Nena

Biografie Nena

Nena rise 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. 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. Nena’s 2005 tour in Germany, Austria, and Switzerland in November and December 2005 had several sold-out concerts. In October 2007, Nena released a new album entitled Cover Me, made up entirely of cover songs. She also released the single, “Ich kann nix dafür” (“It’s Not My Fault”) in April 2007 for the film, Vollidiot (Complete Idiot). Nena also released a single for her cover of “She’s a Rainbow” by the Rolling Stones. It was released in the US and the UK. Nena also recorded and released a new version of her hit song “99 Luftballons” in 2009, which more closely follows the 1980s original, in contrast to her 2002 version. Some parts of the new version are in French. Nena released a new single on 4 September 2009, called “Wir sind wahr”, and a new album on the 23rd: Made in Germany. The autobiographical ballad from the album “In meinem Leben” (“In My Life”) became her 14th Top 10 hit in Germany. In late 2012 Nena released her 11th solo studio album, Du bist gut (“You’re Good”), which peaked at No.2 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”. Since 1997 (and as of 2014) Nena has toured Germany and its neighbouring countries on an annual basis, typically performing between 15 and 50 concerts every year. Drawing on the full span of her 30 year back catalogue, Nena’s concerts are characterised by her infectious high energy levels, her evident enjoyment of performing live and her vocal power and versatility which can both complement the heavier sound of her live band on the fast songs and anthems as well as deliver the haunting vulnerability required by the ballads. A reviewer of her August 2014 concert in Cologne wrote, “Ever cheerful…and unstoppable…she ignited the whole crowd. By the second song, you wondered, “how could anyone not like this woman?”