Nadja Benaissa
Encyclopedia
Nadja Benaissa is a German singer, songwriter and occasional actress, who rose to fame as one of the founding members of the successful all-female
Girl group
A girl group is a popular music act featuring several young female singers who generally harmonise together.Girl groups emerged in the late 1950s as groups of young singers teamed up with behind-the-scenes songwriters and music producers to create hit singles, often featuring glossy production...

 pop band No Angels
No Angels
The No Angels are an all-female pop trio from Germany, consisting of band members Lucy Diakovska, Sandy Mölling, and Jessica Wahls. Critically acclaimed, the band has won dozen of awards and prizes since their establishment in the early 2000s, including three ECHOs, a World Music Awards, a NRJ...

, the "biggest-selling German girlband to date", according to the German media
Mass media
Mass media refers collectively to all media technologies which are intended to reach a large audience via mass communication. Broadcast media transmit their information electronically and comprise of television, film and radio, movies, CDs, DVDs and some other gadgets like cameras or video consoles...

.

After a series of commercially successful releases with the group, Benaissa released her solo debut album Schritt für Schritt
Schritt Für Schritt
Schritt für Schritt is the debut solo album by German pop singer Nadja Benaissa, released by Universal Music/Urban on February 24, 2006 . Written and recorded after a break from the group No Angels, it signaled Benaissa's efforts to craft a solo career in music...

in 2006. The semi-autobiographical album was recorded entirely in German
German language
German is a West Germanic language, related to and classified alongside English and Dutch. With an estimated 90 – 98 million native speakers, German is one of the world's major languages and is the most widely-spoken first language in the European Union....

, taking Benaissa's work further into soul
Soul music
Soul music is a music genre originating in the United States combining elements of gospel music and rhythm and blues. According to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, soul is "music that arose out of the black experience in America through the transmutation of gospel and rhythm & blues into a form of...

, R&B and jazz music, but enjoyed moderate commercial success.

In February 2010, she was charged with causing bodily harm by German police
Law enforcement in Germany
Law enforcement in Germany is constitutionally vested solely with the states, which is one of the main features of the German political system. Therefore, unlike France, Italy, the United States, Canada or many other countries, Germany has no federal police force comparable to the Italian...

 for having unprotected sex with three men between 2004 and 2006, without informing them she was HIV
HIV
Human immunodeficiency virus is a lentivirus that causes acquired immunodeficiency syndrome , a condition in humans in which progressive failure of the immune system allows life-threatening opportunistic infections and cancers to thrive...

-positive. In August of that same year, she was found guilty of hiding her HIV status from sexual partners and was given a two year suspended sentence and 300 hours of community service.

In September 2010, Nadja Benaissa officially left the band to due to private reasons, leaving the No Angels as a trio.

Early life

Benaissa is the second child born to a Moroccan
Morocco
Morocco , officially the Kingdom of Morocco , is a country located in North Africa. It has a population of more than 32 million and an area of 710,850 km², and also primarily administers the disputed region of the Western Sahara...

 father, Muhamed Benaissa, and a Serbian
Serbs
The Serbs are a South Slavic ethnic group of the Balkans and southern Central Europe. Serbs are located mainly in Serbia, Montenegro and Bosnia and Herzegovina, and form a sizable minority in Croatia, the Republic of Macedonia and Slovenia. Likewise, Serbs are an officially recognized minority in...

-German mother with German
Germans
The Germans are a Germanic ethnic group native to Central Europe. The English term Germans has referred to the German-speaking population of the Holy Roman Empire since the Late Middle Ages....

 citizenship, Sabina. Raised alongside her three years older brother Amin, she spent much of her childhood in Langen
Langen, Hesse
Langen is a town of roughly 36,000 in the Offenbach district in the Regierungsbezirk of Darmstadt in Hesse, Germany, between Darmstadt and Frankfurt am Main...

, Hesse
Hesse
Hesse or Hessia is both a cultural region of Germany and the name of an individual German state.* The cultural region of Hesse includes both the State of Hesse and the area known as Rhenish Hesse in the neighbouring Rhineland-Palatinate state...

, where her parents worked in the catering business, and she attended the Geschwister-Scholl-Schule.

