Nena
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- This article is about Nena the singer. See also nena (disambiguation).
Nena (born March 24, 1960) is a German singer who became famous worldwide with the German New Wave song "99 Luftballons" (English version "99 Red Balloons").
She was born Gabriele Susanne Kerner in Hagen, Nordrhein-Westfalen (North Rhine-Westphalia), Germany. She acquired her nickname, "Nena," a Germanized version of the Spanish word "nina" (little girl) at the age of 3 during a vacation to Spain.
Her first band was called The Stripes. They had a very minor hit with the song "Ecstasy" but never managed to achieve broad success.
The band Nena was formed with Nena (singer), Rolf Brendel (drums), Carlo Karges (guitar), Uwe Fahrenkrog-Petersen (keyboard) and Jürgen Dehmel (bass) in Berlin in 1981. Their first hit single, "Nur geträumt", came in 1982 after appearing on the German television program Musikladen.
The following year they released their self-titled first album, which contained the singles "99 Luftballons" and "Leuchtturm". "99 Luftballons" was a number 1 hit in many countries and an English version of the song, "99 Red Balloons", was recorded, and retains some measure of cultural influence, being referred to in current music - the Guster track Amsterdam. Nena then released ? (Fragezeichen) in 1984, Feuer und Flamme in 1985, Eisbrecher in 1986. After that Nena released solo albums, including some children's albums.
Nena married Swiss actor Benedict Freytag shortly after the breakup of the band in 1987, and together with him had a son, Christopher Daniel, who was born disabled due to medical mistakes made during the birth that caused Nena to go into cardiac arrest. He died at the age of 11 months. She later had twins with Freytag, Larissa-Maria and Sakias Manuel.
After splitting with Benedict Freytag, Nena began a relationship with drummer and music producer Philipp Palm of Stuttgart, with whom she has two children, Samuel Vincent and Simeon Joel. The couple and the four children live together in Hamburg.
In 2003, she returned to performing publicly. "Nena feat. Nena," a CD of self-covers of old hits, and her 2005 album, "Willst du mit mir gehn" quickly achieved platinum status in Germany. The first single from "Willst du mit mir gehn", "Liebe ist," shot to Number 1 in the German charts in early 2005.
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Discography
Singles
- Nur geträumt, 1982
- 99 Luftballons, 1983
- Leuchtturm, 1983
- ?, 1983
- Rette Mich, 1984
- Lass mich dein Pirat sein, 1984
- Irgendwie, irgendwo, irgendwann, 1984
- Feuer und Flamme, 1985
- Wunder gescheh'n, 1989
- Lass mich dein Pirat sein, 1991
- Anyplace Anywhere Anytime, (together with Kim Wilde), 2003
- Liebe ist, 2005
- Willst du mit mir gehn, 2005
LPs
- The Stripes, 1980
- Nena, 1983
- Fragezeichen, 1984
- Feuer und Flamme, 1985
- Eisbrecher, 1986
- Wunder Gescheh'n, 1989
- Komm lieber Mai..., 1990
- Nena, die Band (Best Of), 1991
- Bongo Girl, 1992
- Und alles dreht sich, 1994
- Nena singt die schönsten Kinderlieder, 1994
- Nena Live, 1995
- Unser Apfelhaus, 1995
- Nena und die Bambus Bären Bande, 1996
- Jamma nich, 1997
- Nenas Weihnachtsreise, 1997
- Wenn alles richtig ist dann stimmt was nicht, 1998
- Nena macht Rabatz, 1999
- Chokmah, 2001
- Nenas Tausend Sterne, 2002
- Nena feat. Nena Live, 2002
- Madou und das Licht der Fantasie, 2002
- Willst Du Mit Mir Gehn, 2005
External links
- Nena's official website (http://www.nena.de)