Nena

EARLY ON:

Gabriele Susanne Kerner was born on 24 March, 1960 in the small town of Hagen, Germany. She acquired her nickname, "Nena", an alternate version of the Spanish word "niña" (little girl), during a vacation to Spain at the age of three.

Nena thought of Hagen as "A small and boring place", and spent most of her time during her teenage years at the Madison Club. It was at the Madison that a friend suggested she should consider a musical career. "I never had the wish to be a singer. At school I learned piano, flute, guitar, and accordian. But anyway, we made up this group called the Stripes."

"The Stripes" was a New Wave outfit, featuring Nena on vocals, Rainer Kitzmann on guitar, Frank Röhler on bass, and Rolf Brendel on drums.

Their first single, "Ecstasy", was released in 1979. It was a minor hit in Germany, but when the album was released sales were not encouraging, and the band split, not only because of dismal sales but because, as Nena remembers, "I’ve never felt so good to sing in English because it’s not my language."

NENA IS A GROUP:

Nena and the drummer from The Stripes, Rolf Brendel, developed something of a romantic relationship around this time, and when the Stripes split they moved to West Berlin and formed the band “Nena” in 1981.

 Jörn-Uwe Fahrenkrog-Petersen played keyboards, Carlo Karges played guitar, and Jürgen Dehmel played bass guitar. Their first single “Nur Geträumt” was released in late 1982, and was unsuccessful until the band appeared on the German television show “Musikladen”. After the television appearance, the song shot to No. 2 on the German charts.

In January 1983, Nena's first album was released. It featured numerous enjoyable pop confections such as "Kino" and "Zaubertrick", but the album's most famous song was "99 Luftballons", a protest song. The song was released as a single and instantly hit the No. 1 spot in Germany and across Europe.

In late 1983, "? (Fragezeichen)" was released and reached the No. 3 spot on the German charts. In 1984, the band's second album was released. It was a No. 1 bestseller.

Afterwards, "99 Luftballons" became a worldwide hit, a remarkable achievement for a German band.

GOING SOLO:

Since the band split in 1987, Nena has had five children, her first child, Christopher, died at only eleven months. Nena has also pursued a solo career, and her 2005 album, "Willst du mit mir gehn", was No. 1 bestseller in Germany.