Gabriele Susanne Kerner (born 24 March 1960), better known by her stage name Nena, is a German singer and songwriter who rose to international fame in 1983 as the lead vocalist of the band
Nena
Gabriele Susanne Kerner (born 24 March 1960), better known as Nena, is a German singer and songwriter who rose to international fame in 1983 as the lead vocalist of the band Nena (band), Nena with the Neue Deutsche Welle song "99 Luftballons". I ...
with the
Neue Deutsche Welle
Neue Deutsche Welle (NDW, , "New German Wave") is a genre of West German rock music originally derived from post-punk and new wave music with electronic influences. The term was first coined by Dutch radio DJ Frits Spits on the popular nationwid ...
song "
99 Luftballons
"99 Luftballons" (german: link=no, Neunundneunzig Luftballons, "99 balloons") is a song by the German band Nena from their 1983 self-titled album. An English-language version titled "99 Red Balloons", with lyrics by Kevin McAlea, was also relea ...
". In that same year, the band re-recorded this song in English as "99 Red Balloons". Nena's re-recording of some of the band's old hit songs as a solo artist, produced by the co-composer of most of them, her former Nena band colleague and keyboard player
Uwe Fahrenkrog-Petersen
Jörn-Uwe Fahrenkrog-Petersen (born 10 March 1960) is a German keyboard player, producer and composer. He was the keyboardist of the band Nena and co-wrote their world famous hit "99 Luftballons" as well as another great hit entitled "Irgendwie, ...
, rekindled her solo career in 2002. Combined with the success of the Nena band years, she has sold over 25 million records, making her the most successful German pop singer in chart history.
Early life
Gabriele Susanne Kerner was born on 24 March 1960 in
Hagen,
West Germany
West Germany is the colloquial term used to indicate the Federal Republic of Germany (FRG; german: Bundesrepublik Deutschland , BRD) between its formation on 23 May 1949 and the German reunification through the accession of East Germany on 3 O ...
, while her family lived in the nearby town of
Breckerfeld
Breckerfeld is a town in the district of Ennepe-Ruhr-Kreis, in North Rhine-Westphalia, (Germany). It is located in the southeasternmost part of the Ruhr area in northern Sauerland. The town is a member of Regionalverband Ruhr (association).
Ge ...
. She spent the earliest part of her childhood in Breckerfeld and later lived in Hagen. She acquired her nickname “Nena” while on a vacation to
Mallorca, Spain with her parents. ( is a
Catalan word meaning "girl".) In 1977, she left high school before graduation, and in the three following years she was trained as a goldsmith.
Musical career
Beginnings
Nena's musical career began on 2 July 1979 when guitarist Rainer Kitzmann founded
The Stripes
The Stripes were a German pop band founded on 2 July 1979 in the town of Hagen by Rainer Kitzmann, who played guitar. The lead singer was Gabriele Susanne Kerner, before she became known as Nena Kerner, who would later form the band Nena. Ano ...
and, on the basis of having seen her dancing at a local disco, asked her to audition for the position of the lead singer. The group, based in Hagen, performed songs with English lyrics and had a minor hit with the song "Ecstasy", but never achieved mainstream success and disbanded on 3 March 1982. However, The Stripes's record company,
CBS
CBS Broadcasting Inc., commonly shortened to CBS, the abbreviation of its former legal name Columbia Broadcasting System, is an American commercial broadcast television and radio network serving as the flagship property of the CBS Entertainm ...
, offered Nena a record deal if she would move to Berlin and make music with German lyrics. In May 1982, Nena and her then-boyfriend
Rolf Brendel moved to
West Berlin
West Berlin (german: Berlin (West) or , ) was a political enclave which comprised the western part of Berlin during the years of the Cold War. Although West Berlin was de jure not part of West Germany, lacked any sovereignty, and was under mi ...
,
where they met future band members guitarist
Carlo Karges
Carlo Karges (31 July 1951 – 30 January 2002) was a German musician who became a guitarist and songwriter for the rock band, Nena. He wrote the lyrics of Nena's most famous song, "99 Luftballons", released in 1983. He was attending a 1982 Rolli ...
, keyboard player
Uwe Fahrenkrog-Petersen
Jörn-Uwe Fahrenkrog-Petersen (born 10 March 1960) is a German keyboard player, producer and composer. He was the keyboardist of the band Nena and co-wrote their world famous hit "99 Luftballons" as well as another great hit entitled "Irgendwie, ...
, and bass player
Jürgen Dehmel
Jürgen Dehmel (born 12 August 1958) is a German bass player and songwriter.
