Leila Negra is the stage name of Afro-German singer and actress Marie Nejar (March 20, 1930), who began her career as a child film actor in the 1940s. Born in the city of Mülheim an der Ruhr, her childhood was marked by difficulty. She was first put in an orphanage by her mother, who was disowned by her family for pursuing an interracial relationship. After reuniting with her mother at the age of 3, she moved to Hamburg to live with her grandmother. Following her mother's death when she was just 10 years old, she participated in a series of propaganda films by the Nazi government and later went on to cultivate a highly successful career as a singer, adopting the nickname Leila Negra. Through hits like "Toxi-Lied," "Mach nicht so traurige Augen," and "Mütterlein," Leila Negra became one of the most popular recording artists in post-war Germany. Despite this success, she decided to quit the music industry in 1957 and studied to become a nurse. Even though she didn't release any albums during her heyday, some of her biggest hits can be found in compilations like 1992's Unsere Lieblingle. Mach nicht so traurige Augen, weil du ein Negerlein bist: Meine Jugend im Dritten Reich, her autiobiography, appeared in 2007. Leila Negra died in Hamburg on May 11, 2025, at the age of 95.