At the age of nine, Benaissa began playing instruments, learning the piano
Piano
The piano is a musical instrument played by means of a keyboard. It is one of the most popular instruments in the world. Widely used in classical and jazz music for solo performances, ensemble use, chamber music and accompaniment, the piano is also very popular as an aid to composing and rehearsal...

 and the flute
Flute
The flute is a musical instrument of the woodwind family. Unlike woodwind instruments with reeds, a flute is an aerophone or reedless wind instrument that produces its sound from the flow of air across an opening...

. Her early musical interest grew after having auditioned and won a role in the school stage musical Tabaluga
Tabaluga
The little green Dragon Tabaluga is a cartoon character, who lives in the fictional place of Greenland. He is around 7 dragon-years old . He is the creation of the German Rock musician Peter Maffay, children's song writer Rolf Zuckowski and the author Gregor Rottschalk...

during her first year at the Dreieich-Schule-Langen
Dreieich
Dreieich is a town in the Offenbach district in the Regierungsbezirk of Darmstadt in Hesse, Germany. It lies roughly 10 km south of Frankfurt am Main and with more than 40,000 inhabitants is the district’s second biggest town.- Location :...

. In her early teenage years, she began writing songs, and at the age of 13 Benaissa started performing in several cover band
Cover band
A cover band , is a band that plays mostly or exclusively cover songs. New or unknown bands often find the cover band format marketable for smaller gigs, and these bands may be known as a wedding band, party band and function band. A band whose covers consist mainly of songs that were chart hits is...

s within the Frankfurt am Main area, eventually winning the second place at Jugend musiziert
Jugend musiziert
thumb|German stamp: 25 years of "Jugend musiziert"Jugend musiziert is a music competition for children and adolescents in Germany on regional, federal and national level.-Jugend musiziert in Germany:...

, a supraregional music contest for youths.

On October 25, 1999, at the age of 17, Benaissa gave birth to her daughter Leila Jamila, an event which she describes as "the proudest moment of [her] life". Although Benaissa and her boyfriend ended their relationship, Benaissa began attending evening classes in pursuit of her Realschulabschluss school certificate.

2000—2003: Breakthrough with No Angels

In mid-2000, Benaissa, along with thousands of other women, applied for the debut installment of the German reality television program Popstars
Popstars
Popstars is an international reality television franchise and a precursor to the Idol series. The series first began in New Zealand in 1999 when producer Jonathan Dowling formed the five member all-girl group TrueBliss...

, a talent show looking to put together an all-girl band. Sailing through the selection process, judges Simone Angel
Simone Angel
Simone Angel is a Dutch TV host.-MTV:Born in Woerden, Angel moved from there to London, England when she was 18. Here she was hired by MTV Europe, becoming the youngest VJ and, after working for nine years, she also became one of the longest serving VJs for MTV...

, Rainer Moslener and Mario M. Mendryzcki were generally impressed by her performances, which earned her a position in the top ten finalists despite of her struggle with dancing choreographies. During a special episode in November 2000, jury member Angel eventually disclosed that Benaissa had been selected to become part of the final five-member girl group No Angels
No Angels
The No Angels are an all-female pop trio from Germany, consisting of band members Lucy Diakovska, Sandy Mölling, and Jessica Wahls. Critically acclaimed, the band has won dozen of awards and prizes since their establishment in the early 2000s, including three ECHOs, a World Music Awards, a NRJ...

. Initially hesitant about signing a recording contract which would force her to leave her baby daughter with her parents, the show's producers remained persuasive and Benaissa eventually agreed on joining the band.

With the final five members of the band in place, Popstars continued tracking the development and struggles of the group who left homes to move into a shared flat near Munich
Munich
Munich The city's motto is "" . Before 2006, it was "Weltstadt mit Herz" . Its native name, , is derived from the Old High German Munichen, meaning "by the monks' place". The city's name derives from the monks of the Benedictine order who founded the city; hence the monk depicted on the city's coat...

, Bavaria
Bavaria
Bavaria, formally the Free State of Bavaria is a state of Germany, located in the southeast of Germany. With an area of , it is the largest state by area, forming almost 20% of the total land area of Germany...

. However, it took another four months until the band released their debut single "Daylight in Your Eyes
Daylight in Your Eyes
"Daylight in Your Eyes" is a dance-pop song written by American musicians Tony Bruno and Tommy Byrnes. Originally composed for Colombian singer Victoria Faiella's debut album Drama , it was re-recorded by German pop band No Angels' for their 2001 first studio album Elle'ments, following their...

