 His father joined the family in West Berlin when Lämmerhirt was 12 years old, but became violent and drunken; Lämmerhirt believed that experience gave him, in adult life, a strong aversion to violence and injustice which influenced his songwriting.He took up the harmonica and bought his first guitar - a 12 string - when he was 16.Rock and blues clubs were springing up over Berlin in the mid-1960s and Werner picked up playing tips in these.