Biography
Dehmel was born in Berlin, Germany. He was brought by keyboardist Uwe Fahrenkrog-Petersen to join the rock band Nena in 1981. Fahrenkrog-Petersen and Dehmel h ...
. Together, they formed the band
Nena
Gabriele Susanne Kerner (born 24 March 1960), better known as Nena, is a German singer and songwriter who rose to international fame in 1983 as the lead vocalist of the band Nena (band), Nena with the Neue Deutsche Welle song "99 Luftballons". I ...
.
In June 1982, they released their first single, "
Nur geträumt
''Nena'' is the first album by German pop rock band Nena and the second studio album of its singer, Gabriele "Nena" Kerner. Released on 14 January 1983, it is part of the music genre called Neue Deutsche Welle (meaning "New German Wave") in Ge ...
", which became an instant hit in Germany after the band appeared on the German television show ''
Musikladen
''Der Musikladen'' (german: The Music Shop) was a West German music television programme that ran from 13 December 1972 to 29 November 1984. The show continued the 1960s '' Beat-Club'' under a new name, and in turn was replaced by ''Extratour' ...
'' on 21 August 1982.
The single reportedly sold 40,000 copies the day after the song appeared on the show and reached in the German charts.
1982–1987: International success and band breakup
In 1983, the band released its first album ''
Nena
Gabriele Susanne Kerner (born 24 March 1960), better known as Nena, is a German singer and songwriter who rose to international fame in 1983 as the lead vocalist of the band Nena (band), Nena with the Neue Deutsche Welle song "99 Luftballons". I ...
'', which contained the singles "
99 Luftballons
"99 Luftballons" (german: link=no, Neunundneunzig Luftballons, "99 balloons") is a song by the German band Nena from their 1983 self-titled album. An English-language version titled "99 Red Balloons", with lyrics by Kevin McAlea, was also relea ...
" and "
Leuchtturm". "99 Luftballons" became a number one hit in West Germany and the Netherlands in 1983 and went on to major international chart success the following year, an English version hitting in the UK and the original German version hitting in the US, behind
Van Halen
Van Halen ( ) was an American rock band formed in Pasadena, California, in 1972. Credited with "restoring hard rock to the forefront of the music scene", Van Halen was known for its energetic live shows and for the virtuosity of its lead gu ...
's "
Jump
Jumping is a form of locomotion or movement in which an organism or non-living (e.g., robotic) mechanical system propels itself through the air along a ballistic trajectory.
Jump or Jumping also may refer to:
Places
* Jump, Kentucky or Jump S ...
".
In 1984,
Casey Kasem
Kemal Amin "Casey" Kasem (April 27, 1932 – June 15, 2014) was an American disc jockey, actor, and radio personality, who created and hosted several radio countdown programs, notably ''American Top 40''. He was the first actor to voice No ...
's radio show ''
American Top 40'' introduced a "mixed" version of the song, "splicing" the German and English versions together. It was also a huge hit in many other countries, it is one of the best-known German rock songs in many parts of the world.
In May 1984, while on a tour in the UK, Nena made the headlines of the British
red-top press for having unshaved armpits. While not uncommon in continental Europe at the time, this was considered unusual in English-speaking countries to the extent that some consider it an explanation for the commercial failure of the follow-ups to "99 Luftballons". Baffled by the attention generated, Nena asked her manager's girlfriend to shave her and has remained clean shaved ever since. Referring to the "huge indignation" the issue raised, Nena, in her memoirs published in 2005, wrote, "Can a girl from Hagen, who dreams of the big wide world and is in love with
Mick Jagger
Sir Michael Philip Jagger (born 26 July 1943) is an English singer and songwriter who has achieved international fame as the lead vocalist and one of the founder members of the rock band the Rolling Stones. His ongoing songwriting partnershi ...
, have no idea that girls can't under any circumstances have hair under the arm? Yes she can. I simply had no idea!"
Although "99 Luftballons" was the Band Nena's only hit in the English-speaking world, the band continued to enjoy success in several European countries in the following years including with the single
Irgendwie, irgendwo, irgendwann
"Irgendwie, irgendwo, irgendwann" (German for "somehow, somewhere, sometime") is a 1984 song by Nena written by band members Jörn-Uwe Fahrenkrog-Petersen and Carlo Karges. It was a commercial success in Europe. Released initially as a single,
i ...
