Nena

: This article is about Nena the singer. See also nena (disambiguation).

Related Topics:
Singer - Nena (disambiguation)

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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").

Related Topics:
March 24 - 1960 - German - German New Wave - 99 Luftballons

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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 "niña" (little girl) at the age of 3 during a vacation to Spain.

Related Topics:
Hagen - Nordrhein-Westfalen - North Rhine-Westphalia

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Her first band was called The Stripes. They had a very minor hit with the song "Ecstasy" but never managed to achieve broad success.

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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.

Related Topics:
Rolf Brendel - Carlo Karges - Uwe Fahrenkrog-Petersen - Jürgen Dehmel - Berlin - 1981 - 1982

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The following year they released their self-titled first album, which contained the singles "99 Luftballons" and "Leuchtturm". "99 Luftballons" was a #1 hit in many countries (including the U.S.) 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. The song also featured in an episode of Scrubs. 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.

Related Topics:
U.S. - Guster - 1984 - 1986

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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.

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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.

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In 1999, Nena voiced the character Lea in the animated film Tobias Totz und sein Löwe.

Related Topics:
1999 - Animated film - Tobias Totz und sein Löwe

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In 2003, she returned to live performing. "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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