Nana was born october13. 1934 in the town Khaniá (Hania) on Kreta. Her parents arranged piano and vocal tuition for her before she had learned her alphabet, and enrolled her at the Hellenic Conservatory in Athens with an operatic career in mind.

However, as often happens, Nana became aware of the other side of the musical coin, the world of jazz, largely through the medium of radio broadcasts. She maintained her studies and coaching diligently in deference to her parents' wishes, but sang jazz and the better pop songs at every opportunity in her spare time.

The popular sector of song eventually won with regard to Nana's ambitions, but she steadfastly refused to appear public until 1958 because she deemed herself unready to attain the high standards of performance which she believed the public deserved by right.

Her debut was a concert in the autumn of 1958 for the American Sixt Fleet which was visiting Piraeus at the time, and she was a sensational success.

She won the 1959 Greek Song Festival and the 1960 Festival of Mediterranean at Barcelona with Hadjidakis compositions.

Nana made her first trip to America in 1962 and visited England for the first time later the same year.