Carlo Karges (31 July 1951 – 30 January 2002) was a German musician who became a guitarist and songwriter for the rock band, Nena. He wrote the lyrics of Nena's most famous song, "

99 Luftballons "99 Luftballons" (german: link=no, Neunundneunzig Luftballons, "99 balloons") is a song by the German band Nena from their 1983 self-titled album. An English-language version titled "99 Red Balloons", with lyrics by Kevin McAlea, was also rele ...

", released in 1983. He was attending a 1982 Rolling Stones concert at the

Waldbühne The Waldbühne (''Woodland Stage'' or ''Forest Stage'') is a theatre at Olympiapark Berlin in Berlin, Germany. It was designed by German architect Werner March in emulation of a Greek theatre and built between 1934 and 1936 as the Dietrich-Eckar ...

(the "Forest Theatre") in

West Berlin West Berlin (german: Berlin (West) or , ) was a political enclave which comprised the western part of Berlin during the years of the Cold War. Although West Berlin was de jure not part of West Germany, lacked any sovereignty, and was under m ...

, when they released a large mass of helium balloons into the air. He wondered how East German or Soviet forces might react if the balloons crossed the Berlin Wall, and thus he conceived the idea for the song about a major war resulting from misidentification of a mass of balloons. Karges was born in Hamburg and grew up with his single mother there. As a student he started to play guitar and to compose songs. After he had gathered experience playing live in several different groups, including Tomorrows Gift and Release Music Orchestra, by 1971 he was the guitarist and keyboardist and founding member of

Novalis Georg Philipp Friedrich Freiherr von Hardenberg (2 May 1772 – 25 March 1801), pen name Novalis (), was a German polymath who was a writer, philosopher, poet, aristocrat and mystic. He is regarded as an idiosyncratic and influential figure o ...

. In 1981 he joined Gabriele "Nena" Kerner, Rolf Brendel,

Jürgen Dehmel Jürgen Dehmel (born 12 August 1958) is a German bass player and songwriter. Biography Dehmel was born in Berlin, Germany. He was brought by keyboardist Uwe Fahrenkrog-Petersen to join the rock band Nena in 1981. Fahrenkrog-Petersen and Dehmel ...

, and

Uwe Fahrenkrog-Petersen Jörn-Uwe Fahrenkrog-Petersen (born 10 March 1960) is a German keyboard player, producer and composer. He was the keyboardist of the band Nena and co-wrote their world famous hit "99 Luftballons" as well as another great hit entitled "Irgendwie ...

in establishing the eponymous band Nena. Karges died at the Eppendorf Clinic in Hamburg on 30 January 2002 at the age of 50, due to liver failure. He was buried in Hamburg's

Ohlsdorf Cemetery Ohlsdorf Cemetery (german: Ohlsdorfer Friedhof or (former) ) in the Ohlsdorf quarter of the city of Hamburg, Germany, is the biggest rural cemetery in the world and the fourth-largest cemetery in the world. Most of the people buried at the cemet ...

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* * 1951 births 2002 deaths German new wave musicians German rock guitarists German male guitarists German songwriters Musicians from Hamburg 20th-century guitarists Deaths from liver failure Burials at the Ohlsdorf Cemetery 20th-century German male musicians 20th-century German musicians Nena (band) members {{Germany-musician-stub