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"99 Luftballons" (German: Neunundneunzig Luftballons, "99 balloons") is a song by the West German band Nena from their 1983 self-titled album. An English-language version titled "99 Red Balloons"(German: Neunundneunzig Rote Luftballons), with lyrics by Kevin McAlea, was also released by Nena on the album 99 Luftballons in 1984 after widespread success of the original in Europe and Japan.
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]
Prompted by the success of 99 Luftballons (1984), which included English-language versions of songs from the band's first two albums, Nena recreated Feuer und Flamme in English as It's All in the Game (1985), with lyrics by Canadian singer Lisa Dalbello. [3] The experiment failed commercially and was not repeated with the band's next album.
The three singles released from the Nena album have enjoyed particular prominence in lead singer Nena's career. Although "99 Luftballons" is by far the most well known globally, the other two ("Nur geträumt" and "Leuchtturm") have for more than 30 years been ever-present features of the live concerts of firstly the band and then Nena in her subsequent solo career.
The most widely known cover of this album is identical to the one used for most versions of the single "99 Luftballons" or "99 Red Balloons". [4]The album was also released as Nena or International Album; this version used the same cover, but with "99 Luftballons" removed, and sometimes with additional sticker at upper left that says "International Album incl. Club-Mix - 99 Red Balloons". [5]
The dot (period) at the end, which is usually not included in titles, is emphasized with red on the album's cover. Furthermore, on the official Nena website, unlike other releases in catalogue, this particular album is consistently referred to as “Nena – Die Band.” (note the period again).
The commercial failure of these two singles, one a Nena penned ballad, [10] the other a catchy, rock tune written by Jörn-Uwe Fahrenkrog-Petersen and Carlo Karges (the duo responsible for the band's best known songs, "99 Luftballons" and "Irgendwie, irgendwo, irgendwann") provided evidence that formulae that had worked in the past would no ...
Jörn-Uwe Fahrenkrog-Petersen (born 10 March 1960) [1] is a German keyboard player, producer and composer. He was the keyboardist of the band Nena and co-wrote their world famous hit "99 Luftballons" as well as another great hit entitled "Irgendwie, irgendwo, irgendwann" (German for somehow, somewhere, sometime).