Nena

Nena (Gabriele Susanne Kerner) is a German singer and actress who rose to international fame in 1983 with the New German Wave song “99 Luftballons.” In 1984, she re-recorded this song in English as “99 Red Balloons.” Nena was also the name of the band with whom she released the song. With the re-recording and subsequent release of some of her old songs, her career re-emerged in 2002.

In 1981, Nena and her then-boyfriend Rolf Brendel moved to West Berlin, where they met future band members, guitarist Carlo Karges, keyboard player Uwe Fahrenkrog-Petersen, and bass player Jürgen Dehmel. Together, they formed the band Nena. In 1982 “Nena” released their first single, “Nur Geträumt” (German for “Only Dreamt”), which became an instant hit in Germany after the band appeared on the German television show Musikladen. The single reportedly sold 40,000 copies the day after the song appeared on the show and reached number two in the German charts.

In 1983, the band released its first album Nena, which contained the singles “Leuchtturm”and “99 Luftballons” (99 Red Balloons.). “99 Luftballons” became a number-one hit in West Germany in 1983 and went on to major international chart success the following year, an English version hitting number one in the UK and the original German version hitting number two in the United States, behind Van Halen’s Jump.

It was also a huge hit in many other countries, and to this day it is one of the best-known German rock songs in many parts of the world. Although “99 Luftballons” was Nena’s only hit in the English-speaking world, the band continued to enjoy success in several European countries in the following years. The band split in 1987, and Nena went solo thereafter. Nena’s next international single “Just a Dream” (an English language re-issue of “Nur geträumt”) reached number 70 in the UK charts in 1984, it had “Indianer” on the B-side. A dance version of “Just a Dream” was released in the 90s to a new audience and became a club anthem.

In 2002, Nena celebrated her 20th anniversary on stage with the album Nena feat. Nena, a disc consisting of newly arranged recordings of her hits from the 1980s. This album marked a “comeback” for Nena, and spawned a number of successful chart entries. The remake of “Anyplace, Anywhere, Anytime” as an English-German duet with Kim Wilde was a hit in various European countries, reaching the Number 1 spot in the Netherlands and Austria, and Number 3 in Germany, in 2003.

A DVD followed the 2005 album Willst du mit mir gehn (“Do You Wanna Go with Me?”) which quickly achieved platinum status. In October 2007, Nena released a new album entitled Cover Me, made up entirely of cover songs. David Bowie, Rolling Stones and Rammstein are three of the bands covered. In September 2009 Nena released a new single called “Wir sind wahr”, and a new album: Made in Germany. In 2010 she collaborated with the popular techno-rap artists Die Atzen to produce a new single, “Strobo Pop”.In 2012 Nena released album Du bits gut with singles Das ist nicht alles and Besser gehts niche. Source: Wikipedia.org

 

 

Discography:

1983: Nena
1984: ? (Fragezeichen)
1985: Feuer und Flamme
1986: Eisbrecher
1989: Wunder gescheh’n
1992: Bongo Girl
1994: Und alles dreht sich
1997: Jamma nich’
1998: Wenn alles richtig ist,
dann stimmt was nicht
2001: Chokmah
2002: Nena feat. Nena
2005: Willst du mit mir geh’n?
2007: Cover Me
2009: Made in Germany
2012: Du bist gut