. Nena's next international single "Just a Dream" (an English language re-issue of "Nur geträumt") reached in the UK charts in 1984; it had "Indianer" on the
B-side. A dance version of "Just a Dream" was released in the 1990s to a new audience and became a club anthem.
The band split in 1987 and Nena went solo thereafter.
1989: Launch of solo career
Nena's first solo album ''
Wunder gescheh'n'' was released on 5 November 1989. The title track (German for "Miracles Happen"), composed by Nena herself, relates to the fact that Nena was at the time pregnant with twins, but release of the album that appeared just four days before the
fall of the Berlin Wall
The fall of the Berlin Wall (german: Mauerfall) on 9 November 1989, during the Peaceful Revolution, was a pivotal event in world history which marked the destruction of the Berlin Wall and the figurative Iron Curtain and one of the series of eve ...
(on 9 November) and the fact that she performed the song at the end of the ''
Konzert für Berlin'' three days later has ever since associated it with that historic event. It was to prove to be her last major hit of the 20th century as throughout the 1990s her albums and singles although often critically acclaimed were less commercially successful. In 1993, following the indifferent performance of her second solo album ''
Bongo Girl
''Bongo Girl'' is a studio album of German pop singer Nena, released by Epic Records on 1992. Singles from this album are "Manchmal ist ein Tag ein ganzes Leben", "Conversation" and "Ohne Ende".Singles from ''Bongo Girl'' at ''Nena.de''. Retrie ...
'', Sony decided not to renew Nena's recording contract, and the label which distributed her third, RMG Music Entertainment, disappeared shortly afterwards. In 1995 Nena and her growing family moved from Berlin to Hamburg, borrowing money from a family friend in order to do so since her bank declined to extend credit.
2002: Return to chart success
![Nena Stadtfest-Wien2008a](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/4/4f/Nena_Stadtfest-Wien2008a.jpg)
In 2002, Nena celebrated her 20th anniversary on stage with the album ''
Nena feat. Nena'', a disc produced by Uwe Fahrenkrog-Petersen (her former band colleague and author of almost all of the band's and her chart successes) and consisting of newly arranged recordings of the band's 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 spot in the Netherlands and Austria, and in Germany, in 2003.
Having regalvanised her career by virtue of the band's 1980s hits, Nena reestablished herself as a force with entirely new material (produced again by Uwe Fahrenkrog-Petersen) with the 2005 album ''
Willst du mit mir gehn
''Willst du mit mir gehn'' ("Do You Want to Go with Me") is a studio album by German pop singer Nena, released in 2005. It's a two-CD set, with the first CD recorded in studio and the second in jam sessions on Majorca. The album reached in Germ ...
'' which quickly achieved platinum status and climbed to in the German charts.
The first single from the album, "
Liebe ist
"Liebe ist" ( en, "Love Is") is a song by German recording artist Nena. It was co-written and produced along by Uwe Fahrenkrog-Petersen for her 13th studio album, ''Willst du mit mir gehn'' (2005). Selected as the album's lead single, it served ...
", reached on the German charts in early 2005, and was the theme song for a German telenovela, ''
Verliebt in Berlin''.
It reached the top position 22 years after "99 Luftballons", the longest span between first and last number one in German chart history.
In October 2007, Nena released a new album entitled ''
Cover Me'', made up entirely of cover songs.
David Bowie
David Robert Jones (8 January 194710 January 2016), known professionally as David Bowie ( ), was an English singer-songwriter and actor. A leading figure in the music industry, he is regarded as one of the most influential musicians of the ...
,
Rolling Stones and
Rammstein
Rammstein (, "ramming stone") is a German Neue Deutsche Härte band formed in Berlin in 1994. The band's lineup—consisting of lead vocalist Till Lindemann, lead guitarist Richard Kruspe, rhythm guitarist Paul Landers, bassist Oliver Riedel, ...
are three of the bands covered. She also released the single, "
Ich kann nix dafür" in April 2007 for the film, ''
Vollidiot'', and her cover of "
She's a Rainbow" by the Rolling Stones in the US and the UK. In 2009 she recorded and released a new version of her hit song "99 Luftballons", which more closely follows the 1980s original, in contrast to her 2002 version. This song was first performed in Germany on 6 September 2009. Some parts of the new version are in French.
2009: Own record label
Since 2009, Nena's releases have been published by her own record label, The Laugh & Peas Company, which also promotes the work of her daughter's group (Adameva) and that of one of her protegés from ''The Voice of Germany'',
Sharron Levy
Sharron Levy ( he, שרון לוי; born 17 November 1977) is a singer-songwriter originally from Israel. In 2011 she reached the semi-finals of the German television show The Voice of Germany. Originally she was established as a rock singer in ...
