Lena

Lena Meyer-Landrut, who bills herself simply as Lena, is a pop singer from Germany who won the Eurovision Song Contest in 2010 at age 19 with the song “Satellite.” Born on May 23, 1991, in Hanover, Germany, she was one of 20 contestants selected to compete on the television program Unser Star für Oslo, the winner of which is chosen to represent Germany at the Eurovision Song Contest. Over the course of eight weeks, Lena performed eight covers, all of them sung in English, including songs by Adele (“My Same”), the Bird and the Bee (“Diamond Dave”), Kate Nash (“Foundations,” “Mouthwash”), Paolo Nutini (“New Shoes”), Lisa Mitchell (“Neopolitan Dreams”), Jason Mraz (“Mr. Curiosity”), and the Cure (“The Lovecats”). On the final episode she sang three originals (“Bee,” “Satellite,” “Love Me”) and was selected winner over second-place runner-up Jennifer Braun. In the wake of her Unser Star für Oslo win, all three of the songs that she performed on the final episode reached the Top Five of the German singles chart: “Satellite” at number one, “Bee” at number three, and “Love Me” at number four. Only 19 years old at the time, Lena proceeded to win the Eurovision Song Contest with a performance of “Satellite.” Earning Germany its first Eurovision win since 1982, “Satellite” was an instant smash hit across Western Europe, topping the singles charts in several countries. Lena’s full-length album debut, My Cassette Player (2010), was a fairly big hit too, topping the charts in Germany and Austria and reaching the Top Five in Switzerland. Produced by Stefan Raab, My Cassette Player includes several of the songs that Lena performed on Unser Star für Oslo — “Satellite,” “Bee,” “Love Me,” plus a couple covers — alongside eight new songs, several of them co-written by Lena. Crystal Sky followed in 2015. ~ Jason Birchmeier