," which would subsequently appear on the band's debut album Elle'ments
Elle'ments
Special Winter Edition-Credits and personnel:* Laszlo Bencker - various* Thorsten Brötzmann - keyboards* Nico Fintzen - keyboards* Stefan Hansen - keyboards* Tony Laketos - sax* Ralf Lübke - guitar* Lesli Mandoki - various* Ossi Schaller - guitar...

(2001). Both the single and the album became an unexpected but record-breaking success, when both instantly entered the top position on the Austrian, German and Swiss Media Control
Media Control Charts
The official music charts in Germany are gathered and published by the company Media Control GfK International on behalf of Bundesverband Musikindustrie...

singles, albums and airplay charts, giving No Angels one of the most successful debuts in years. Suffering from the separation from her daughter, Benaissa burned out
Burnout (psychology)
Burnout is a psychological term for the experience of long-term exhaustion and diminished interest. Research indicates general practitioners have the highest proportion of burnout cases; according to a recent Dutch study in Psychological Reports, no less than 40% of these experienced high levels of...

 within months, a subject on which she later commented:
Nevertheless, Benaissa decided to remain with the band, and in the following years the No Angels released another two number-one studio albums, Now ... Us!
Now ... Us!
Now ... Us! is the second studio album by German pop group No Angels, released by Polydor subsidiary Cheyenne Records on June 24, 2002 in German speaking Europe...

and Pure
Pure (No Angels album)
Limited edition bonus CD-Credits and personnel:* Thomas Blug - guitar* Thorsten Brötzmann - keyboards* Alan Darby - acoustic guitar, electric guitar* Flo Daunber - drums* Stefan Hansen - keyboards* Clemens Heger - bass* Jeo - keyboards...

, a live album and a successful swing
Swing (genre)
Swing music, also known as swing jazz or simply swing, is a form of jazz music that developed in the early 1930s and became a distinctive style by 1935 in the United States...

 album branded When the Angels Swing
When the Angels Swing
When the Angels Swing is a swing album by German pop group No Angels, released by Polydor's sublabel Cheyenne Recordson on November 29, 2002. While the album failed to chart on the Swiss albums chart, it managed to peaked at number 9 in Germany and number 22 in Austria. Primarily produced and...

, totalling twelve singles altogether - including four-number one singles. Eventually selling more than five million singles and albums worldwide, the No Angels became the best-selling German girl band
Girl group
A girl group is a popular music act featuring several young female singers who generally harmonise together.Girl groups emerged in the late 1950s as groups of young singers teamed up with behind-the-scenes songwriters and music producers to create hit singles, often featuring glossy production...

 to date and the most successful girl group of Continental Europe
Continental Europe
Continental Europe, also referred to as mainland Europe or simply the Continent, is the continent of Europe, explicitly excluding European islands....

 between the years of 2001 and 2003. On 5 September 2003, the four remaining members of the band (Jessica Wahls
Jessica Wahls
Jessica Martina Wahls , also known under her nickname Jess, is a German pop singer, songwriter and television host, who rose to fame as one of the founding members of the successful all-female pop band No Angels, the "biggest-selling German girlband to date," according to the German media.-Early...

 had left the band following the birth of her first child in February 2003) announced that they would no longer be performing together after three years of continual touring and increasing cases of illness. The release of The Best of No Angels
The Best of No Angels
- Charts :...

in November of the same year marked the end of the band, with each member going their separate ways in early 2004.

2005—2006: Launching a solo career

While her former bandmates pursued solo careers in music and television, Benaissa, who had suffered from intense sleep deprivation, decided to focus on her recovered motherhood the following months. In fall 2004, however, she signed a solo contract with the urban music division of Universal Music and started work on her debut album. Encouraged to perform soul
Soul music
Soul music is a music genre originating in the United States combining elements of gospel music and rhythm and blues. According to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, soul is "music that arose out of the black experience in America through the transmutation of gospel and rhythm & blues into a form of...

 and R&B music with lyrics in German language
German language
German is a West Germanic language, related to and classified alongside English and Dutch. With an estimated 90 – 98 million native speakers, German is one of the world's major languages and is the most widely-spoken first language in the European Union....

 after a 2001 participation in the Sisters Keepers
Brothers Keepers
Brothers Keepers is a German-based transnational anti-racism project, bringing together hip hop, reggae and soul musicians, headed primarily by Afro-Germans.-History:...

 project's single "Liebe & Verstand," Benaissa decided to focus on writing songs with German lyrics only. As a result she released her first solo single, "Es Ist Liebe," produced by Tino Oac, in September 2005. The Motown-inspired ballad received positive reception from music critics, but failed to reach the top 50 of the German Singles Chart.