.
Nena released a new single on 18 September 2009, called "
Wir sind wahr", and a new album on 2 October: ''
Made in Germany
Made in Germany is a merchandise mark indicating that a product has been manufactured in Germany.
History
The label was introduced in Britain by the '' Merchandise Marks Act 1887'', to mark foreign produce more obviously, as foreign manufactur ...
''. The autobiographical ballad from the album "
In meinem Leben" became her fourteenth top 10 hit in Germany, taking her to 12th position in the all-time list of
top 10 hits in Germany, the third highest placed German act and top German female. She also collaborated with the popular techno-rap artists
Die Atzen
Vincente de Teba Költerhoff (born 18 October 1978), known professionally as Frauenarzt (German for "gynaecologist", literally "The Women's Doctor"), is a German rapper from Berlin, also known as "DJ Kologe", "MC Digital F", "Arzt", "Gynniko" or ...
to produce a new single, "Strobo Pop". In 2011, she contributed vocals to the track "Let Go Tonight" by
Kevin Costner and Modern West.
![Sommernachtstraum MUC 2013 10](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/0/01/Sommernachtstraum_MUC_2013_10.JPG)
In late 2012, Nena released her 11th solo studio album, ''
Du bist gut'', which peaked at in the German charts, although the tracks released as singles from the album were not as successful as those from her previous albums since her 2002 "comeback".
Nena's next album,
''Oldschool'', which was produced by the German rapper and hip hop artist
Samy Deluxe
Samy Sorge (born 19 December 1977), commonly known as Samy Deluxe, Wickeda MC or Sam Semillia, is a German rapper and record producer from Hamburg.
Early life
Samy was two years old when his Sudanese father left Germany. Samy grew up with h ...
, was released on 27 February 2015.
Distribution rights for the album were agreed with Sony Music, 22 years after the company dropped Nena as a recording artist. The album maintained Nena's 21st century chart success pattern (top 5 in Germany, top 10 in Austria, top 20 in Switzerland) but the first two singles released from the album failed to chart.
However, for the first time in Nena's career, another track from the album ("Magie"), which was not released as a single, crept into the lower echelons of the German singles chart solely by virtue of downloads.
Then, in April 2016, fourteen months after ''Oldschool''s release, the third single from the album, "Genau jetzt", returned Nena to the German Top 30 singles chart for the first time in six years.
Since 2015: Collaborations and ''Licht''
The period between the releases of ''Oldschool'' and the 2020 album ''
Licht'' is the longest in Nena's career between new studio albums. In an era when artists tend to generate more revenue from live performances than recordings, Nena released two live albums and restricted her studio work to one-track collaborations with
Zara Larsson
Zara Maria Larsson (, ; born 16 December 1997) is a Swedish pop singer. In 2008, at the age of 10, she won the second season of the talent show '' Talang'', the Swedish version of the ''Got Talent'' format. Since then she has received recognit ...
,
Dave Stewart,
Trettmann and fellow guests from the 2016 ''
Sing meinen Song'' series. In February 2019 Nena provided vocals for the title track and lead single of
Schiller's album ''
Morgenstund
''Morgenstund'' is the tenth studio album of the music project Schiller created by the German electronic musician Christopher von Deylen. The album was released on 22 March 2019. On this album, Schiller has collaborated with the singers Nena, Tric ...
'' which entered the German album chart at number 1 and the top 10 of both the Austrian and Swiss album charts.
In February 2020 Nena announced new music would be published "soon" and a month later on her 60th birthday released the single "Licht", which became the title track of her next studio album released on 16 October. ''Licht'' maintained Nena's 21st century album chart pattern by reaching in Germany, in Switzerland and in Austria, although none of its three singles released ahead of the album charted.
Live performances
![Nena live](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/d/d7/Nena_live.jpg)
Since 1997, Nena has toured Germany and its neighbouring countries annually, typically performing between 15 and 50 concerts every year.
In 2003, she took the stage during the
Howard Jones 20th Anniversary concert at the
Shepherd's Bush Empire
Shepherd's Bush Empire (currently known as O2 Shepherd's Bush Empire for sponsorship reasons, and formerly known as the BBC Television Theatre) is a music venue in Shepherd's Bush, West London, run by the Academy Music Group. It was originally ...
in London to sing "99 Luftballons", with both German and English lyrics. In 2004, Nena went on stage at the
Mayday Music Festival in Dortmund, accompanied by the techno duo
Toktok. She sang the song "Bang Bang", and was later joined on stage by
DJ Westbam to perform "Oldschool Baby". In March 2015, Nena promoted the release of the ''Oldschool'' album with a "club tour" of 16 smaller venues (for 200 to 700 people) including her former primary school.
