Dec. 2: German singer and actress Yvonne Catterfeld is 31 today.

Yvonne was born in Erfurt, Thuringia, then in East Germany, in 1979. At the age of 15 she started playing the piano and the flute, while also taking dance and vocal lessons.

After high school,she studied Pop and Jazz at the Felix Mendelssohn College of Music and Theatre in Leipzig for two years. In 1998 she released her first recordings titled KIV, but the seven songs generated little interest.

Yvonne participated in the singing contest Stimme 2000 (briefly performing under the name Vivianne), where she met manager and later BMG boss Thomas Stein, who offered her a recording contract.  In 2001 she released her first official single, "Bum," did not sell well, but her following three single "Komm zurück zu mir," "Niemand sonst" and "Gefühle" helped to grow her popularity.

In 2002 she became part of popular German soap opera Gute Zeiten, schlechte Zeiten, where she portrayed the role of Julia Blum until 2005. Thanks, in part by her TV presence, Yvonne found success with her fourth single produced by Dieter Bohlen Für dich, which went to #1 of the German, Austrian and Swiss singles charts.

Her first album Meine Welt was also successful and was certified Platinum. One year later she was able to duplicate her success with "Du hast mein Herz gebrochen" and her second album Farben meiner Welt.

(Continued below video and CDs and DVDs...)

 

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In November 2005 Catterfeld became the leading actress in the historical telenovela Sophie – Braut Wider Willen. However, the show did not meet expectations and ended in March 2006 after only 65 episodes.

At the same time Yvonne released her first single in English, "Where Does The Love Go?" a collaboration with singer Eric Benét.

 

In 2006, Catterfeld released her fourth studio album, Aura.

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