Nana Mouskouri

Nana Mouskouri (born Ioanna Mouskouri on October 13, 1934 in Crete, Greece) is a Greek singer and politician. Her fans have claimed that she is the biggest-selling female singer of all time, in part due to her recording many of her songs in many different languages, including Greek, French, English, Spanish, Italian, German and Portuguese. She is noted for her trademark glasses. She has sold more than 250 million records internationally, and recorded about 1,500 songs in 15 languages. In general, her songs are known for melancholy, longing, and sentimental musings upon love, for which the emotion of her voice is exceptionally suited.

When Mouskouri was 3, her family moved to Athens. In 1950, Nana was accepted at the Athens Conservatory, but was expelled in 1957 after it was discovered that she was singing with a jazz group at night. She won first prize at the 1959 Greek Song Festival singing Manos Hadjidakis's "Kapou Iparchi Agapi Mou".

Her first hit was "The White Rose of Athens" (1961). The Girl from Greece Sings, a 1962 album produced by Quincy Jones, followed. In 1963, Mouskouri was Luxembourg's entry in the Eurovision Song Contest with "À Force de Prier". Following that, she released the English-language album Nana Sings (1965) and the French album Le Jour où la Colombe (1967).

Mouskouri was appointed a UNICEF Goodwill Ambassador in October 1993. She represented Greece in the European Parliament from 1994 until 1999. She currently lives in Switzerland with her second husband, André Chapelle, and still gives about 100 concerts each year. In 2004 her French record company released an unprecedented 34-box set of more than 600 of Mouskouri's mostly French songs. For 2005 and 2006 she plans a farewell concert tour of Europe, Australia, Asia,South America, the United States and Canada.

Partial Discography

• "The Girl From Greece Sings" (1962)
• "Nana Sings" (1965)
• "Le Jour où la Colombe" (1967)
• "Over and Over" (1969)
• "Comme un Soleil"
• "Une Voix Qui Vient du Coeur"
• "Vielles Chansons de France"
• "Quand Tu Chantes"
• "Sieben Schwarze Rosen" (1975)
• "Book of Songs"
• "Roses and Sunshine" (1979)
• "Je Chante Avec Toi, Liberté" (1981)
• "Only Love" (1986)
• "The Classical Nana" (1988)
• "Gospel" (1990)
• "Only Love: The Best of Nana Mouskouri" (1991)
• "Côté Coeur" (1992)
• "Nur ein Lied" (1995)
• "The Great Movie Themes" (1999)
• "The Christmas Album" (2000)
• "Fille de soleil" (2003)
• "Ich hab'geweint, ich hab'gelacht" (2004)

External Links

• http://www.nanamouskouri.net
• http://www.nanamouskouri.de/
• VH1 biography