A recording of one of these concerts at the
SO36 club in Berlin on 4 March 2015 was released as Nena's sixth live album ''
Live at SO36
''Live at SO36'' is the 6th live album of the German pop singer Nena. It comprises the recording of most of her concert performed at the SO36 club in Berlin on 4 March 2015 and was released exactly one year later on 4 March 2016.
Background
Ne ...
'' on 4 March 2016, exactly one year later.
Later in 2015, Nena announced her intention to perform live in the US for the first time by way of a similar "club tour", which was initially planned for early 2016 before taking place as a three-date "mini tour" in September and October.
During this tour, Nena met Dave Stewart with whom she collaborated to release in March 2018 the single "Be my rebel", the video for which went on to win 40 international awards.
Nena's 2018 ''Nichts versäumt'' tour of mainly sold-out concerts in 45 towns and cities attracted in excess of 250,000 fans and won the German Live Entertainment Award (LEA) for "concert hall tour of the year". The concert in Dortmund on 29 June 2018 was recorded for the ''
Nichts versäumt'' live DVD which was released on 9 November 2018.
Nena's initial live appearances in 2020 were cancelled due to the
COVID-19 pandemic
The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identi ...
but were replaced from July that year with the "Niemand hält uns auf" (nobody stops us) series of 12 drive-in, "picnic" and "360" concerts held in accordance with Germany's prevailing
social distancing
In public health, social distancing, also called physical distancing, (NB. Regula Venske is president of the PEN Centre Germany.) is a set of non-pharmaceutical interventions or measures intended to prevent the spread of a contagious dis ...
rules. In February 2021 in the debate in Germany about how COVID-19 restrictions should be lifted, Nena sparked controversy by announcing, "there will be no two-class society at my concerts. You're all always welcome. Whether you get vaccinated or not is entirely your decision and should be respected by everyone." Nevertheless, the majority of Nena's concerts originally planned for 2021 were postponed to 2022, although she remained scheduled to appear at a number of festivals. However, in July 2021, organisers cancelled her appearances in some festivals after Nena encouraged fans to disregard social-distancing rules during a concert in Berlin. In September 2021 Nena cancelled all her remaining 2022 concerts in Germany declaring, "all people are welcome at a Nena concert. Our country is going in a totally different direction and I am not going to be a part of it."
Other work
Besides her singing career, Nena has also acted in the 1983 musical comedy film ''
Gib Gas – Ich will Spass'' (released in the US as ''Hangin' Out'') opposite fellow musician
Markus Mörl, and the 1987 invisibility comedy ''
Der Unsichtbare
''Der Unsichtbare'' (German for "The Invisible") is a 1987 German comedy film starring Klaus Wennemann, Barbara Rudnik and (in a non-singing role) the German popstar Nena.
Plot
Peter Benjamin ( Klaus Wennemann), a successful middle-aged te ...
'' starring
Klaus Wennemann
Klaus Wennemann (18 December 1940 – 7 January 2000) was a German television and film actor.
Wenneman was born in Oer-Erkenschwick, North Rhine-Westphalia. He is perhaps best known for his leading roles as the Chief Engineer, (the LI), in ''D ...
and
Barbara Rudnik
Barbara Rudnik (; 27 July 1958 – 23 May 2009) was a German actress.
Selected filmography
External links
*
1958 births
2009 deaths
German film actresses
German television actresses
20th-century German actresses
21st-century Ge ...
, and voiced the character
Saphira
This is a list of key characters in '' The Inheritance Cycle'', a fantasy adventure series by Christopher Paolini. The series contains several hundred characters, while the following list contains only the most frequently mentioned.
Many of the ...
for the German dub of the movie ''
Eragon
''Eragon'' is the first book in ''The Inheritance Cycle'' by American fantasy writer Christopher Paolini. Paolini, born in 1983, began writing the novel after graduating from home school at the age of fifteen. After writing the first draft for a ...
'' (2006) and the role of the Princess for the German version of ''
Arthur and the Invisibles
''Arthur and the Invisibles'' or ''Arthur and the Minimoys'' (French: ''Arthur et les Minimoys'') is a 2006 English-language French fantasy adventure comedy animated/live-action film directed and co-written by French filmmaker Luc Besson. It is ...
