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Besides 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]]'' along side ''[[Tokio Hotel|Tokio Hotel's]]'' Bill Kaulitz. Kaulitz has also stated on many occasions that Nena is his favorite singer. |
Besides 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]]'' along side ''[[Tokio Hotel|Tokio Hotel's]]'' Bill Kaulitz. Kaulitz has also stated on many occasions that Nena is his favorite singer. |
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{{Listen|filename=Nena - 99 Luftballons excerpt.ogg|title=Nena - 99 Luftballons excerpt|description=An excerpt from ''99 Luftballons''}} |
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[[Image:Nena Stadtfest-Wien2008a.jpg|thumb|left|Nena (Wien 2008)|thumb|Nena in Vienna on 3 May, 2008]] |
[[Image:Nena Stadtfest-Wien2008a.jpg|thumb|left|Nena (Wien 2008)|thumb|Nena in Vienna on 3 May, 2008]] |
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Revision as of 01:31, 9 June 2008
Nena |
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Nena (born Gabriele Susanne Kerner on March 24, 1960 in Hagen, North Rhine-Westphalia, 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", known in English as "99 Red Balloons" (though a direct translation from German would actually be "99 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.
Biography
Gabriele 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", derived from the Spanish "Niña", meaning "little girl" at the age of three, while on a vacation to Spain with her parents. In 1977 she left high school before graduation to receive training as a goldsmith.
Her 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 boyfriend Rolf Brendel moved to West-Berlin, where they met future "Nena" band members, guitarist Carlo Karges, keyboard player Uwe Fahrenkrog-Petersen, and bass player Jürgen Dehmel. In 1982 the band, "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.
In 1983 the band released its first album "Nena", which contained the singles "Leuchtturm" ("Lighthouse") and "99 Luftballons" ("99 Balloons"). 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.
Nena 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.[citation needed] He died at the age of 11 months. In 1990 they had twins, Larissa Maria and Sakias Manuel.
After splitting with Freitag, Nena started a relationship with drummer and music producer Philip 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.
In that same year, Nena celebrated her 20th anniversary onstage 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 sung "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 she has covered from. 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.
Besides 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 along side Tokio Hotel's Bill Kaulitz. Kaulitz has also stated on many occasions that Nena is his favorite singer.
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 albums
Singles
Group
| Year | Title | Chart Positions | Album | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| GER Singles | AUT Singles | CHE Singles | |||
| 1982 | "Nur geträumt" | #2 | #9 | #5 | Nena |
| 1983 | "99 Luftballons" | #1 (also #1 UK, #2 USA, #1 MEX, #1 SWE, #4 NOR) | #1 | #1 | Nena |
| 1983 | "Leuchtturm" | #2 | #3 | - | Nena |
| 1983 | "? (Fragezeichen)" | #3 | #4 | #1 | ? (Fragezeichen) |
| 1984 | "Rette mich" | #11 | #17 | #14 | ? (Fragezeichen) |
| 1984 | "Lass mich dein Pirat sein" | #53 | - | - | ? (Fragezeichen) |
| 1984 | "Irgendwie, irgendwo, irgendwann" | #3 | #7 | #2 | Feuer und Flamme |
| 1985 | "Feuer und Flamme" | #8 | #18 | #14 | Feuer und Flamme |
| 1985 | "Haus der drei Sonnen" | #43 | - | - | Feuer und Flamme |
| 1985 | "Jung wie du" | #47 | - | - | Feuer und Flamme |
| 1986 | "Du kennst die Liebe nicht" | - | - | - | Feuer und Flamme |
| 1986 | "Mondsong" | #37 | - | - | Eisbrecher |
| 1987 | "Engel der Nacht" | - | - | - | Eisbrecher |
Solo
| Year | Title | Chart Positions | Album |
|---|---|---|---|
| GER Singles | |||
| 1989 | "Wunder gescheh'n" | #19 | Wunder gescheh'n |
| 1990 | "Du bist überall" | #54 | |
| "Im Rausch der Liebe" | - | ||
| 1992 | "Manchmal ist ein Tag ein ganzes Leben" | #48 | Bongo Girl |
| "Ohne Ende" | |||
| "Conversation" | |||
| 1993 | "Viel zuviel Glück" | Und Alles Dreht Sich | |
| "N Zentimeter Liebe" (feat. Kralle Krawinkel) | |||
| 1994 | "Hol mich zurück" | ||
| "Ich halt dich fest" | |||
| 1997 | "Ganz gelassen..." | #75 | Jamma Nich |
| "Jamma Nich" | |||
| "Alles Was Du Willst" | |||
| "Auf Dich Und Mich" | |||
| 1998 | "Was hast du in meinem Traum gemacht" | #91 | Wenn alles richtig ist, dann Stimmt was nich |
| "Dann Fiel Mir Auf" | |||
| "Das Ist Normal?" | |||
| 1999 | "Ich umarm' die ganze Welt" | #98 | Tobias Totz und sein Löwe |
| 2001 | "Carpe diem" | #66 | Chokmah |
| 2002 | "Oldschool Baby" (with Westbam) | #21 | Alles Gute - Die Singles 1982-2002 |
| "99 Luftballons (New Version)" | #28 | Nena feat. Nena | |
| 2003 | "Leuchturm (New Version)" | #7 | |
| "Wunder gescheh'n" (New Version) (with Friends) | #9 | ||
| "Anyplace, Anywhere, Anytime" (feat. Kim Wilde) | #3 | ||
| "Nur geträumt (New Version)" | #79 | ||
| 2004 | "Bang Bang" (feat. Toktok) | #51 | |
| "Schade" (feat. Sam Ragga Band) | #37 | The Sound of Sam Ragga | |
| 2005 | "Liebe ist" | #1 | Willst du mit mir gehn |
| "Willst du mit mir gehn" | #6 | ||
| "Lass Mich" | #44 | ||
| 2006 | "Caravan of Love"(feat. Duncan Townsend) | #29 | Tribute to Bravo |
| 2007 | "Ich kann nix dafür"(feat. Olli and Remmler) | #10 | Vollidiot Soundtrack |
| Mach die Augen Auf | #19 | Cover Me | |
| Ich werde dich lieben | #33 | ||
| 2007 | "She's A Rainbow" | #42 (UK) | Cover Me |
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
External links