In the fall of 2005 Benaissa went on tour as a supporting act for the German leg of Simply Red
Simply Red
Simply Red were a British soul band that sold more than 50 million albums over a 25-year career. Their style drew influences from blue-eyed soul, new romantic, rock, reggae and jazz...

 - In Concert
. Afterwards she prepared the release of her second single "Ich Hab Dich," which was chosen to represent Hesse
Hesse
Hesse or Hessia is both a cultural region of Germany and the name of an individual German state.* The cultural region of Hesse includes both the State of Hesse and the area known as Rhenish Hesse in the neighbouring Rhineland-Palatinate state...

 on the 2nd Bundesvision Song Contest. Benaissa eventually finished fourth with 104 points, while the single entered at number 36 on the German Singles Chart. Two weeks later Schritt für Schritt was released, yet barely reaching the top 70. In June 2006, Benaissa participated in another non-profit-making aid project when she provided vocals for the Fury in the Slaughterhouse
Fury in the Slaughterhouse
Fury in the Slaughterhouse was a German rock band founded in 1987 and broke up in 2008. Their hits include: "Time To Wonder", "Every Generation Got Its Own Disease", "Won't Forget These Days", "Radio Orchid", "Dancing in the Sunshine of the Dark", "Milk & Honey", and "Trapped Today, Trapped...

 cover, "Won't Forget These Days," released during the 2006 FIFA World Cup
2006 FIFA World Cup
The 2006 FIFA World Cup was the 18th FIFA World Cup, the quadrennial international football world championship tournament. It was held from 9 June to 9 July 2006 in Germany, which won the right to host the event in July 2000. Teams representing 198 national football associations from all six...

.

2007—present: Reformation of the band

Although Benaissa was preparing her second studio album for a February 2007 release, involving production by German producer
Record producer
A record producer is an individual working within the music industry, whose job is to oversee and manage the recording of an artist's music...

s Audiotreats, DJ Desue, Loomis Green, MRF Entertainment, and Monroe among others, she decided to postpone the release in favour of a reunion of the No Angels
No Angels
The No Angels are an all-female pop trio from Germany, consisting of band members Lucy Diakovska, Sandy Mölling, and Jessica Wahls. Critically acclaimed, the band has won dozen of awards and prizes since their establishment in the early 2000s, including three ECHOs, a World Music Awards, a NRJ...

 in early 2007. However, as all four band members had settled on the continuation of solo projects, Benaissa entered Berlin recording studios in January 2008 to record fifteen new demo songs
Demo (music)
A demo version or demo of a song is one recorded for reference rather than for release. A demo is a way for a musician to approximate their ideas on tape or disc, and provide an example of those ideas to record labels, producers or other artists...

, including material she already penned in 2003. According to her MySpace
MySpace
Myspace is a social networking service owned by Specific Media LLC and pop star Justin Timberlake. Myspace launched in August 2003 and is headquartered in Beverly Hills, California. In August 2011, Myspace had 33.1 million unique U.S. visitors....

 blog
Blog
A blog is a type of website or part of a website supposed to be updated with new content from time to time. Blogs are usually maintained by an individual with regular entries of commentary, descriptions of events, or other material such as graphics or video. Entries are commonly displayed in...

, she finished the album recordings with a second session in March 2008.

In May 2010, No Angels began their five-date acoustic "An Intimate Evening With" tour in Munich, their first concert tour in eight years. Benaissa did not take part in the tour as she had called in sick a week before, prompting the remaining trio to re-arrange their set at the last minute. In September 2010, after months of speculation, the singer announced via MySpace
MySpace
Myspace is a social networking service owned by Specific Media LLC and pop star Justin Timberlake. Myspace launched in August 2003 and is headquartered in Beverly Hills, California. In August 2011, Myspace had 33.1 million unique U.S. visitors....

 that she had quit the band for good, leaving the No Angels as a trio. In her statement, Banaissa claimed she felt that she had become bigger than the group, stating: "The scandal, the trial – they were overwhelmed by it [...] They'll be fine without me."

