My Take
Honestly, Nena is one of those artists who pulled off something almost impossible — she sang in German and made the entire world not just tolerate it but genuinely love it. "99 Luftballons" from 1983 is one of the great pop songs, full stop, and the fact that it's an anti-war anthem disguised as a catchy new wave banger makes it even better. Born in Hagen, Germany in 1960, she wasn't some manufactured pop product — she was the real lead voice of a band that caught a cultural moment and rode it beautifully. The English version "99 Red Balloons" got the radio play, but I'll always prefer the German original; there's something about not fully understanding the words that makes the melancholy hit harder. She kept going long after the one-hit-wonder label would've stuck to lesser artists, racking up German music awards into the 2000s, and honestly she earned every one.
Overview
Gabriele Susanne Kerner (born 24 March 1960), better known by her stage name Nena, is a German singer who rose to international fame in 1983 as the lead vocalist of the band Nena with the Neue Deutsche Welle song "99 Luftballons". In that same year, the band re-recorded this song in English as "99 Red Balloons".
1. Profile
- Name (English)
- Nena
- Name (Japanese)
- ネーナ
- Reading
- ねーな
- Born
- March 24, 1960 (age 66)
- Zodiac / Chinese zodiac
- Aries / Rat
- Origin
- Hagen, Province of Westphalia, Germany
- Blood type
- Private
- Height
- Private
- Agency
- Private
- Occupation
- singer / musician / actor / singer-songwriter / dub actor
2. Background
- Elementary school
- Private
- Junior high
- Private
- High school
- Private
- University
- Private
Awards & achievements
- 2012 Caméra d'Or
- 2015 Berliner Bär
- 1982 Bravo Otto
- 2002 1 Live Krone
- 2003 Echo Pop Award for the Best National Rock/Pop Female Artist
- 2003 VIVA Comet Awards
- 2003 Golden Hen
- 2004 Amadeus Austrian Music Awards
3. Relationships
- Spouse
- Private
- Children
- Private
- Parents
- Private
- Siblings
- Private
4. Personality
Motto
Private
6. Links
- Official sitehttps://www.nena.de/
- Instagramhttps://www.instagram.com/nena_official_insta/
- Xhttps://x.com/nenaofficial
- Wikipedia (Japanese)https://ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E3%83%8D%E3%83%BC%E3%83%8A
7. About this entry
Tags
- Last updated
- 2026-06-02
Facts are limited to publicly available information up to 2024; non-public items are marked "Private / Unknown". English text is machine-assisted (facts translated by Sonnet, "My Take" written by Opus 4.8). The Japanese page is the source of record.