'' (2006) alongside
Tokio Hotel
Tokio Hotel is a German pop rock band, founded in 2001 by singer Bill Kaulitz, guitarist Tom Kaulitz, drummer Gustav Schäfer, and bassist Georg Listing. Their sound encompasses multiple genres, including pop rock, alternative rock, and electro ...
's
Bill Kaulitz
Bill Kaulitz (born 1 September 1989), also known mononymously as Billy for his solo act, is a German singer and songwriter. He is best known for his work as the lead singer of pop rock band Tokio Hotel.
Early life
Bill Kaulitz was born on 1 Se ...
. Kaulitz has also stated on many occasions that Nena is his favourite singer.
![Nena Dein Song](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/5/5c/Nena_Dein_Song.jpg)
In 2008, Nena appeared as one of the coaches on the German TV series ''Dein Song'', in which established artists mentor a youngster to produce a song. Nena was also one of the coaches on ''
The Voice of Germany
''The Voice of Germany'' is a German reality talent show created by John de Mol, based on the concept ''The Voice of Holland'' and its international series. It began airing on ProSieben and Sat.1 on 24 November 2011.
There are five differen ...
'' for 3 seasons before announcing her withdrawal from the show in March 2014. In April and May 2016 she was one of the participants in the third season of
''Sing meinen Song'', a show in which well-known artists perform each other's songs and judge their favourites. In February 2017 and 2018, Nena appeared as a juror in the fifth and sixth seasons of ''
The Voice Kids
''The Voice Kids'' is a version of ''The Voice'' TV series franchise in which children participate.
Versions
The first such variation was '' The Voice Kids'' from the Netherlands, which was followed by other international variants:
: Franchise wi ...
'' together with her daughter Larissa.
In 2007, jointly with her partner Philipp Palm, Thomas Simmerl, and Silke Steinfadt, she founded the
Neue Schule Hamburg, a school following the
Sudbury model
A Sudbury school is a type of school, usually for the K-12 age range, where students have complete responsibility for their own education, and the school is run by a direct democracy in which students and staff are equal citizens. Students use t ...
.
Nena wrote an autobiographical book, ''Willst du mit mir gehn'',
jointly with Claudia Thesenfitz, a journalist. Nena's contributions are her disparate accounts of various episodes in her life. Most of Thesenfitz's contributions are excerpts from interviews of many of Nena's friends, co-workers, and relatives.
Since becoming a mother, Nena has released a number of albums consisting of songs for children. In the 1990s, she hosted several TV shows, including ''Metro'' and ''Countdown Grand Prix'', the German preselection for the ''
Eurovision Song Contest'', in 1998.
Influences and other interests and pursuits
In addition to citing the
Ramones,
David Bowie and
Debbie Harry as early influences, Nena's main artistic source of inspiration and her favourite band is the Rolling Stones.
Nena has covered their songs in concert and on her 2007 ''Cover Me'' album.
In 1984 Nena said, "If I hadn't started listening to the Rolling Stones when I was 12 I'd have been a different person, a secretary or something like that."
Although Nena said she disliked the English version of "99 Luftballons" because it was too "blatant" and that the Nena band was neither political nor a protest band,
she has occasionally publicly lent her name in support of political causes. She supports "Ehe für alle" (marriage for everyone) and, as a mother of five, a campaign against the German government's plans to scale back the state provision of midwifery services.
In March 2021 Nena expressed her support for the anti-COVID-19 lockdown demonstration in Kassel.
Nena has been a member of various charity ensembles and supergroups including "Band für Afrika" (Germany's equivalent of
Band Aid) in 1985 and "Marlon und Freunde" in 2006, whose top 10 hit in Germany, "Lieber Gott", raised funds for flood victims. Nena also supports local causes and in 2015 ran (in socks) 2.5 kilometres (approximately 1.5 miles) in aid of a Stuttgart children's hospice.
Nena is a vegetarian and won the
PETA (Germany) award for "Sexiest Vegetarian of the Year 2010". She believes in Jesus and God and says that thanking him for every new day is the cornerstone of her spirituality.
In his 2014 biography of the Nena band, Rolf Brendel, its drummer and Nena's boyfriend at the time, said that although other band members used drugs, Nena never did and frowned upon it.
Brendel added, "Nena is naturally stoned, she doesn't need to take drugs."
