who released a hit song in the 80s called '99 red balloons'
the German band Nena
title: 99 Luftballons text: 99 Luftballons "99 Luftballons" (, "99 balloons") is a song by the German band Nena from their 1983 self-titled album. An English-language version titled "99 Red Balloons", with lyrics by Kevin McAlea, was also released on the album "99 Luftballons" in 1984 after widespread success of the original in Europe and Japan. The English version is not a direct translation of the German original and contains somewhat different lyrics. While at a June 1982 concert by the Rolling Stones in West Berlin, Nena's guitarist Carlo Karges noticed that balloons were being released. As he watched them move toward the horizon, title: Nena text: Nena Nena (; born Gabriele Susanne Kerner, 24 March 1960) is a German singer-songwriter, actress, and comedian who rose to international fame in 1983 with the New German Wave song "99 Luftballons". In 1984, she re-recorded this song in English as "99 Red Balloons". Nena was also the name of the band with whom she released the song. The re-recording of some of her old songs rekindled her career in 2002 and she has sold over 25 million records, making her one of Germany's most successful music artists. Gabriele Susanne Kerner (Nena) was born on 24 March 1960 in Hagen, title: Nena (band) text: Nena (band) Nena was a German Neue Deutsche Welle band. In 1983 and 1984, their German language song "99 Luftballons" (and its English version, "99 Red Balloons"), reached number one in the singles charts of countries around the world. The band was formed in 1982 when vocalist Gabriele Kerner (Nena) came to West Berlin with drummer , her boyfriend at the time. There they assembled the other members of the band, which took its name from their lead singer's nickname (Spanish for "little girl"), which she had acquired as a toddler during a family holiday to Spain. The band wrote title: 99 Luftballons text: the lyrics are translated poetically rather than directly translated: red helium balloons are casually released by the civilian singer (narrator) with her unnamed friend into the sky and are registered as missiles by a faulty early warning system; the balloons are mistaken for military aircraft which results in panic and eventually nuclear war. From the outset Nena and other members of the band expressed disapproval for the English version of the song, "99 Red Balloons". In March 1984, the band's keyboardist and song co-writer Uwe Fahrenkrog Petersen said, "We made a mistake there. I think the song loses something in title: Nena (band) text: second album "? (Fragezeichen)" in Germany in January 1984, "99 Luftballons" was starting to climb the US charts, where it reached number 2 and became one of the most successful non-English language tracks in US Billboard chart history. With the English version of the song ("99 Red Balloons") achieving the number 1 position in the UK, the band became internationally famous and in 1984 gave concerts and made TV appearances in Scandinavia, the UK, Spain and France as well as a 7-date tour (on consecutive nights) of Japan. An international album "99 Luftballons" which comprised a combination of English and