MIA.
Background information
Origin	Berlin, Germany
Genres	German rock,pop
Years active	1997–present
Labels	R.O.T. (production) Columbia (distribution)
Members	Mieze Katz (vocals) Gunnar Spies (drums) Robert "Bob" Schütze (bass) Andy Penn (guitar)
Past members	Hannes Schulze Ingo Puls
Website	miarockt.de

MIA. (alternative spelling:Mia.) is a Germanpunk/new wave/rock/pop band fromBerlin.

MIA. originally formed in 1997 when TV hostSarah Kuttner introduced schoolmates Mieze Katz (real name Maria Mummert) and Andreas Ross (who later changed his name to Andy Penn) to Robert Schütze and Ingo Puls. They took on Hannes Schulze as drummer and one year later the band, then calledMe in Affairs, signed a contract with newly formed independent music label R.O.T. (Respect or Tolerate). They soon abbreviated their band name to MIA., but now claim the letters do no longer stand just forMe in Affairs, but also for things like "Musik ist Alles" ("Music is everything") and that there is no such thing as a "correct" translation of their name.

In 1999, the band released its first single "Sugar My Skin" on major labelBMG, but due to artistic differences the members soon asked to be released from that contract. In 2001 they followed up with their second single "Factory City". At the same time Gunnar Spies replaced Hannes Schulze, who had left the group for personal reasons. Afterwards MIA. released their debut albumHieb & StichFEST viaSony Music, which had moderate success in Germany.

2003 saw the band being heavily criticized for their song "Was es ist" ("What it is"), released on an EP of the same title. The lyrics, based on a reference toErich Fried's 1983 love poem of the same name, featured romantic references to Germany and the colours of the German flag, topics that due to Germany's difficult history, especially the'Third Reich'-era, many political leftists and especiallyAnti-Germans consider forbidden territory. MIA. claim the song was meant to provoke a discussion about Germany as a home and as a place to change and design. Furthermore, they consider themselves politically on the left.

In 2004, the band went on with its second albumStille Post. The longplayer spawned three singles, including "Hungriges Herz" ("Hungry Heart"), which was chosen for the German pre-selection of theEurovision Song Contest and reached number 24 on the official Singles Chart. The album simultaneously peaked at number 13 on the Album 100 and was eventually certified with gold.

Their third albumZirkus was released on 21 July 2006. It entered and peaked the German album charts at number 2, making it a surprise hit for the band and MIA.'s most successful album so far. The first single from the album, "Tanz der Moleküle" ("Dance of the Molecules") had previously entered the charts at number 19 and remained in the German top 100 for 33 weeks, making it the group's most successful single to that point.

In early 2007, MIA. competed in theBundesvision Song Contest with their single "Zirkus" and came in fourth place.

On 7 July 2007, MIA. performed at theGerman leg ofLive Earth inHamburg.

During a live appearance inBonn on 19 April 2008, the band introduced their new song "Mein Freund" ("My Friend"). It was the first single from their fourth albumWillkommen im Club (Welcome to the Club) released in September and debuting at number 4 on the German album charts.^[1] According to newspaper reports, the band also planned to release that album in an English-language version, which, however, never happened.

In the summer of 2009, the band announced during an interview with their official fan club that they would take a year-long break from touring, writing, and recording, beginning 6 September.^[2] Upon their return they wrote and recorded a fifth studio album,Tacheles, which they announced in late 2011 and published in March 2012. Ingo Puls left MIA. in 2011 due to undisclosed reasons while the rest of the band was working on the album. The first single from the album, "Fallschirm" ("Parachute") entered the charts at number 11, the highest chart position for any MIA. single so far.

• Guitarist Andy Penn also has a solo career playing electronic music under the pseudonym TimTim. He released an album called "Let's Pretend We're Going" in 2003 and remixed songs for bands he or MIA. are friends with (such asWir sind Helden,Virginia Jetzt! or Delbo). Lately he has remixed mostly MIA.'s own songs.
• Except for Robert Schütze, all members of the band have appeared as musicians on releases by other artists, e.g. Mieze Katz as a back-up singer withVirginia Jetzt! on their albumWer hat Angst for Virginia Jetzt! or in a duet withFettes Brot in their song "Das traurigste Mädchen der Stadt", Andy Penn as a guitarist on the track "A Pointless Life" by Tok Tok vs. Soffy O., Ingo Puls as a horn player on the albumVon hier an blind byWir sind Helden, and Gunnar Spies as a drummer on Elke Brauweiler's albumTwist à Saint Tropez.
• Mieze Katz, Andi Penn and Robert Schütze appeared as extras in 2002 movieFührer Ex. The band also contributed three songs to the film's soundtrack.
• Mieze Katz sings the German version of the title theme for animated seriesRuby Gloom.
• Mieze Katz is a jury member of season 11 ofDeutschland sucht den Superstar.

• Hieb & StichFEST (2002)
• Stille Post (2004, rereleased later that year as a limited special edition with remixes and a DVD)
• Zirkus (2006, rereleased in 2007 as a special edition with videos and bonus features in an enhanced CD part)
• Willkommen im Club (2008)
• Tacheles (2012)
• Biste Mode (2015)
• Limbo (2020)

Wikimedia Commons has media related toMIA..

• Official website (mostly in German)
• Official fanclub (in German)
• MIA. atAllMusic
• MIA. atIMDb

• Musical groups from Berlin
• German pop music groups
• German rock music groups

• Articles with short description
• Short description is different from Wikidata
• Use dmy dates from November 2021
• Articles with hCards
• Commons category link from Wikidata