[4] Niemen was born in Stare Wasiliszki in the Nowogródek Voivodeship of the Second Polish Republic (now in the Grodno Region of Belarus), to parents Antoni Wydrzycki (1896–1960) and Anna (née Markiewicz; 1897–1986).

In 1959, at the age of 19, the family were forcibly migrated to Northwest Poland along the Baltic Sea during the second repatriation of Poles,[6] frequently moving between various cities, including Kołobrzeg, Świebodzin and Białogard.

Niemen found himself in the first group of Polish musicians who were identified with the burgeoning big-beat style of Eastern Europe, thanks to being among 15 winners of a festival for young performers in Szczecin in 1962.

[1] He was one of the first Polish performers to wear long hair and colourful clothes and introduced the style of psychedelia to communist Poland, which displeased officials.

That album's most notable song was "Bema pamięci żałobny rapsod" (A Mournful Rhapsody in Memory of Józef Bem), based on the 19th-century poem by Cyprian Kamil Norwid.

In the early 1970s, Niemen recorded three English language albums under the CBS label, two of them (and three more in Poland) with the Silesian band SBB.

opening show for the 1972 Summer Olympics in Munich sharing the stage with Mahavishnu Orchestra, John McLaughlin and Charles Mingus and subsequently toured with Jack Bruce's band.

[18] Since March 12, 2004, Czesław Niemen's song Sen o Warszawie has been performed before each match of Legia Warsaw at the Stadion Wojska Polskiego and is considered the club fans' anthem.

[19] [20] On February 20, 2011, a museum devoted to Niemen and his musical legacy was opened in the artist's birthplace in Stare Wasiliszki, present-day Belarus.

Initially it was formed from young musicians of the rock band Krzak: Jacek Gazda, Jan Błędowski, Maciej Radziejewski, Piotr Dziemski.