Vanessa Petruo
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| Vanessa Petruo | ||
|---|---|---|
 Promotional picture (2005)
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| Background information | ||
| Birth name | Vanessa Anneliese Petruo | |
| Also known as | Vany | |
| Born | October 23, 1979 | |
| Origin | Berlin, Germany | |
| Genre(s) | Pop, Rock, Funk | |
| Occupation(s) | Singer, songwriter, actress | |
| Years active | 2000-2003 (group) 2004 - present (solo) |
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| Label(s) | Cheyenne / Polydor (2003-2004) Universal Island (2005-present) |
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| Associated acts |
No Angels | |
| Website | Official site | |
Vanessa Anneliese Petruo (born October 23, 1979 in Berlin, Germany) is a German singer, songwriter and actress, who rose to fame as a member of the girl group No Angels.
Contents |
[edit] Biography
[edit] Early life
Petruo is the eldest of three siblings born a German father, Thomas Petruo, and a Peruvian mother, Mercedes. She was raised in Berlin next to her brother Jan-Alexander and her sister Priszilla. Due to her father's work as a professional actor and her grand-father's prominence as a famous radio show host, Vanessa started singing, acting and synchronizing movies at the age of seven. In her teenage years she made several appearances on German television, while gaining experiences in music with own bands and first professional song recordings. After her high school graduation Vanessa applied herself to study but due to a quick lack of interest she left university and made internships at both MTV Germany and news channel N24.
[edit] No Angels
By a fortunate coincidence Petruo decided to audition for the 2000 debut of the German reality television program Popstars. She entered the competition with thousands of other women, and the judges Simone Angel, Rainer Moslener and Mario M. Mendryzcki were impressed with her performance of Bill Withers' hit single "Ain't No Sunshine". She earned a position in the top thirty finalists and immediately travelled to Mallorca, Spain to join her competitors for a workshop there. In the end Petruo made it to the final ten on the show, and during a special episode in November 2000, jury member Moslener disclosed that Petruo was chosen to become part of the final girl group, later called No Angels.
With the final five members of the band in place, Popstars continued tracking the development and struggles of the No Angels. However, it took another four months until the band released "Daylight (In Your Eyes)", a partial cover of Victoria Faiella's unreleased 2000 single, which would subsequently appear on the band's debut album Elle'ments. Both the single and the album became an unexpected but major success, beating new records, when both peaked at #1 on the German, Austrian, and Swiss singles, airplay and albums charts - all at the same time.
In the following years the band released another two #1 studio albums (Now ... Us! and Pure), a Live album and a successful Swing album (When The Angels Swing). Altogether the albums spawned twelve singles - including four number 1 singles and ten Top 10 hits -, making the No Angels the most successful European girl group of their era with a final amount of more than 5 million sold copies.
On September 5, 2003 the four resting members (now without Jessica) 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 in November of the same year marked the end of the band, whose members each went their separate ways. While some decided to go for motherhood or musical and television careers, Vanessa Petruo planned to take a longer vacation.
[edit] Solo career
In spring 2004, however, Petruo was the first Ex-No Angel to launch music as a solo artist. From now on performing under her nickname Vany, she released her first self-written solo single, "Dramaqueen", which became a moderate success on the airplay charts and eventually peaked at #11 on the German singles chart. A video for a second single called "Pop that Melody", produced by Mousse T, was filmed but the release of the track was soon cancelled without any reason. Vanessa instead worked as a simple employee for her record company Polydor for a couple of month.
Thereupon Petruo also spend time on synchronizing movies (including Lilo & Stitch and Back To Gaya) and acting, most noticeably as a member of the main cast of Wilde Engel, a TV action series affected by Charlie's Angels which was broadcasted in April 2005.
After a sudden label change to Universal Records Vanessa released her second single "Hot Blooded Woman", followed-up by her critically acclaimed but minor succeeded first solo album Mama Lilla Would in November 2005.
Currently, Petruo is working on her sophomore studio album which is scheduled for an early 2007 release. In fall 2006 she will star alongside Jürgen Vogel, and Alexandra Maria Lara in the motion picture Wo Ist Fred?!.
[edit] Discography
[edit] Albums
- Mama Lilla Would (2005) #135 GER
- TBA (2007)
[edit] Singles
| Year | Title | Chart Positions | Album | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| GER Singles | AT Singles | CH Singles | |||
| 2004 | "Dramaqueen" | #11 | #35 | #88 | (Non-album release) |
| 2005 | "Hot Blooded Woman" | #59 | - | - | Mama Lilla Would |
[edit] Filmography
- Gute Zeiten, Schlechte Zeiten (1998) (TV)
- Der Kleine Eisbär (voice) (2001)
- Lilo & Stitch (voice) (2002)
- SOKO 5113 (2003) (TV)
- Back To Gaya (voice) (2004)
- Der Wixxer (cameo) (2004)
- Wilde Engel (2005) (TV)
- Special (2006) (in post-production)
