Nana Mouskouri born 13 October 1934

Ioanna "Nana" Mouskouri (born 13 October 1934) is a Greek singer. Over the span of her career, she has released over 200 albums in at least twelve languages, including Greek, French, English, German, Dutch, Italian, Portuguese, Spanish, Hebrew, Welsh, Mandarin Chinese and Corsican.

Born “Ioánna Moúschouri” in Chania, Crete, both her parents worked in a local cinema. They relocated to Athens when Mouskouri was only three years old. She started singing lessons at age twelve. She studied classical music at the Athens Music Conservatoire and began her early career singing with a local jazz group in nightclubs. She recorded her first song, “Fascination”, in both Greek and English in 1957. She met noted Greek composer Manos Hadjidakis while performing at the Zaki Club in 1958. Mouskouri debuted in the late 1950s and achieved worldwide success with a string of songs she recorded for Hataidakis. 

                              

In a few years, she became an international celebrity with releasing hits such as “White Roses from Athens”in 1961. It was an enormous hit, selling over a million copies in Germany; later translated into several different languages, it went on to become one of her signature tunes. In 1962, she met producer Quincy Jones, who flewher to New York to record an album of American standards titled The Girl from Greece Sings; not long after, she had a sizable U.K. hit with the pop standard "My Colouring Book." 

In 1963, she settled in Paris and recorded a Greek-language album; she also sang Luxembourg's entry in the Eurovision Song Contest that year, "À Force de Prier," which became an international hit and helped her win the prestigious Grand Prix du Disque in France. 

She attracted the notice of composer Michel Legrand, who supplied her with two major French hits in "Les Parapluies de Cherbourg" (1964) and "L'Enfant au Tambour" (1965). Also in 1965, she recorded her second English-language album in America, Nana Sings, and found a patron in Harry Belafonte, who brought her on tour with him through 1966, and teamed with her for the live duo album An Evening with Belafonte/Mouskouri. She ascended to superstardom in France with her 1967 album, Le Jour Où la Colombe, which featured much of the core of her French repertoire. 

In 1969, she released her first full-length British LP, Over & Over, a smash hit that spent almost two years on the charts. Already maintaining a heavy international touring schedule in the late '60s, Mouskouri spent much of the '70s on the road, broadening her worldwide popularity to levels rarely equaled. 

Always a prolific recording artist, the 1970s saw Mouskouri record several LPs in German, including the hit albums, Sieben schwarze Rosen (1975) and Lieder, die die Liebe schreibt (1978). In France, she continued a series of top-selling records, such as Comme un soleil (1971), Une voix qui vient du cœur (1972), Vieilles chansons de France (1973), and Quand tu chantes (1976). Meanwhile, Passport, a compilation including her most popular songs in English, reached number 3 in the UK album charts in 1976 and won for her a gold disc. 

In 1984, Mouskouri returned to Greece for her first live performance in her homeland since 1962; from then on, she would record Greek-language albums for her home market. In 1986, Mouskouri recorded "Only Love," the theme song to a BBC TV series that went on to top the U.K. charts; it was also a hit in the French translation "L'Amour en Héritage." That same year, Mouskouri made a play for the Spanish-language market with the hit single "Con Todo el Alma," a major success in Spain, Argentina, and Chile. She released five albums in different languages in 1987, and the following year returned to her classical conservatory roots with the double-LP The Classical Nana (aka Nana Classique), which featured some of her favorite opera excerpts. 

She also dedicated herself to public works, becoming a spokesperson for UNICEF in 1993 and gaining election to the European Parliament as a Greek representative from 1994-1999. She recorded several more albums over 1996-1997, including the Spanish-language Nana Latina (which featured duets with Julio Iglesias and Mercedes Sosa), the English-language Return to Love, and the French pop classics set Hommages. In 1997, she staged a high-profile Concert for Peace at the Cathedral of St. John the Divine in New York; it was later released as an album, and aired as a TV special on PBS in America. Meanwhile, a number of Mouskouri retrospectives appeared overseas, including elaborate box sets in both France and Germany. 

Having relocated to Switzerland, Mouskouri continued her international touring into the new millennium. In 2011, she paid homage to both her Greek heritage and her loyal French fan base with two albums billed under Nana & Friends, the first featuring songs from the Greek islands and the second showcasing collaborations with many of her favorite French performers. She also garnered more accolades, including being awarded an honorary degree from Canada's McGill University in 2013, and taking home an Echo Music Prize in 2015 for her outstanding career achievements by Germany's Deutsche Phono-Akademie. In 2018, Mouskouri celebrated 60 years as a performer with the covers album Forever Young. She also embarked on a tour in support of the album.

(Edited from AllMusic & Wikipedia)