Personal life
![Nena Sakias & Larissa Zitadelle 2018](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/3/35/Nena_Sakias_%26_Larissa_Zitadelle_2018.jpg)
Nena and the band's drummer Rolf Brendel split up in 1987, Nena's feelings described in the song "
Jetzt bist du weg" ("Now You Are Gone") from the band's final album, ''
Eisbrecher
Eisbrecher (; German for "icebreaker
An icebreaker is a special-purpose ship or boat designed to move and navigate through ice-covered waters, and provide safe waterways for other boats and ships. Although the term usually refers to ice-b ...
''. Nena then started dating Swiss actor Benedict Freitag shortly after the band separated in 1987; he is the son of the German actress and Austrian-Swiss actor
Robert Freitag
Robert Peter Freytag (7 April 1916 in Vienna – 8 July 2010 in Munich), known professionally as Robert Freitag, was an Austrian-Swiss stage and screen actor and film director.
Life
Freitag was the son of the Swiss opera singer Otto Freitag (Ott ...
. The couple had three children together, the first being Christopher Daniel, who was born disabled allegedly due to medical mistakes made during the birth that caused Nena to go into
cardiac arrest
Cardiac arrest is when the heart suddenly and unexpectedly stops beating. It is a medical emergency that, without immediate medical intervention, will result in sudden cardiac death within minutes. Cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) and poss ...
.
[''Willst du mit mir gehn'', Nena Kerner and Claudia Thesenfitz, Lübbe, 2005, page 182.] 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 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
(male), (female) en, Hamburger(s),
Hamburgian(s)
, timezone1 = Central (CET)
, utc_offset1 = +1
, timezone1_DST = Central (CEST)
, utc_offset1_DST = +2
, postal ...
. On Christmas Day 2009, Nena became a grandmother when Larissa gave birth to a girl, Carla Maria. Only two days later, Nena's son Sakias became a father to a boy named Noah. A third grandchild (Victor, son of Larissa) was born in September 2013 and a fourth in May 2018.
Since 2010, Nena's twins Sakias and Larissa have appeared as backing singers on stage and on her albums, and since 2015 her youngest son Simeon has joined her on stage playing keyboards.
Discography
The Stripes
* 1980: ''
The Stripes
The Stripes were a German pop band founded on 2 July 1979 in the town of Hagen by Rainer Kitzmann, who played guitar. The lead singer was Gabriele Susanne Kerner, before she became known as Nena Kerner, who would later form the band Nena. Ano ...
''
Nena (band)
* 1983: ''
Nena
Gabriele Susanne Kerner (born 24 March 1960), better known as Nena, is a German singer and songwriter who rose to international fame in 1983 as the lead vocalist of the band Nena (band), Nena with the Neue Deutsche Welle song "99 Luftballons". I ...
''
* 1984: ''
? (Fragezeichen)''
* 1984: ''
99 Luftballons
"99 Luftballons" (german: link=no, Neunundneunzig Luftballons, "99 balloons") is a song by the German band Nena from their 1983 self-titled album. An English-language version titled "99 Red Balloons", with lyrics by Kevin McAlea, was also relea ...
''
* 1985: ''
Feuer und Flamme''
* 1985: ''
It's All in the Game''
* 1986: ''
Eisbrecher
Eisbrecher (; German for "icebreaker
An icebreaker is a special-purpose ship or boat designed to move and navigate through ice-covered waters, and provide safe waterways for other boats and ships. Although the term usually refers to ice-b ...
''
Nena (solo)
* 1989: ''
Wunder gescheh'n''
* 1992: ''
Bongo Girl
''Bongo Girl'' is a studio album of German pop singer Nena, released by Epic Records on 1992. Singles from this album are "Manchmal ist ein Tag ein ganzes Leben", "Conversation" and "Ohne Ende".Singles from ''Bongo Girl'' at ''Nena.de''. Retrie ...
''
* 1994: ''
Und alles dreht sich''
* 1997: ''
Jamma nich''
* 1998: ''
Wenn alles richtig ist, dann stimmt was nich''
* 2001: ''
Chokmah
''Chokmah'' ( Hebrew: חָכְמָה ) is the Biblical Hebrew word rendered as "wisdom" in English Bible versions ( LXX '' sophia'', Vulgate ').''Strong's Concordance'H2451
"from H2449 ָכַם ''chakam'' "wise" wisdom (in a good sense):—sk ...
''
* 2002: ''
Nena feat. Nena''
* 2005: ''
Willst du mit mir gehn
''Willst du mit mir gehn'' ("Do You Want to Go with Me") is a studio album by German pop singer Nena, released in 2005. It's a two-CD set, with the first CD recorded in studio and the second in jam sessions on Majorca. The album reached in Germ ...
