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Nana Mouskouri

Nana Mouskouri (born Ioanna Mouskouri on October 13, 1934 in Crete, Greece) is a Greek singer and politician. She is one of the world's highest-selling female recording artist, recording many of her songs in many different languages, including Greek, French, English, Spanish, Italian, German and Portuguese. She is France's number one selling artist. She is noted for her trademark eyeglasses and her songs of melancholy, longing, and sentimental musings upon love, for which the emotion of her voice is exceptionally suited.

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Biography

Mouskouri was born in Chania, Crete where her parents had been on business. When she was 3, her family moved back to Athens. In 1950, she was accepted at the Athens Conservatory, but she 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" (My love exists somewhere). Curiously enough, she also won second prize, in the same contest, singing "Asteri, asteraki" (Star, little star) with her group the "Trio Canzone".

Her first international 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 toured the US with her husband guitarist George Petsilas - a member of the Trio Canzone - and sang alongside Harry Belafonte. She released the English-language album Nana Sings in 1965 and the French album Le Jour où la Colombe in 1967.

Mouskouri was appointed a UNICEF Goodwill Ambassador in October 1993, replacing actress Audrey Hepburn. She represented Greece in the European Parliament from 1994 until 1999 as a member of the largely conservative New Democracy party. She currently lives in Switzerland with her second husband, André Chapelle, and she still performs about 100 concerts each year. In 2004, her French record company released an unprecedented 34-CD 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. Mouskouri has sold more than 190 million(*) records internationally, recording about 1,500 songs in 15 languages. She has more than 300 gold and platinum albums worldwide. She started a world farewell tour in 2005, going from Europe to Australia...

Partial Discography

  • The Girl From Greece Sings (1962)
  • Nana Sings (1965)
  • An Evening with Belafonte/Mouskouri (1966)
  • 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)
  • I'll remember you (2005)

Notes

  • Universal Music, which is currently Nana's label and also the owner of Nana's past label PolyGram, has provided the following contradictory data:
    • Universal Music France universalmusic.fr claims that Nana sold more than 300 million discs worldwide.
    • Universal Music Germany universal-music.de claims that she sold more than 200 million discs.


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