ARTIST PROFILE

Christina Klein (born December 9, 1990), better known by her stage name LaFee, is a German singer/songwriter who has sold more than 1 million albums worldwide. She is best known as the lead singer of LaFee and she is most famous in mainland Europe, particularly in German-speaking countries.

Biography

Early life

Klein was born in Stolberg in the district of Aachen, Nordrhein-Westfalen. Her father, Bernd Klein, is German while her mother, Keriakoulla, is Greek. She is the younger of two children. Her older brother is called Andreas.

At the age of nine, she began sending out demo tapes to television shows leading her to perform on three of them. She participated in Kiddy Contest, an Austrian children's TV singing competition, in September 2004 at the age of thirteen, performing "Handy", a parody of Barry Manilow's "Mandy". It was this television appearance, that lead to her being discovered by German music producer Bob Arnz. And then she worked on her first album.

Career

LaFee (2005-2006)

Lafee's first single "Virus" was released in 2006 from her debut album LaFee. LaFee was supported since the start of her career by the magazines "Bravo" and Sener's "Viva". "Virus" reached fourteen on both the German and Austrian singles charts and her second single, "Prinzesschen" (Little Princess), reached eleven on the German charts. "Was ist das" and " Mitternacht" was charted in the German and Austria charts too.

Jetzt Erst Recht (2007)

She released her second album, Jetzt erst recht ()on July 6, 2007, and the album's lead single, "Heul doch"(Keep Crying), in 2007. Shortly afterwards "Heul doch" was translated into English as "Shut Up" for her third studio album. The song reached the German top 10. The album "Jetzt erst recht" charted in the Italian Albums Chart at #94 and the French Albums Chart at #79. It went Platinum in Germany and Gold in Austria. Her acting debut was on Nina's World which was broadcast from November 2006 until the spring of 2007. Later she made an appearance on German soap Gute Zeiten, Schlechten Zeiten. Her biggest gig was on 31 December 2006 New Year's Eve at the Brandenburg Gate, with more than one million viewers. On 25 August 2007 Klein had a gig as part of the open-air events at the Brandenburg gate in front of 119,000 people. The second single was "Beweg dein Arsch" which peacked at #21 on the German charts. On 16 November 2007, the third single was "Wer bin ich" which reached #25 on the German singles chart and #41 on the Austrian singles chart. In addition, she has received the Echo award for "Best Singer Female", Bravo Gold Otto for "Best Pop Female Singer" and the Jetix Kids' Award for "Best Solo Act". The album was also re-released as a "Bravo" special edition with bonus songs on 27 November 2008.

Shut Up (2008)

Shut Up, which was released in 2008.The album "Shut up" is her first English album. It includes songs from the album "LaFee" and "Jetzt erst recht" in English. The first single was "Shut up" is the English version of "Heul Doch". The single "Shut up" but could be placed only in the German single charts at number 93, and is thus the weakest single by LaFee. The album, however, with more than 100,000 copies at the time was also the weakest LaFee album.The album reached #21 the German album charts at #31 on the Austrian album charts. The song "Shut up" was first performed on May 30, 2008, at the music festival "The Dome".

Ring frei (2008)

Lafee's first single, "Ring frei" (Clear The Ring), from her fourth studio album, Ring frei, was released on November 21, 2008 and reached twenty two in Germany. The album Ring frei was released in Germany on January 2, 2009 and reached #6 on the German album charts, #21 on the Swiss album charts and #5 on the Austrian album charts. The album has also received gold status in Austria. She went to 2009 on a tour through Germany, Austria and Switzerland. After the promotion of the Tour and she took a break for the first time briefly.

Best Of - LaFee (2009-Present)

LaFee's first greatest hits collection, Best Of - LaFee, was released in November 2009. The album is available as day edition with one CD and as night edition with two CDs. A re-recorded version of "Der Regen fällt", which originally appeared on her second studio album, Jetzt erst recht, was released as the lead single of the compilation. The song managed only ranked 94, the German charts. In Austria and Switzerland, there was not even in the charts. LaFee left her manager Bob Arnz. Her musicians left the group in December 2009 with an announcement on their websites to form a new project, due to different musical orientations. She is now produced by Jörg Fischer.

Discography

Studio albums

• LaFee (2006), Capitol Records/EMI
• Jetzt erst recht (2007), Capitol Records/EMI
• Shut Up (2008), Capitol Records/EMI
• Ring frei (2009), Capitol Records/EMI

Compilation albums

• Best Of - LaFee (2009), Capitol Records/EMI

Touring

• 2006: Das Erste Mal Tour
• 2007: Lass Mich Frei Tour
• 2007: Jetzt Erst Recht Tour
• 2008: Birthday Tour
• 2009: Ring Frei Tour

Other

• July 4, 2007: Book LaFee Das erste Mal from Michael Fuchs-Gamböck and Thorsten Schatz
• July 11, 2007: Bravo-LaFee-Special#1

Filmografie

• 2006–2007: Ninas Welt
• 2008: Gute Zeiten, schlechte Zeiten

Awards

• 2008
  • Echo award for Best Singer Female
  • Bravo Gold-Otto for Best Pop Singer Female
  • Jetix Kids' Award for Best Solo Act
• 2007
  • Echo award for Best Singer Female
  • Echo award for Best Newcomer Female
  • Bravo Silver-Otto for Best Pop Singer Female
  • Goldene Stimmgabel
  • Kids' Choice Award for Favourite Singer
  • Jetix Kids' Award for Hottest Singer