Worldwide, Nana Mouskouri is among the most popular female singers of the last 50 years. She is a milestone in the history of popular music. Again and again, she crossed seemingly insurmountable musical borders. From Jazz via chanson to pop and the popular German easy listening of her early creative period, this exceptional artist never regarded music as a dogmatic artform but always as a part of her individual development and the experiences growing from this. Unlike many artists, her personality stands for a cosmopolitan outlook without ever forgetting her Greek roots. All this and her practiced humanist philosophy of life have finally made her into a celebrated international star.

Nothing at all went according to plan in the first days of the career of Nana Mouskouri. Rather by chance, she turned to song as " one of Fate's ironic twists" it was in fact her sister Jenny, who wanted to study classical song at the conservatory in her native Athens. But one day, a lecturer invites Nana to try it herself, too. She auditions and is accepted at once for the unusual qualities of her voice. She starts her studies at the conservatory of Athens. But instead of restricting herself to classical music, Nana Mouskouri appears in cafes, singing folklore and jazz, advancing to the status of the "new voice" on the musical scene of Athens of the 1950s. This kind of success did not make her popular with everyone. Without further ado, Nana is expelled from the conservatory. A fateful event, which in hindsight was to pave the path for her world career in popular music.

First singles in Greek were to follow shortly, as her artistic mentor, the Greek composer Manos Hadjidakis advised her: "First master singing in your own language, the rest will follow all by itself, even success." As early as 1960, Nana Mouskouri had her first success in Germany with the soundtrack of the film "Traumland der Sehnsucht", the music for which had been composed by Manos Hadjidakis. Shortly afterwards, the single "Rosen aus Athen", which sold 1.5m times within half a year, brought the final breakthrough. 1962, recordings of American standards ("The Girl From Greece Sings"), directed by Quincy Jones, were to follow; one year later, first recordings in French and from then onwards, everything happened very quickly. Nana worked and went on several tours in the US and Canada with Harry Belafonte, in 1964 made second place at the "Festival des Chansons" in Baden-Baden managed to establish herself around the globe. By the beginning of the 1970s Nana Mouskouri was an international star, recording records in five different languages (German, English Spanish, French and Greek) and, in 1974 alone, receiving the incredible number of 19 golden records in Australia, nine in New Zealand and another ten in various European countries. In the 1970s, she was able to land mega-selling hits like "Sieben schwarze Rosen", "Meine Lieder sind mein Leben" oder "Am Ziel meiner Reise".

In the middle of the 1970s, the whole of France was worshipping Nana: At a four-week visit to the legendary Olympia in Paris, her record company presents her with 69 golden and platinum records as awards for her international work. In total, she is to receive more than 300 golden and platinum awards from around the world. At the beginning of the 1980s the petite Greek woman is to receive the "Golden Ticket" for over 100,000 concert tickets sold in just a few days. Even the folk legend Bob Dylan writes a song for Nana Mouskouri. Between 1985 and 1986, the artist embarks on a world tour, which takes her to Germany, Austria, Switzerland, Scandinavia, Australia, New Zealand, Canada, Belgium, Holland, England, Ireland and France. By the end of 1986, she has given more that 200 concerts. In September of 1987, she finally returned home and performed an unforgettable show in front of 100,000 delighted fans in the Olympia Stadium of Athens, together with Manos Hadjidakis. Despite her various commitments as a member of the European Parliament and an UNICEF Ambassador, Nana Mouskouri once more went on a world tour in 1995, which included Mexico, Venezuela, Argentina and Chile.

One year later, she delighted her German fans with the top-selling album "Nur ein Lied", sung a duet with her good friend Julio Iglesias on the Spanish album "Nana Latina" and received Gold and Platinum for that album in Latin America. 1997, Nana Mouskouri even received governmental honours: The French president Jacques Chirac presents her with the order of "Chevalier of the Legion of Honour". Also in 97, she takes part in the UNICEF Gala and receives "World Children Award" from the hands of Harry Belafonte, honouring her commitment since 1993. Nana Mouskouri often combines her UNICEF work with her concert tours and recording schedules. She hosted and performed at UNICEF's 50th anniversary celebration at United Nations headquarters in New York City, then immediately left for Vietnam on behalf of the agency. In Vietnam, Nana saw the need for freshwater in village after village. Her simple solution was to personally pay for a water pumping station for each village she visited. In addition to Asia, she has visited South America, the Middle East and Africa on behalf of UNICEF. For her work, Nana was honoured with the UNICEF Child Survival Award in Chicago. Former U.S. President Clinton noted, "Thanks to the commitment, time and generosity of individuals like Nana Mouskouri, UNICEF is able to continue its mission to brighten the lives of children and improve the lives of young people everywhere."

After this, she went on tour through the whole of Germany until April 1998. In Germany alone, she performed 22 concerts. In New York, she received the "Athenagoras Award for the Protection of Human Rights". In 1999, her term as a member of the European Parliament ended. Her 2000 tour had to be partially postponed as, in April of that year, she slipped on the icy pavement in front of her house and had to stay in hospital for several weeks following a complicated ankle fracture. But all concerts have since been performed. The fifth decade of her uninterrupted success, Nana Mouskouri began with the re-release of the jazz album "Nana Mouskouri in New York, A Girl From Greece Sings", which had been produced by Quincy Jones in the 60s. In Germany, this album received Gold status and was awarded with the HMV Award as the best album of the year in England. In July 2002, Nana Mouskouri was invited to the Stuttgart Jazz Festival. Her performance with the big band of the Berlin Radio Station is published worldwide as CD and DVD under the title "Nana Swings". At the end of that year, a French album named "Fille du Soleil" is also published and launched live in the Olympia in Paris. 2003 is characterised by tours through Scandinavia and Germany, as well as Canada and the US.

Since 1959, Nana Mouskouri has sung over 1,350 songs in German, English, French, Greek, Spanish, Italian, as well as in Japanese, Dutch, Portuguese, Hebrew and Welsh (Gaelic). In her career spanning more than 45 years, she has been appearing for over 30 years in around 100 concerts every year, visiting her fans every two to three years. So far, she has received more that 300 golden, platinum and diamond records for over 200m albums sold worldwide.

For her 70th birthday, the album "Ich hab gelacht Ich hab geweint" (I laughed - I cried), a "Best of" album including rare material and seven new titles is going to be released as a retrospective and to honour her work. Also in view of her last world tour of 2005/2006, this album is very important to Nana Mouskouri: "This collection of songs is something special, a bouquet of well-known and less well-known songs, which become particularly dear to me in all those years of mutual trust between my German audience and me. I will also include seven completely new songs, with which I would like to say thank you for your loyalty."