Biography
Who is Nena?
Early life and real name
Born Gabriele Susanne Kerner, she grew up in Hagen, West Germany. Her family lived in the town of Breckerfeld during her earliest childhood years. She was the eldest of three children, and her father worked as a teacher. Her nickname originates from a family vacation to Mallorca, Spain, where she was called Nena, which is a Catalan word for baby girl.
During her teenage years, she attended high school but left in 1977 before completing her Abitur. Following her departure from school, she began training as a goldsmith. She did not complete this training to obtain a journeyman license, choosing instead to pursue other interests.
Formation of the band Nena
Her music career began on July 2, 1979, when guitarist Rainer Kitzmann invited her to audition for his band, The Stripes. The group was based in Hagen and performed songs with English lyrics, achieving a minor hit with the track Ecstasy before disbanding in March 1982. After the breakup, a record company offered her a deal provided she moved to Berlin and recorded music with German lyrics.
She moved to West Berlin with her boyfriend Rolf Brendel in May 1982. There, she met other musicians including Carlo Karges, Uwe Fahrenkrog-Petersen, and Jürgen Dehmel. Together, they formed the band that shared her stage name. Their first single, Nur geträumt, was released in June 1982 and became an instant success in Germany following a television appearance.
International success and solo career
The band released their self-titled album in 1983, which featured the international hit 99 Luftballons. This song reached number one in West Germany and the Netherlands, while an English version titled 99 Red Balloons topped the charts in the United Kingdom. Although the group disbanded in 1987, she continued her career as a solo artist.
Her first solo album, Wunder gescheh'n, arrived in November 1989. Throughout the 1990s, she continued to release music, though her commercial success fluctuated during this period. In 1993, Sony chose not to renew her recording contract. She eventually moved her family to Hamburg in 1995 to continue her work.
Comeback and later work
In 2002, she celebrated two decades in the music industry with the album Nena feat. Nena. This project featured newly arranged recordings of past hits and helped revitalize her career. The release included a duet of Anyplace, Anywhere, Anytime with Kim Wilde, which performed well in several European markets. She followed this with entirely new material in 2005 on the album Willst du mit mir gehn, which achieved platinum status.
Since 2009, she has managed her own record label, The Laugh & Peas Company. She has continued to release studio albums, including Du bist gut in 2012 and Oldschool in 2015. Her work has spanned multiple genres, including pop, synth-pop, and new wave, and she has collaborated with various artists throughout her career.
Birthday and age
Nena was born on March 24, 1960, which makes Nena 66 years old today. That birthday falls under the Aries sign. Nena shares the date with 61 other famous people.
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