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Nena (born Gabriele Susanne Kerner on March 24, 1960 in Hagen, North Rhine-Westphalia, West Germany) is a singer and actress and the co-founder (with three others) of the Neue Schule Hamburg, a school following the Sudbury model. She rose to international fame in 1984 with the New German Wave song "99 Luftballons", whose English version is called "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 tracks, her career saw a second wind in 2002.
BiographyEarly lifeGabriele Susanne Kerner was born in 1960 in Hagen while her family lived in the nearby town of Breckerfeld. She spent the earliest part of her childhood in Breckerfeld and later lived in Hagen. She acquired her nickname, "Nena", a Spanish word meaning "little girl", at the age of three, while on a vacation to Spain with her parents. In 1977 she left high school prior to graduation, and in the three following years she was trained as a goldsmith.
Musical beginningsHer musical career began in the summer of 1979 when guitarist Rainer Kitzmann offered her a position as the lead singer in his band, The Stripes. The group had a minor hit with the song "Ecstasy", but never achieved mainstream success, and soon disbanded.
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" ("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.
International success and breakupIn 1983 the band released its first album "Nena", which contained the singles "Leuchtturm" ("Lighthouse") and "99 Luftballons" (the English version is called "99 Red Balloons" although the original German version does not mention any color). 99 Luftballons became a number-one hit in 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 US. It was also a huge hit in many other countries, and to this day it is one of the most well-known German rock songs in many parts of the world.
While 99 Luftballons was Nena's only hit in the Anglophonic 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.
Personal lifeNena started dating Swiss actor Benedict Freitag shortly after the band separated in 1987. The couple had three children together, the first one being Christopher Daniel, who was born disabled due to alleged medical mistakes made during the birth, which caused Nena to go into cardiac arrest.
After splitting with Freitag, Nena started a relationship with drummer and music producer Philipp Palm from Stuttgart, with whom she had two children, Samuel Vincent (1995), and Simeon Joel (1997). The couple and the four children currently live in Hamburg.
Throughout the late 1980s and the 1990s, Nena released a wide range of solo albums, a number of them consisting of songs for children. Simultaneously, she hosted several TV shows, including Metro and Countdown Grand Prix, the German preselection for the Eurovision Song Contest, in 1998.
In 2002, Carlo Karges, songwriter of Nena's most successful songs, including "99 Luftballons" and "Irgendwie, irgendwo, irgendwann", died of liver failure.
Nena at the opening of the Olympiastadion in Berlin on 31 July, 2004
Return to prominenceIn 2002 Nena also 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 geh'n ("Do You Wanna Go with Me?") which quickly achieved platinum status. The first single from the album, "Liebe ist" ("Love Is"), reached number 1 on the German charts in early 2005, and was the theme song for a German telenovela, Verliebt in Berlin''. Nena's 2005 tour in Germany, Austria, and Switzerland in November and December 2005 had several sold-out concerts.
In 2004, Nena took the stage during the Howard Jones 20th Anniversary concert at Shepherd's Bush Empire in London. Nena sang "99 Luftballons", with both German and English lyrics.
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. She also released the single, "Ich Kann nix Dafür" ("It's Not My Fault") in April of 2007 for the film, Vollidiot. Nena also released a single for her cover of 'She's a rainbow' by the Rolling Stones. It was released in the USA and the UK but only made #42 in the British Charts.
Other workBesides her singing career, she has also voiced the character Saphira for the German dub of the movie Eragon and the role of the Princess for the German version of Arthur and the Invisibles alongside ''Tokio Hotel's Bill Kaulitz. Kaulitz has also stated on many occasions that Nena is his favorite singer.
In 2007, jointly with Philipp Palm, Thomas Simmerl, and Silke Steinfadt, she founded the Neue Schule Hamburg, a shool following the Sudbury model.
Nena in Vienna on 3 May, 2008
Discography Albums- The Stripes (1980) as The Stripes
- Nena (1983) #1 GER, #1 AUT
- ? (Fragezeichen) (1984) #1 GER, #1 AUT, #! CHE
- 99 Luftballons (1984)
- Feuer und Flamme (1985) #2 GER, #16 AUT, #5 CHE
- ''It's All In The Game (1985)
- Eisbrecher (1986) #45 GER
- ''Wunder gescheh'n (1989) #23 GER
- Komm lieber Mai... (1990) #45 GER
- Nena Die Band (1991)
- Bongo Girl (1992) #32 GER
- Und alles dreht sich (1994) #53 GER
- Nena singt die schönsten Kinderlieder (1994)
- Nena Live (1995)
- Unser Apfelhaus (1995) #69 GER
- Nena und die Bambus Bären Bande (1996)
- Jamma nich (1997) #29 GER
- Nenas Weihnachtsreise (1997) #28 GER
- Wenn alles richtig ist, dann Stimmt was nich (1998) #42 GER
- Nena macht... Rabatz (1999)
- Chokmah (2001) #18 GER
- Nenas Tausend Sterne (2002)
- Nena feat. Nena (2002) #2 GER
- Madou und das Licht der Fantasie (2002)
- Nena Live Nena (2004) #31 GER
- Willst du mit mir gehn (2005) #2 GER
- Cover me (2007) #6 GER
Bootleg albumsSingles Group
Solo
Filmography (for the lead singer)- Gib Gas ich will Spaß (1983)
- Richy Guitar (1985)
- Der Unsichtbare (1987)
- Tobias Totz und sein Löwe (1999)
- Die Abrafaxe - Unter schwarzer Flagge (2001)
- Madou und das Licht der Fantasie (2003)
- Eragon (2006)
- Arthur und die Minimoys
Copyright Citations
This article is licensed under the GNU License
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