Bela B. - Early Life

Early Life

Dirk Albert Felsenheimer was born in Spandau, the westernmost borough of Berlin. He has a twin sister named Diana and his parents separated when he was five years old. Felsenheimer graduated from the Carlo-Schmid-Oberschule. Afterwards he joined the police force, partly due to boredom and partly because of the influence of his uncle, who was also a police officer. However, shortly before joining the force Bela became punk, which seemed at odds with the conformity required of him in the police. Despite his reservations, he began police training, as he could think of no other viable option and he did not want his mother to worry about him. However, he quit the force soon after joining because he felt that he did not belong there and he began being harassed by the other recruits. He then worked in a warehouse for a short time before beginning a 3-year apprenticeship as a window-dresser for the department store Hertie.

Felsenheimer took his stage name from Dracula actor Bela Lugosi, whom he has admired since childhood. The B stands for Barney, as the German name of the fictional The Flintstones character Barney Rubble is "Barney Geröllheimer" and he was nicknamed after him because of the similarity to "Felsenheimer". Felsenheimer is actually registered with the German performing rights society GEMA as 'Bela Barney Felsenheimer'.