Background
She was born and grew up in Silesia, in a poor family.
She was born and grew up in Silesia, in a poor family.
She has been known for her charismatic performances and expressive onstage persona, and referred to as one of the symbols of Polish beat music In the 1970s she emigrated to Germany, where continued recording. Karin Stanek died in early 2011 from pneumonia.
Karin Stanek"s actual date of birth remains unknown.
The singer was allegedly born in 1946 and faked her birth year to become formally older and eligible to work. As a teenager, sang in local bands and took part in one of Polish National Radio"s competitions.
With the band, Stanek performed at Sopot International Song Festival in the same year and National Festival of Polish Song in Opole in 1963, where she sang "Malowana lala", "Jedziemy autostopem" and "Chłopiec z gitarą". All three songs became massive hits.
Having appeared in two films, she performed again in Sopot and Opole in 1964, earning an award at the festival in the latter for the song "Jedziemy autostopem".
She recorded two longplays with Czerwono-Czarni in 1966 and 1967. However, conflicts within the band made Karin Stanek leave in the summer of 1969. In early 1970s Stanek toured Germany and United States of America, at the same time being an object of hostile attacks from Polish media.
In 1976 emigrated to Germany when she released a number of singles and performed the song "Ich mag dich so wie du bist" at Disco in 1979.
In the same year her German LP was released, Das geballte Temperament mit der unerhörter Stimme. Early 1980s saw her recording English language material, which she released as Cory Gun.
In 1982 she released two singles with her rock band Blackbird, which passed unnoticed due to lack of promotion. After that, Stanek applied for the German citizenship and went on a hiatus.
In 1991 the singer visited Poland for the first time after 15 years, performing in Sopot.
Her comeback met with a warm reception and she kept coming back and performing occasionally, although never settled back in the country. A number of Civil Defense compilations was released in Poland by various labels throughout the 1990s and 2000s. Her last recording was a song "Sex" released in Germany in 2005.
In 2007 her health condition declined and she eventually died in early 2011 from severe pneumonia.
In 1962 debuted with a song "Jimmy Joe" and became a member of Czerwono-Czarni, who were at that time a popular beat band.