Cassandra Steen

Cassandra Steen (born 9 February 1980) is a German singer who rose to fame as the lead singer of the pop/soul trio Glashaus. After a series of commercially successful releases with the group, she released her moderately successful solo debut album Seele mit Herz in 2003 and has been active as both a solo artist and as part of Glashaus since.

Biography Early life and career Steen is an only child born to a German mother and an African-American father in Ostfildern-Ruit near Stuttgart, Germany in 1980.

In 1997, Steen's demo tape got into the hands of a befriended producer, who passed it to an up-and-coming hip hop group, he was working with: Freundeskreis. Impressed by her voice, Steen was invited to contribute backing vocals to the trio's 1997 debut album Quadratur des Kreises, gaining her first official feature credit on their collaboration "Telefonterror". The following year she appeared in Freundeskreis' music video for their single "Wenn der Vorhang fällt" and accompanied the band on their first tour throughout German-speaking Europe. Due to musical differences she soon asked for a release however. The album's same-titled lead single reached number six on the German Singles Chart and was chosen to represent Baden-Württemberg on the 5th Bundesvision Song Contest where Steen finished fourth with 103 points. The second single "Stadt", a collaboration with Ich + Ich singer Adel Tawil, was released to even greater success, reaching number two in Germany and the top five in Austria. It eventually became the fourth biggest-selling single of 2009 in Germany.

Also in 2009, Steen voiced the character Tiana in the German dub of Disney's 49th animated feature The Princess and the Frog. "Never Knew I Needed", a duet with original singer Ne-Yo, was the first single to be lifted from the accompanying soundtrack.

In 2011, her third album Mir so nah (2011) was released. It produced the top 30 single "Tanz" and was followed by her 2014 album Spiegelbild. A prominent featured vocalist, Steen's discography also includes the hit singles "Hoffnung stirbt zuletzt" with rapper Bushido, "Eines Tages" with rapper Azad, and the duet "Unter die Haut" with singer Tim Bendzko.

In 2016, Steen re-joined Glashaus. The following year, she appeared alongside band mate Moses Pelham on the German reality television series Sing meinen Song – Das Tauschkonzert.

Personal life Steen holds both German and American citizenship.

She married her manager Stéphan Kocijan in December 2013. 2020 she was divorced.

Discography

Studio albums Seele mit Herz (2003) Darum leben wir (2009) Mir so nah (2011) Spiegelbild (2014) Der Weihnachtsgedanke (2020)