Timewarp’s Barbi girl remembers her Timewarp days at Heaven Nightclub
Remember Timewarp’s Barbi girl? After Adelaide institution HQ Complex suddenly closed down last week, we decided to track down Adelaide’s ‘90s poster girl for the original nightclub.
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From platform heels to holistic health – life has changed for ’90s nightclub poster girl Barbi.
The alter ego of singer Nikki Kosmider-Heuskes, Barbi fronted the popular Timewarp crew, entertaining a generation of partygoers at the former Heaven II club on North Tce.
Between 1995 and 2005, Barbi – who changed her stage name to Barbarella in 1999 – and her friends including Captain Kirk, Jaki J and DJ Shogun hosted one of the Australia’s most successful retro discos each Wednesday night at Adelaide's first super club.
They also frequently toured Victoria and New South Wales.
Kosmider-Heuskes’ break came while performing in her band Shake at Joplins, which would later become part of the first home of the HQ Complex.
“The management of the hotel saw me and asked if I would check out their Wednesday night, which was Timewarp, so I did,” Kosmider-Heuskes, 46, of Langhorne Creek, says.
“When I was approached I was wearing a Barbie T-shirt and a manager said (my name) could be Barbi, because everything in that show was playful.
“I thought it was hilarious and that became my DJ name for some reason.”
Now, 15 years since she ditched the mini-metallic skirts, Kosmider-Heuskes owns Ask the Body Kinesiology in Mount Barker and is a singer in popular band All About Her.
She is also preparing for a busy Adelaide Fringe season, which includes singing backing vocals for America’s Got Talent: The Champion contestant Hans.
Kosmider-Heuskes started practising kinesiology about seven years ago.
“I used to get this chronic pain all time which turned out to be carpal tunnel … I could not use my hands and it was a scary time,” Kosmider-Heuskes says.
“I had sessions in kinesiology with my sister-in-law and (the pain) went overnight – I can’t even explain it,” she says.
“I woke up the next morning and I was like ‘OK, my hands are fine, what the hell is with that?’.”
The former recording artist has seen many changes in Adelaide's nightclub scene.
The most recent was the closure of HQ Complex – where her daughter Akasha, 14, was set to perform at earlier this month – following “sluggish trade”.
She says while it is sad that people have lost their jobs – and Adelaide has lost a nightspot and prominent venue for musicians to play at – people need to accept change.
“There will always be something else, so we need to ride it out,” she says.
“Musicians have to be adaptable, people have to be adaptable and change it up because it is what is happening in this climate.”
Although the mother-of-three, who is married to former AFL footballer Adam Heuskes, is no longer a nightclub poster girl, her Barbarella days aren’t completely behind her.
“People sometimes notice me at gigs and it is really funny – we laugh when it happens,” Kosmider-Heuskes says.
“Mostly what I get is people saying, ‘I know you, but I don’t know where from’ and I think poor you, you probably had to see my face on all of those TV ads.
“But it was pretty funny back then, I have such fond memories, and made some of my best friends.”