Vanessa Petruo

Vanessa Anneliese Petruo-Zink (born 23 October 1979) is a German former singer, songwriter, actress and television personality. Born and raised in Berlin within a family of actors, she had minor roles in television and as a voice actress before she rose to fame as one of the members of the girl group No Angels, which were formed in 2000 on the German television talent show Popstars, becoming one of the best-selling girl groups of European origin of all time.

Following her departure, Petruo scored a top 20 hit with her solo debut single "Drama Queen" and released her only solo album, Mama Lilla Would (2005) to major critical but minor commercial success. In addition, she lent her voice to several animation films such as Dr. Dolittle 2 (2001), Lilo & Stitch (2002), and Boo, Zino & the Snurks (2004) and starred in the RTL action series Wilde Engel as well as the comedy film Where Is Fred? (2006). While she continued working as a songwriter throughout the late 2000s, further musical projects failed to materialize, and she retired from the recording business in favor of an academic career.

Early life Petruo was born on 23 October 1979 in West Berlin. Her mother Mercedes, a Spanish-Peruvian, owned a salsa nightclub in Berlin-Charlottenburg, and her father Thomas Petruo (1956–2018) was a radio host and actor, best known as the German voice of Plankton in SpongeBob SquarePants and Biff Tannen in Back to the Future. Petruo has two younger siblings, Jon Alexander and Priszilla.

Career 2000–2003: Popstars and No Angels

In 2000, Petruo auditioned for German reality television program Popstars. She entered the competition with thousands of other women, and the judges Simone Angel, Rainer Moslener and Mario M. Mendrzycki were impressed with her performance of Bill Withers' hit single "Ain't No Sunshine". She earned a position in the top 30 finalists and 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, along with Nadja Benaissa, Lucy Diakovska, Sandy Mölling and Jessica Wahls. The five signed a record contract with Polydor Records.

No Angels released their debut single "Daylight in Your Eyes" on 5 February 2001. The song topped the Austrian, German and Swiss Singles Charts, making it one of the most successful debuts of the year. The album Elle'ments mirrored the success of "Daylight in Your Eyes", selling one million units and earning triple platinum and septuplicate gold certifications. The second album Now... Us! followed the success of Elle'ments, and included the single "Something About Us", written by Petruo. Incorporating autobiographical features, it was inspired by Petruo's experiences with the media the year before. "I recalled the past year, the good and the bad times, and I built my own personal resume", she stated.

In the following years, the band released four more albums, including the number 1 charting studio albums Now... Us! and Pure, a live album and a successful swing album title When the Angels Swing.

Altogether the albums spawned twelve singles, including four number 1 singles and ten top 10 hits, making No Angels the most successful European girl group of their era with more than 5 million singles and albums sold.

On 5 September 2003, the group 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, Petruo planned to take a longer vacation.

No Angels announced a reunion on 31 January 2007, however Petruo declined to join the other four due to focusing on her solo career.

2003–2009: Solo career

Petruo became the first member of No Angels to launch a career as a solo artist. In April 2004, she released her first single "Drama Queen", co-written along with No Angels collaborators Thorsten Brötzmann and Alexander Geringas, under her nickname Vany. A moderate commercial success, the uptempo song peaked at number eleven on the German Singles Chart.

Discography Studio albums Title Album details Peak positions GER AUT SWI Mama Lilla Would Released: 25 November 2005 Label: Universal Island Formats: CD, digital download — — —

Singles Title Year Peak positions Album GER AUT SWI "Drama Queen" 2004 11 35 88 "Hot Blooded Woman" 2005 59 — — Mama Lilla Would"Break My Wings" "—" denotes a recording that did not chart or was not released in that territory.

Filmography + Film Title Year Role Notes Pet Sematary 1989 Ellie Creed (Voice) Dubbed German version Good Times, Bad Times 1998 Unknown (TV) Gute Zeiten, schlechte Zeiten Behind Bars – The Women's Prison 2002 Astrid (TV) Hinter Gittern – Der Frauenknast The Little Polar Bear 2001 Manili (Voice) Der kleine Eisbär Dr. Dolittle 2 2001 Ava / Girl Bear (Voice) Dubbed German version Lilo & Stitch 2002 Nani (Voice) Dubbed German version SOKO 5113 2003 Mariza (TV) Boo, Zino & the Snurks 2004 Alanta (Voice) Back to Gaya 3 Wild Angels 2005 Rebecca (TV) Where Is Fred? 2005 Julia Wo ist Fred?