Czesław Niemen (Polish pronunciation: [ˈt͡ʂɛswaf ˈɲɛmɛn]; born Czesław Juliusz Wydrzycki; February 16, 1939 – January 17, 2004), often credited mononymously as Niemen, was a Polish singer-songwriter, composer, and bandleader. Singing primarily in Polish, he is regarded as one of the most important and innovative Polish singer-songwriters and rock balladeers of the 20th century, representing one of the main pillars of the countercultural big-beat genre of the Eastern Bloc. He was noted to possess an atypically wide vocal range with rich intonation.
