Interview with Terri Nunn of ’80s electro outfit Berlin; touring Australia with Culture Club this September

By creammagazine, August 18, 2023

They delivered one of the biggest ballads of the 1980s in Take My Breath Away but Berlin can boast a greater discography than one mere tearjerker of a song from ‘Top Gun’.

On the club scene they had success with a swag of electro hits including No More Words, Dancing In Berlin and their seminal single Metro, the latter subsequently covered by System Of A Down and Alkaline Trio.

This year, Berlin are touring with Culture Club, kicking off with a concert at Perth’s RAC Arena on September 5.

Here, lead singer Terri Nunn tells Cream about some of the stranger places she’s heard her songs being played…

 

Hi Terri. What have you been up to these past two decades?
That’s not a big question! [Laughs]. Outside of music, I’ve been a Mom. My daughter is now 11, so that has been quite a life-changing experience, and one that’s been worth every minute. Even the hard minutes – they’ve been wonderful. I’ve been married, too, and that’s been amazing for me.

 

At your wedding, did the DJ or band play any Berlin songs?
Actually, I sang some stuff for my man. I don’t know if I did Berlin songs; I picked songs that expressed my love for him at that moment… I don’t even remember what they were!

 

Berlin songs do get played at weddings the world over – particularly one track, ‘Take My Breath Away’. Does it make you happy to know the song has stood the test of time?
It thrills me that people play it at their weddings. I hear stories from people who come up to me after shows and say ‘That was my wedding song’ or ‘That was my first-date song’ or ‘That was my first kiss’. It’s a big deal to me because I always wanted to make music that would be like that; I have songs like that in my life that are so important to me in those moments that mattered. Those songs are in my DNA; they will always matter to me. So it means a lot that I have created a song that has done that for somebody else.

 

“Somebody had a transistor radio and ‘Take My Breath Away’ came on. And we were looking at them and they were looking at us, and there was no way they could have known that the person standing in front of them, caked with dirt, was the one singing that song.”

 

When the song was a major hit, and you had that particular image with your two-tone hairdo, did people recognise you regularly on the street?
A-ha! Especially because of MTV; I mean that was constant. When MTV started, they didn’t have enough videos so I think that’s why they played us so much. All they did was play videos 24 hours a day so we got played, like, every twenty minutes!

 

Speaking of music rotation, you must still hear the song played quite a bit on mix format radio. Where is the most bizarre place you’ve heard it playing in the background?
In Russia, when I went to adopt my daughter. We were walking around the streets of Russia, and I heard it coming from a boombox. Another interesting place was Egypt. There we were walking on what was, like, dirt road – I mean, it’s basically a third-world country – and somebody had a transistor radio and Take My Breath Away came on. And we were looking at them and they were looking at us, and there was no way they could have known that the person standing in front of them, caked with dirt, was the one singing that song.

 

“We’re all getting old, we’re all in the same boat, and nobody knows what they’re doing, so why be afraid?”

 

What’s one thing that you miss from the 1980s?
What do I miss about the 1980s? Aaaah… I guess the ‘newness’ of things. A lot of the things we were doing back then were new for us and for everybody. That was fun, but it was also scary a lot of the times. Major changes were going on in the world – and they were exciting but scary.

 

So fear is one thing you don’t miss from the ’80s?
Yeah. I was afraid a lot. I was afraid that I didn’t know what I was doing. I still sometimes don’t know what I’m doing but there’s less fear. And I like that about getting older; it’s about working through what you’re afraid of. Because we’re all getting old, we’re all in the same boat, and nobody knows what they’re doing, so why be afraid?

 

What do you fear most?
Probably danger to my child, but I bring her up the best that I can and in the safest environment that I can.

 

Well it sounds like you’re doing well, balancing being a Mom and still enjoying a music career. We look forward to seeing you live in Australia soon.
Thank you; and we look forward to being there!

 

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Berlin will be playing with Culture Club on their Greatest Hits Tour across Australia in September. Tour dates and venues as follows:

 

Tuesday 5 September

RAC Arena, Perth

 

Friday 8 September

Qudos Bank Arena, Sydney

 

Saturday 9 September

Rod Laver Arena, Melbourne

 

Monday 11 September

Adelaide Entertainment Centre

 

Thursday 14 September

Brisbane Entertainment Centre

 

Tickets are available through Ticketek.

 

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