring. Terri Nunn answered questions about Berlin’s past, present, and future.
Q: It’s going to be the original Berlin line-up performing at the BeachLife Festival in Redondo Beach?
Terri Nunn: “Yes. The Berlin original three, John Crawford, David Diamond and I, are playing with two of the new members of Berlin. When I say new Berlin members, it’s relative; Chris Olivas has been in Berlin for 19 years and Dave Schultz for 12. Overall it’s a bigger Berlin experience for everyone.”
Q: As one might expect, the subjects that the group focused on in the 1980s aren’t always the same subjects now. Or if they are, they’re approached from another point of view.
Terri: “We wrote about sex a lot in our 20s; that’s most of what we thought about then! I do have a different perspective on it now. In fact, one of the songs on the new album, called ‘I Want You,’ is about what my sexuality feels like to me now. There’s also a song about what my mother told me when I asked her what it felt like to die. We named the whole album after that song, ‘Transcendance.’ Another one’s about a crisis of faith, called ‘No One Left Alive.’ So yes, we humans get much more interesting and richly complex as we get older.”
Q: If you could go back four decades and tap your younger self on the shoulder, would you advise her (your younger self) to do anything differently?
Terri: “Absolutely. I would advise her to enjoy each step, each moment, each connection along the way, instead of leaping and struggling from one mountain to the next to ‘achieve,’ for ego’s sake. That’s a game you can never win, but you can enjoy life as it happens. That’s the most fulfilling way to live, I’ve learned.”
Q: Regarding the band and its legacy, I assume there have been many ups and downs, hopes and frustrations, but I also assume it’s been a pretty good ride so far?
Terri: “I can’t tell you how grateful I am to have gotten this ride for 40 years and it’s still going. There’s no way to know how long a dream will last in reality and this is way more than I ever hoped. I’m happier than ever making music and my daily gratitude keeps growing with that. I know it sounds schmaltzy but I mean that.”
Q: Do you, and the group, still have goals that you hope to achieve? Which is essentially another way of asking, what do you envision for the future?
Terri: “I want to continue to empower people with music, and with new ways of seeing things (I mean, how many people write about death in a song like ‘Transcendence’?). And to do it in a sensual, entertaining way musically, to play for as many people as we can, and to continue to make a great living doing it.”
Berlin performs Saturday, May 5 at 11:30 a.m. at the BeachLife Festival in Redondo Beach. Visit BeachLifeFestival.com for tickets and information. ER
