Kiev Stingl was born in 1943 in Aussig a.d. Elbe in Sudetenland, from which he and his mother had to flee after the end of World War II. After having first having found refuge in Mannheim he was relocated to Hamburg in 1949, where he attended secondary school and unsuccessfully studied Politicology and Ethnology. In 1985 he moved from Hamburg to Berlin. Since 1975 Stingl has been active as a composer, lyricist, singer, actor and performer and has authored four acclaimed LPs (Teuflisch, Hart wie Mozart, Ich wünsch den Deutschen alles Gute and Grausam das Gold und jubelnd die Pest) and four books (Flacker in der Pfote, Die besoffene Schlägerei, Kainer Maria Cowboy and Sink skin) and many other unpublished and unreleased works. His intoxicated and provocative behaviour, his existentialist stance paired with outstanding qualities as a song writer and lyricist make it fair to hail Kiev Stingl as one of the great lyricists, authors and performance artists of post-war Germany. Stingl died in Berlin in 2024.
On 20 February 2026, the second anniversary of Kiev Stingl’s death, Klangbad – the label of Hans-Joachim Irmler, founding member of the legendary Krautrock band Faust – released Stingl’s swansong and musical legacy, Meine Sterne fallen (My Stars Are Falling). The beautiful and moving album is now available on CD, released by Moloko Plus. All titles by Kiev Stingl, arrangements by Niklas David.