Sasha

Sasha is the elder of two children born to Fritz Schmitz, a former Bundeswehr soldier, and his wife Ramona, a nursery nurse. Raised in a Christian home alongside his younger brother Norman (born 1976), Sasha spent his childhood in Soest, North Rhine-Westphalia, following his parents' divorce.

His early musical interest grew when he started his first school band, called Bad to the Bone, which "was exactly as bad as the name suggests", he later stated. Sasha's first professional band was called Junk Food and modelled on bands such as Nirvana and the Red Hot Chili Peppers. Although the band was never offered a recording contract, they played live all over their area, resulting in occasional busking sessions with his friend Benedict, with whom he also performed as the 'Hin und Hair Schmitz' duo. In 1992, Junk Food won a local talent contest which entitled them to record demo tapes at the Click Music Studios in Werl with producers Michael "Grant Michael F." Kersting and Stephan "Pomez Di Lorenzo" Baader. While the band broke up shortly thereafter, Grant and Di Lorenzo recognized his singing talents and hired Sasha as a backing vocalist for several of their projects. In 2006, Sasha made his big screen debut with a small role in the German comedy film Goldene Zeiten, directed by Peter Thorwarth. The following year he accepted a supporting role in the film adaptation of Why Men Don't Listen and Women Can't Read Maps (2007) alongside Benno Fürmann and Jessica Schwarz. In the film he portrayed the comedic role of a brutal biker. In 2008, Sasha appeared in the German movie Ossi's Eleven, for which he contributed two songs to the soundtrack under the pseudonym Nelson Rogers.