Nana News、from HomeboyMediaNews

Turn on the sun and smile again, Nana July 28, 2007
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Turn on the sun,
Light up the world, tell everyone,
Good times are in, bad times are out
Turn on the sun and smile again

The singer of “Turn on”, Nana Mouskouri is a musician who energizes the hearts of seekers for the greatest lyrics and lines of this millenia. But who is Nana Mouskouri?

Nana Nouskouri, is a world famous singer from Greece, who captivated the hearts of listeners from Athens to Arabia, Milan to Washington and Paris to Sydney. Soaring high on a voice of clarity, compassion and complete artistry, Nana, embraces the hearts and souls of her worldwide fans.

Nana is a native of Greece. She was born in Chania, Crete. She recorded many of her songs in many different languages, including Greek, French, English, German, Italian, Spanish, Portuguese. She is noted for her trademark squarish black-rimmed eyeglasses and straight black hair parted in the middle, and her songs of melancholy, longing, and sentimental musings upon love, for which the emotion of her voice is exceptionally suited. Mouskouri has recorded from the 1960s into the new millennium and has tailored releases to specific international requests.

Living the code of a compassionate person, Nana reaches out to everyone in need. Mouskouri was appointed a UN International Children’s Educational Fund, UNICEF, Goodwill Ambassador in October 1993. She took over from the previous ambassador, American actress Audrey Hepburn. Mouskouri’s first UN mission took her to Bosnia to draw attention to the plight of children affected by Bosnian war. She was deeply moved by her experience in Bosnia and went on to give a series of fund-raising concerts in Sweden and Belgium. She was elected a Member of the European Parliament from 1994 until 1999.

In 1993, Nana recorded a new album, Hollywood, produced by Michel Legrand. Hollywood was a collection of famous film songs. It was not only a tribute to the world of cinema, but also as a personal reference to childhood memories of sitting with her father in his projection room in Crete.

From December 11 to 14, 1997, Mouskouri gave four triumphant performances at the Olympia in Paris to celebrate the 40th anniversary of her singing career. Also in 1997, Mouskouri resigned from her position as a European MP. She explained that a fervent pacifist, she refused to back wars.

Mouskouri currently lives in Switzerland with her second husband, André Chapelle whom she married on January 13, 2003. 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 2008, she plans a farewell concert tour of Europe, Australia, Asia, South America, the United States, and Canada. During an interview with The Australian newspaper, when asked why this would be her final concert series, Mouskouri said she wanted to retire on a high note. “I never thought that I would grow that old. It is better really to stop while you are standing well on your feet. I just want to be proud and in very good form and thank the audience for all this love,” she said.

In May 2006 she made a guest appearance at that year’s Eurovision Song Contest which was held, for the first time ever, in her native homeland of Greece. Appearing in front of an estimated television audience of 160 million she congratulated the participants on their performances and started the televoting sequence. Mouskouri has sold more than 300 million records internationally, recording about 1,500 songs in 15 languages on 450 albums. She has more than 300 gold and platinum albums worldwide, making her the best-selling female recording artist of all time.