Nana Mouskouri
Singer says goodbye to the stage

Nana Mouskouri is preparing for her final retirement from the stage. It’s not easy for her.
© imago/ZUMA Press Wire / Aristidis Vafeiadakis
Nana Mouskouri is preparing for her final retirement from the stage. An ending that is not easy for her.
Pop star Nana Mouskouri (89) had already tried saying goodbye to the stage. Now she announces again in a “Spiegel” interview that she no longer wants to appear. This time for good.
Mouskouri traveled the world for four years on an extensive farewell tour and gave her last concert (for the time being) in Athens in the summer of 2008. Six years later, the singer was back on stage and celebrated her comeback. She explained to “Spiegel” in a long interview: “I was so sad. I felt bad without the stage. It felt like I would die if I didn’t sing anymore.”
“I have no right to go on stage and sing badly”
Nevertheless, she announced her departure again. She will do “a few more appearances and then that’s it. I think I’ve done enough,” said the singer. And explained: “I can’t pretend to be a young woman. I don’t want to make people suffer. I have no right to go on stage and sing badly, even if the audience would applaud me for it.”
Saying goodbye won’t be easy for the musician this time either. When asked what Nana Mouskouri would be without her music, she simply replied: “Zero”. The pain already seems great. She couldn’t listen to a tribute album recorded by the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra on the occasion of her 90th birthday on October 13th without crying: “I then remember the time when I was young and learned these songs.”
According to Universal, the Greek musician is the most successful singer after Madonna (66) with over 300 million records sold. In Germany she became known for hits such as “White Roses from Athens” and “Guten Morgen, Sonnenschein”.