Also in September 2010, Benaissa released her biography Alles wird gut, written by Tinka Dippel.

Personal life

Benaissa gave birth to a daughter in 1999.
Benaissa was diagnosed with HIV when she was 17 during a routine screening after she became pregnant.
She was in a relationship for a long time with Senegalese footballer of French
France
The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...

 citizenship Abdou Mbodji.

Criminal allegations

On 11 April 2009, Benaissa was arrested on suspicion of having had unprotected intercourse on several occasions in 2004 and 2006 without beforehand informing her partners that she is HIV-positive, allegedly infecting one partner with HIV. She was remanded into custody, after a judge ruled there was a danger she might repeat the alleged offence, but eventually released on 21 April 2009, subject to unnamed conditions.

On 12 February 2010 she was charged with causing bodily harm, an offence carrying a sentence of six months to ten years imprisonment. On 16 August 2010 she admitted in court to having had unprotected sex without telling her partners she was HIV positive, but denied deliberately causing any infection. Benaissa had unprotected sex with three men between 2000 and 2004. One of her partners became infected with HIV. The victim found out that Benaissa has HIV after speaking with her aunt. He later got tested and found that he had contracted the virus. On 26 August 2010, she was found guilty on one count of causing grievous bodily harm and two of attempted bodily harm and was given a 2-year suspended sentence.

Albums

Year Title Chart positions
GER
Germany
Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...


AT
Austria
Austria , officially the Republic of Austria , is a landlocked country of roughly 8.4 million people in Central Europe. It is bordered by the Czech Republic and Germany to the north, Slovakia and Hungary to the east, Slovenia and Italy to the south, and Switzerland and Liechtenstein to the...


2006 Schritt für Schritt
Schritt Für Schritt
Schritt für Schritt is the debut solo album by German pop singer Nadja Benaissa, released by Universal Music/Urban on February 24, 2006 . Written and recorded after a break from the group No Angels, it signaled Benaissa's efforts to craft a solo career in music...

71

Singles

Year Title Chart positions Album
GER
Germany
Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...


AT
Austria
Austria , officially the Republic of Austria , is a landlocked country of roughly 8.4 million people in Central Europe. It is bordered by the Czech Republic and Germany to the north, Slovakia and Hungary to the east, Slovenia and Italy to the south, and Switzerland and Liechtenstein to the...


2005 "Es Ist Liebe" 64 Schritt für Schritt
2006 "Ich Hab Dich" 36

Appearances

Year Song Featured release
2001 "Liebe & Verstand" (Sisters Keepers
Brothers Keepers
Brothers Keepers is a German-based transnational anti-racism project, bringing together hip hop, reggae and soul musicians, headed primarily by Afro-Germans.-History:...

 project)
Lightkultur
2005 "Know Your Emotion" Emotion magazine theme song
2006 "Won't Forget These Days" (Music Team Germany project) Charity CD single
2007 "Dirty Dancing" (DJ Sakin & Friends
DJ Sakin
DJ Sakin is a Turkish-German dance music producer, remixer and DJ. Bozkurt started producing music and DJing in 1990....

 featuring Nadja Benaissa)
Vinyl single
"Unlock My Chains" (Superlounger featuring Nadja Benaissa) Islands Vol. 04
2008 "Mein Jahr" (Fler
Fler
Patrick Losensky better known as Fler, is a German rapper. He also uses the pseudonym Frank White after the character in King of New York....

 featuring Nadja Benaissa)
Fremd im eigenen Land
"Schüffelma" (Skit Sketch featuring Nadja Benaissa) Kennsduskitsketwarumnich?
2009 "Wir sind keine Kinder mehr" (Samy Deluxe
Samy Deluxe
Samy Sorge , commonly known as Samy Deluxe, Wickeda MC or Sam Semillia is a German rapper, and hip hop artist from Hamburg. He is one of Germany's most successful solo rap musicians while also releasing albums as a member of two separate crews, Dynamite Deluxe and ASD...

 featuring N. Benaissa & Xavier Naidoo
Xavier Naidoo
Xavier Kurt Naidoo is a German singer-songwriter, record producer and occasional actor. Born and raised in Mannheim, Naidoo worked in several jobs in the gastronomy and the musical industry before relocating to the United States in the early 1990s, where he released his first full-length English...

)
Diss wo ich herkomm

External links

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