Nana Mouskouri says goodbye
By
Neil DockingNana Mouskouri is set to retire
"I DON'T want to leave this stage or this world without having been able to say thank you to the audience, to me this is very important.
"I have learned and lived on stage for so many years but if the audiences weren't there I wouldn't have been able to do this - it needed their love.
"It is a very good feeling being able to say thank you, although of course it will be emotional. I have to learn to live without the stage."
The most successful female singer in history, Nana Mouskouri has sold more than 350 million records worldwide - more than the Beatles and Elvis combined.
But after 45 years of touring, the 72-year-old has decided to call it a day and is saying farewell to her fans on a four-year global trek which stops off in Manchester later this month.
Classically trained, since 1959 the Greek performer has sung over 1,350 songs in German, English, French, Greek, Spanish, Italian, Japanese, Dutch, Portuguese, Hebrew and Gaelic.
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She said: "I speak Greek, French, German, Spanish, English, Italian and Portuguese in the other languages I can make my way a little bit!
"It is very important communicating. Music has no frontiers, no language problems; so this for me has been a way of communicating easier."
In the last 17 years the artist has spent more time painting, and travelling the world as a UNICEF ambassador.
With houses in Geneva and Athens and a home with her husband in Paris, the 72-year-old says she is tired of travelling across the world and wants to spend more time with her family.
She said: "When it came to the year 2000 I couldn't believe I had been singing for that long - you don't realise as the time goes by.
"I never have time to stay anywhere, so it is very tiring physically."
Having worked with the legendary producer Quincy Jones, whom Mouskouri says "gave me soul in my song" and incomparable artists like Bob Dylan, she says she developed a particular admiration for song-smith Leonard Cohen, and spent many times with the Canadian and his partner Suzanne Elrod while he lived in Greece during the 1970s.
She said: "He is one of the great poets of our time. I met him in the early years in Montreal, years and years ago. He is a wonderful man, he inspired me a lot with his music and writing, I adore him.
"I listen to artists who mean what they say and think before they write something and artists like him bring a lot of people together."
When asked about her astonishing record sales, Nana prefers to dwell on the music itself, rather than the units she has shifted.
She said: "I think the best times for me were when I started in Greece, there were so many artists who gave me character and belief.
"The whole of my career has been a highlight because I never expected to become so known everywhere. I was just a small singer.
"I have no regrets because always wanted to be a singer and I think I became the singer I wanted to be. It was a wonderful time in the 60s and 70s - the best times of recording.
"I don't want to go any further because I did a lot and now it is up to young people to continue to do what we have done in the past.
"I have been very lucky and I want to go out with pride and dignity."
Tickets for Nana Mouskouri's show at the Manchester Bridgewater Hall on October 31 are priced £25 upwards and are available from 0161 9079000 and 0161 8321111.
Her Ultimate Collection album will be released on October 22 and a book Nana Mouskouri - Memoirs is expected to be released in the beginning of November.
2:14pm Monday 1st October 2007
