Vanessa Mai: All information about the German pop singer – her career and greatest hits
Created: 2022-02-04 15:56
Pop singer Vanessa Mai © Jens Kalaene / dpa
Pop singer Vanessa Mai gained her first stage experience at the age of seven.
Her great career began in the band Wolkenfrei.
As a solo singer, she has now released seven studio albums and 30 singles.
She can also be seen in various TV formats and made her acting debut in a feature film.
Backnang – Pop singer Vanessa Mai was born on May 2, 1992 under the real name Vanessa Marija Else Mandekić.
She gained greater fame as a member of the Schlager band Wolkenfrei.
Since its dissolution she has been working as a solo artist.
Her stage name goes back to the month of her birth.
Pop singer Vanessa Mai – overview of her CV
Vanessa Mai came into contact with music and the stage early on.
Her father is also a musician and she accompanied him on the tambourine when he was seven years old.
At the age of ten she had her first singing appearances, where she performed the titles "Schuld war nur der Bossa Nova" and "Er geht zu mir".
In 2008, at the age of 15, Vanessa Mai took part in the Hip Hop World Championships in Las Vegas.
She was a member of the dance formation Getting Craz'd.
Vanessa Mai graduated from a secondary school.
She then completed an apprenticeship as a media designer.
In the summer of 2012, the pop singer received an offer that should get her career rolling.
Heike Wanner, the singer of the Wolkenfrei at the time, left the band for health reasons.
Marc Fischer, another member of the band, recruited Vanessa Mai as the new singer.
This agreed and in July 2013 the first single "Jeans, T-Shirt and Freedom" was released.
The accompanying debut album "Endlos Lieben" was released in February 2014 and entered the album charts in all German-speaking countries.
In April 2015, both Marc Fischer and Stefan Kinski left the band, leaving only Vanessa Mai.
Pop singer Vanessa Mai – start of her career
The departure of the two bandmates marked the beginning of Vanessa Mai's career as a solo artist.
She released the single "Wolke 7" on May 22, 2015, followed by the accompanying album.
Shortly before its release, Deutsche Musik Fernsehen showed a 65-minute report about Vanessa Mai and the album, which was released on July 10 of the same year.
Several TV appearances followed - and this TV presence ensured that the album "Wachgeküsst" reached position seven in the German album charts and was also on the hit lists in Austria and Switzerland.
It was Vanessa Mai's first top ten placement.
On October 9, 2015, the pop singer's live album "Wake Up - Live from the Parktheater Augsburg" was released.
In February 2016, Vanessa Mai finally decided to no longer appear under the name of Wolkenfrei.
Shortly thereafter she took part in the Schlager event series "The Best of the Festival Tour".
For 34 evenings she was on stage alongside Ross Antony, Michelle, Feuerherz, Florian Silbereisen and DJ Ötzi.
Her third studio album "Für Dich" was also released during this time.
This was produced by Dieter Bohlen.
Vanessa Mai's first solo tour followed with 25 concerts in Germany, Austria and Switzerland.
On July 18, 2017 she released her first best-of album.
However, that could only be purchased as a download from the Tchibo website and in its branches, since the compilation was published by the retail company.
Pop singer Vanessa Mai – more albums
In the summer of 2017, Vanessa Mai released her fourth studio album "Regenbogen".
The album became her most successful chart album to date - it reached number one in Germany and number two in Austria and Switzerland.
In April 2018, Vanessa Mai started her "rainbow" tour, which was overshadowed by an accident on her part and a bomb threat.
In 2018, Vanessa Mai collaborated with the German-Ukrainian rapper Olexesh for her next album.
He uploaded a video to his Instagram account and asked the singer for a collaboration.
Vanessa Mai responded to this on the same day with a commitment and only three days later the two were in the studio together.
The joint single became Vanessa Mai's most successful single to date.
At the end of 2018, the singer made a guest appearance on Alan Walker's tour.
In Munich's Zenith she took over the vocals on the song "Faded".
This was followed by more singles from Vanessa Mai's side.
The music video for the song "Have you ever" - the fourth pre-single from her next album - shows the wedding of Vanessa Mai and her husband Andreas Ferber.
On May 16, 2020, Vanessa Mai represented Croatia at the Free European Song Contest.
She sang a re-recording of "Highlight" with new Croatian lyrics.
In early 2015, she became the face of the "My heart beats hits" campaign.
She advertised the campaign in a commercial.
She also recorded the song of the same name "Mein Herz Schlager".
It was released on a sampler belonging to the project.
She continuously produces new albums, singles and makes collaborations.
Her current album will be released in 2021.
Pop singer Vanessa Mai – TV and other projects
The pop singer can also be seen on television from time to time in various projects.
From January to May 2016, Vanessa Mai was part of the jury for the 13th season of "Deutschland sucht den Superstar".
In 2017 she was a participant in "Let's Dance" and took second place there.
In 2018, a guest appearance on the RTL show "Freundinnen - now especially." In 2019, Vanessa Mai was part of the KiKa songwriting competition "Your Song".
Here musicians can be seen as godparents alongside young songwriters.
Vanessa Mai supported Raphaela Gouromichou from Aalen in the format.
The 12-year-old girl, along with her godmother, recorded the song "I see the angel in you," which she wrote for her mother.
They got second place.
In November of the same year, she defeated Luna Schweiger in "Schlag den Star".
In 2020 she made her acting debut in the feature film "Only with you together".
She has been moderating the talk show "On Mai Way" since November 2020 and her fitness program "Mai Fit" started in January 2021.
Pop singer Vanessa Mai – her greatest hits and discography
Vanessa Mai's biggest hit in Germany, Austria and Switzerland is "Happy End" from 2021. The song stayed in the charts for six weeks.
The most successful album to date has been "Für Dich".
It stayed in the charts for 55 weeks, peaking at number four.
The pop singer has released a total of seven studio albums so far:
2014: Endlessly in love
2015: Kissed Awake
2016: For you
2017: Rainbow
2018: Hit
2020: Forever
2021: Mai Tai
Her discography also includes two live albums, 30 singles, 30 music videos and three video albums.
She appeared as a guest musician on four singles.
Pop singer Vanessa Mai – her family
Vanessa Mai's father Marino is a native Croatian.
From him she inherited both her middle-class surname and her talent for music.
Marino Mandekić is himself a member of a band.
Through him Vanessa got to know the stage and show life, gained first experiences and liked it.
The pop singer has been married to Andreas Ferber since 2017.
This is a stepson of Andrea Berg.
The two have been a couple since 2013.
Vanessa Mai particularly appreciates his calmness and reliability as well as the trust he puts in her.
They live in Backnang in Baden-Württemberg.
Vanessa Mai has a very good relationship with her in-laws.