Nena

Born in Hagen, West Germany, in 1960, Gabriele Susanne Kerner, known as Nena, emerged in the early 1980s on the German new wave and pop scene with the band of the same name formed in West Berlin. The single '99 Luftballons,' released in 1983 on the album 'Nena' (1983), quickly spread beyond the Neue Deutsche Welle movement and marked Nena’s international breakthrough, first with the original German version and then with the English adaptation '99 Red Balloons.' After the band's split at the end of the decade, Nena pursued a solo career oriented toward pop-rock and mainstream pop while retaining the synthetic elements of her early work. The albums 'Wunder gescheh’n' (1989) and 'Nena' (1991) established this new phase, before a high-profile return with 'Nena feat. Nena' (2002), a project in which she revisited her repertoire with updated production and several duets. Throughout the 2000s and 2010s, Nena collaborated with German-language pop and rock artists and released albums such as 'Willst du mit mir gehn' (2005), 'Made in Germany' (2009), and 'Oldschool' (2015), continuing a blend of melodic pop, rock influences, and instantly recognizable choruses. Active on stage with a backing band that accompanies her European tours, Nena alternates between concerts focused on her emblematic 1980s hits and new studio productions, maintaining an ongoing connection between generations around a shared pop foundation primarily sung in German.