''
* 2007: ''
Cover Me''
* 2009: ''
Made in Germany
Made in Germany is a merchandise mark indicating that a product has been manufactured in Germany.
History
The label was introduced in Britain by the '' Merchandise Marks Act 1887'', to mark foreign produce more obviously, as foreign manufactur ...
''
* 2012: ''
Du bist gut''
* 2015: ''
Oldschool''
* 2020: ''
Licht''
Filmography
Concert films
*
Europatour '84' (Denmark, England, France, 1984)
* ''
Nena feat. Nena Live'' (Frankfurt am Main, 11 October 2002)
* ''
Made in Germany: Live in Concert'' (Berlin, 24 April 2010)
* ''
Nichts versäumt Live'' (Dortmund, 29 June 2018)
Leading roles
* ''
Gib Gas – Ich will Spass'' (US title: ''Hangin' Out'') (1983), directed by
Wolfgang Büld
Supporting roles
* ''
Der Unsichtbare
''Der Unsichtbare'' (German for "The Invisible") is a 1987 German comedy film starring Klaus Wennemann, Barbara Rudnik and (in a non-singing role) the German popstar Nena.
Plot
Peter Benjamin ( Klaus Wennemann), a successful middle-aged te ...
'' (1987), directed by
Ulf Miehe
Ulf Miehe (11 May 1940 – 13 July 1989) was a German screenwriter and film director. His 1975 film '' John Glückstadt'' was entered into the 25th Berlin International Film Festival.
Selected filmography
* ''Jaider, der einsame Jäger'' (1 ...
Guest appearances
* ''
Richy Guitar'' (1985), directed by
Michael Laux, feat.
Die Ärzte
Die Ärzte (; ) is a German rock band from Berlin. The band has released 14 studio albums. The group consists of guitarist Farin Urlaub, drummer Bela B and bass player Rodrigo González. All three write and perform their songs.
History Ea ...
* ''Day Thieves'' (
ZDF telemovie) (1985), directed by
Marcel Gisler
Marcel Gisler (born 18 March 1960) is a Swiss film director and screenwriter.
Life
Marcel Gisler was raised in the Canton of St. Gallen. Since 1981 he lives in Berlin and studied Theatre studies and Philosophy at the Free University of Berlin ...
* ''
Die Affäre Semmeling
''Die Affäre Semmeling'' was a 2002 German miniseries, broadcast on ZDF, directed by Dieter Wedel. It starred Mario Adorf as Walter 'Beton-Walter' Wegener, Robert Atzorn as Dr. Klaus Hennig, Heinz Hoenig as Axel Ropert, Stefan Kurt as Sigi ...
'' (
ZDF miniseries) (2002), directed by
Dieter Wedel
Dieter Karl Cäsar Wedel (; 12 November 1939 – 13 July 2022) was a German director. Wedel directed numerous television productions since the late 1960s, among them very successful mini-series like ', ', ' and '' Die Affäre Semmeling''. He is ...
Voice roles
* ''
Das magische Schwert: Die Legende von Camelot'' (1998) (Kayley, as singer)
*
Tobias Totz und sein Löwe: des Löwen Freundin' (1999) (Lea)
* ''
The Abrafaxe – Under The Black Flag
''The Abrafaxe – Under The Black Flag'' (german: Die Abrafaxe – Unter schwarzer Flagge and also known as ''The Pirates of Tortuga: Under The Black Flag'') is a German film directed by and Tony Power. It was released in 2001 and is based on ...
'' (2001) (Anne Bonny)
* ''
Peter Pan: Neue Abenteuer in Nimmerland'' (2002) (as singer)
* ''
Arthur und die Minimoys'' (2006) (Prinzessin Selenia)
* ''
Eragon: Das Vermächtnis der Drachenreiter'' (2006) (Saphira)
* ''
Arthur und die Minimoys 2: Die Rückkehr des bösen M'' (2009) (Prinzessin Selenia)
See also
*
Mononymous persons
A mononym is a name composed of only one word. An individual who is known and addressed by a mononym is a mononymous person. In some cases, a mononym selected by an individual may have originally been from a polynym, a word which refers to one o ...
References
External links
Official website*
*
*
{{Authority control
1960 births
Living people
People from Hagen
Women new wave singers
German-language singers
German new wave musicians
English-language singers from Germany
Columbia Records artists
Warner Records artists
Musicians from Hamburg
German women pop singers
German women singers
Women in electronic music
Nena (band) members