Nana Mouskouri, one of the most successful singers, is releasing an album for her birthday. As a thank you to everyone who accompanied them.
She has released over 1,600 songs in more than 20 languages and over 130 albums. And more than 300 gold, diamond and platinum records – making her one of the big names in her business. Nana Mouskouri has now released another album for her 90th birthday on October 13th. As a thank you to everyone who has supported them for so long.
A best-of album that is a journey through time through her music career, which has spanned over 65 years, and which also quietly resonates with the beginning of a farewell. The native Greek, who lives in Athens, Paris and Geneva, told the German Press Agency that she was grateful to be able to do what she had done so far. At her age, she can no longer make big plans for the future, she said openly. Does age scare you? “I never thought about my age. Or if I did, then like other people.”
Die on stage?
Mouskouri has often tried to say goodbye to the big stage. Over 15 years ago. As she said at the time, she felt like she was getting older. But without singing, she felt useless and empty. And so she continued singing: Music is her first love and will remain her last, as she always said.
Her new album “Happy Birthday Nana” consists of 21 songs. These include her favorite and best-known German-language songs such as “Guten Morgen Sonnenschein”, “Johnny Tambour” and “Weiße Rosen aus Athen”, with which she became famous in Germany. It is also one of three new songs recorded with the Royal Symphonic Orchestra London.
Of all places, she became a star in Germany, a country where she didn’t always have good memories. Between 1941 and 1944, Greece was occupied by Nazi Germany. The conquest of their homeland by the Wehrmacht and Waffen-SS was extremely bloody. And yet Mouskouri loves the country today.
From enemy to friend
A historic event from 1961, the year in which the wall was built, contributed to this. At that time she came to Berlin to record the song “White Roses from Athens”. The record studio was in the western part of Berlin on Potsdamer Platz. As she exited the building, she saw people waving tissues from the other side.
“It made my heart ache and reminded me of what had happened back then,” said Mouskouri. Then she realized that people were suffering here too. The single, released in 1961, sold more than 1.5 million copies within six months. It earned the singer her first gold record.
She later discovered the wall from the other side. Because in the 80s they brought their concerts to the GDR, where she sang, among other things, “The Song of Freedom,” as she said in an interview. The symbolic title is also present on their new album.
Singer and politician
Mouskouri was born in Crete in 1934. Her father belonged to a resistance movement against the Nazis and was a projectionist in a cinema where her mother also worked. At the age of three she moved to Athens with her family, and at the age of six she experienced the occupation of Greece by the Germans.
Her parents had to work hard to ensure that she and her eldest sister were allowed to attend the conservatory in Athens. In 1959 she won first prize in the Greek singing competition. Her global hit “White Roses from Athens” followed two years later.
The musician was also interested in politics. In the 1990s she was elected to the European Parliament for the conservative Greek party New Democracy. After the end of the legislative period, she gave up: “I was disappointed with politics,” as she repeatedly said. In 1993 she became a Unicef ambassador.
From shy girl to pop icon
In her biography “Voice of Longing: My Memories,” published in 2008, she talks about her childhood and youth, the war and the deprivation. It describes the story of a shy, complex teenager who was only excited by her passion for singing.
Music had become her accomplice, she said in one of her earlier interviews. On stage she learned to express herself through singing. Today she can boast that she belongs to the category of the most commercially successful singers of all time, having sold over 300 million records.
One of the most famous glasses
Her black glasses are, along with Elton John’s, probably the most famous in the world. Not only did she correct her vision problems. The visual aid that has become her trademark also protected Mouskouri from her shyness. She took courage with dark glasses, as she explained earlier.
She was the first major artist to appear in public wearing glasses. She was often asked to drop them off. “I never did it because I’m shortsighted, as she told the newspaper Le Parisien. The glasses never served to give her a style.
Songs that connect
Her songs are about love, hope, sadness and happiness. Universal themes that everyone can identify with. For her, this is also one of the reasons for her success: “The music has to be connected to people, people have to hear the emotions of the songs.”
Their new album also includes the new recording “Pios échi Dakria”. The song is composed in the style of Bob Dylan’s “Blowin’ in the Wind”. A song as a source of profound comfort.
What does she want for her birthday? She is happy about everything she has achieved in life. She is a child who grew up with music.
Source: Stern
I am an author and journalist who has worked in the entertainment industry for over a decade. I currently work as a news editor at a major news website, and my focus is on covering the latest trends in entertainment. I also write occasional pieces for other outlets, and have authored two books about the entertainment industry.
