lit a candle 1d agomy mom heard it on the radio while I was pulling weeds and just yelled Follow Me at me through the kitchen window, didn't even know she knew the words. 54 is nothing.
Their story
Kristina Safrany, known to eurodance fans as Tina and on First Base records as Viktoria, was a German singer and songwriter of Hungarian origin whose voice cut through the mid-1990s club and radio boom. Born on 26 June 1972 in Jettenbach, Germany, she grew up with music close at hand.…
Kristina Safrany, known to eurodance fans as Tina and on First Base records as Viktoria, was a German singer and songwriter of Hungarian origin whose voice cut through the mid-1990s club and radio boom. Born on 26 June 1972 in Jettenbach, Germany, she grew up with music close at hand. From about age sixteen she sang in school choirs and entered talent contests, then after completing her Abitur in 1992 she stepped into studio work that would define a generation of European dance floors.
The early 1990s German and European eurodance scene thrived on flexible studio projects, and Safrany became one of its most adaptable lead voices. Credited under a web of stage names, she sang as Tina S. on Stereotype's And The Beat Goes On and Get The Real Power's In The Heat Of The Night; as Christina on Project P's I Give You All My Love and Megatronic's Into The Fire; as C. Safrany with J.A.P. Davis on Black And White and Walking On Air; and as Chrissie on Masterjam's I Wanna Know, with further work linked to X-Tasy, Space Mission, Chart Houz, Cabballero, Dance Device and related releases. Collectors and Discogs editors also list the alias Tina Henninger. The pattern was typical of the era: producers built tracks around a strong female hook and a rap verse, while the vocalist often remained less famous than the song.
Around age twenty-five she became the featured singer of First Base, a Frankfurt-rooted project created by producer Michael Gleim (DJ Wondermike) with rapper Michael Williams (MC Flash). Under the name Viktoria she fronted Love Is Paradise, Can You Keep a Secret and Follow Me. The records travelled especially well in Canada. Love Is Paradise and Can You Keep a Secret both reached number one on the Canadian RPM Dance chart, and Follow Me peaked at number six. For many listeners in North America and Europe, those singles remain the clearest window onto her 1990s peak.
Safrany never treated dance music as her only register. With her husband, pianist Uwe Köhler (also credited as Uwe Köhler-Safranj on later productions), she performed classic ballads and gospel material, recorded Vocal And Piano Dreams, and appeared at weddings and private events. That parallel life deepened over time. In the Heilbronn and Ludwigsburg region she worked as a freie Rednerin, crafting personal wedding ceremonies from her home base in Beilstein-Jettenbach, while continuing to sing. On her celebrant site she thanked her son, a wedding photographer, linking family craft to public work.
She kept releasing dance music long after the first eurodance wave. In 2009 she returned with Free Way under the First B name. Later singles included collaborations such as You Taught Me How To Love with rapper Freeze (2018), Love Is The Power and related 2019 tracks, and the self-referential Music Was My First Drug, produced with Uwe Köhler-Safranj and Gerd Hesse for NTB Records. In 2019 she performed in Peru at nostalgia festivals Recordando los 90s and 90s Lover Fest. From about 2020 and 2021 she joined Maxxima with Ricardo Overman (MC Fixx It), formerly of Twenty 4 Seven and Cappella, releasing No More Chances and further singles and albums produced with Andy Stead. In June 2023 she sang older hits and Maxxima material at a two-day eurodance event in Omsk, Russia; that July she revisited the First Base classic with Australian DJ Samus Jay on Can U Keep a Secret.
Hungarian and German-language obituaries in late September 2026 remembered her as a Hungarian-origin voice of the eurodance boom, citing First Base, Megatronic and Masterjam among the projects that carried her into living rooms and clubs. Wikipedia's First Base entry records that she died in Germany on 26 September 2026 at the age of fifty-four. Hungarian outlets including Index, Nyugati Fény, Twice, Origo and NLC reported the news around 28 September; several noted that the cause of death was not made public. Fans mourning online pointed back to the songs rather than to private details, a fitting close for an artist whose public life was always most audible on vinyl, CD and dance compilations.
Safrany's legacy sits in the peculiar architecture of 1990s eurodance: many faces behind many project names, yet a few hooks that outlasted the charts. Through First Base she left Canadian number ones; through Megatronic, Masterjam and dozens of session credits she supplied the melodic centre of tracks that nostalgia nights still play. Through Maxxima and later collaborations she showed that the style's energy could be renewed decades on. For memorial listeners, the through-line is a clear, forceful lead voice of Hungarian-German roots that helped soundtrack an era when European dance-pop felt borderless.
Biography adapted from Generation Dance; Discogs (Christina Safrani); Wikipedia First Base (group) and Deaths in 2026; Index.hu; Nyugati Fény; Twice; Origo; NLC; Eurodance Mag; official DMN Records artist site; freie-redner.
In their own words
“Music was my first drug.”
Title and artistic statement of her 2019 single Music Was My First Drug (NTB Records), produced with Uwe Köhler-Safranj and Gerd Hesse.
“I am Kristina Safrany and I look forward to shaping your personal wedding ceremony.”
Paraphrased from the welcome message on her freie-rednerin-heilbronn.de celebrant site, where she introduced her ceremony work.
“Together we develop an individual ceremony that tells your story and puts your wishes at the centre.”
From her public celebrant website copy describing how she approached freie Trauungen in the Heilbronn region.
“We lost another EuroDance Legend someone who closer to our heart among us all Frist Base own Kristina Safrany has died on Saturday in Germany age of 54.”
Instagram tribute wording cited by the Wikipedia First Base article (dancemusickid_vinniemichael, 28 September 2026); spelling as published in the citation.
“Her talent, special voice and love of music will remain forever in fans' memories.”
Closing sentiment echoed across Hungarian obituaries including Nyugati Fény (28 September 2026).
“Love Is Paradise.”
Title of First Base's breakthrough single, the song most often attached to her name in Canadian dance-chart history.
“Can you keep a secret?”
Title hook of First Base's second major hit, later revisited in her 2023 collaboration with Samus Jay.
“Just another Eurodance queen.”
Affectionate framing used by Eurodance Mag in its 2019 feature on Tina Safrany's Music Was My First Drug single.
Photos
2Kristina Safrany (Tina)
by People Forever
Kristina Safrany, Discogs artist photo
by People Forever
same, my dad has been humming Love Is Paradise all week