"I had become a commodity."

SZ-Magazin: In the early 1980s, you were one of the best-known and most successful singers in Germany; everyone knew your hits like "Er gehört zu mir" and "Marleen ." But then, all of a sudden, you hoped that no one would buy your records anymore. What was going on? Marianne Rosenberg: Quite simply: I wanted out of my record contract. But since my record company had made good money off me for a long time, they naturally weren't going to let me go. I realized at some point that there was only one way out of this system: I had to appear worthless to the company. And in the music industry, you're only worthless when you no longer generate revenue.