Paul Landers (1964)

 Early life

Paul Landers was born in Berlin, Germany to a Russian mother. His real name was Heiko Hiersche, which he hated. He lived in Moscow for a short time as a young child. Landers speaks fluent Russian but he can't read or write it. He moved out of his parents' house at the age of 16 due to fights with his stepfather and subsequently switched his first names, also in honor of his biological father. He soon left out Heiko, making his name Paul Hiersche.

 Music career

In 1983, Landers formed the East German punk band, Feeling B, together with Flake Lorenz and Aljoscha Rompe, in which Christoph Schneider would later also play. In 1986, Landers formed First Arsch with Till Lindemann and Richard Kruspe. He also played in a number of other bands including Die Firma and Die Magdalene Keibel Combo.

Lindemann, Kruspe, Schneider and bassist Oliver "Ollie" Riedel entered and won the Berlin Senate Metro Beat Contest in 1994 that enabled them to have a four-track demo professionally recorded. Landers and Flake soon followed suit to join the band which became known as Rammstein.

Oddly, he has stated that he does not like rock, but "with Rammstein it seems to work".

 Personal life

When he married Nikki Landers in 1984 , he took his wife's surname, thus making his name Paul Landers.

They later divorced in 1987, but he kept her last name. He has a boy: Emil and a daughter, whose name and date of birth are unknown.

After his divorce with Nikki Landers, he lived with his Feeling B band mate Christian "Flake" Lorenz for a number of years. Paul has since had a daughter and remarried. He is the shortest member of the band .