Joy Denalane was the third child and oldest daughter born to both a German mother and a South African father in Berlin-Schöneberg in 1973. A little later on the family moved to Kreuzberg where Joy spent her childhood with her five siblings.

At the age of 16 she left home and started focusing on music with first stage performances and the joining of the Reggae and Soul bands Culture Roots and Family Affair. At 19 she was signed to a major pop label but unfortunately both the singer and the management weren't able to pass an unanimous resolution when it came to the conception of music and image and Joy soon asked for a release. Afterwards she moved to Stuttgart where she met DJ Thomilla and Tiefschwarz (two already well-known producers then) with whom she co-wrote and produced the club hit "Music".

Around the same time Joy came in first contact with Hip-Hop group Freundeskreis, who searched for a female counterpart to lead singer Max Herre's voice on their track "Mit Dir" then. However, the duet was used as a single in summer 1999 and became a top 10 hit in Germany, Austria and Switzerland - pushed by the fact Denalane and Herre had become a couple simultaneously.

Afterwards Joy joined the FK Allstars, which also consisted of Afrob, Gentleman, Sekou and Brooke Russell among others, and went on tour with them for more than two years. Later on she signed a contract with Four Music (the label of Die Fantastischen Vier) and began working on her debut album Mamani, which was released in June 2002 and debuted at #8 on the German album charts. Inspired by African roots, the CD was primarily produced by husband Max Herre. In total Mamani spawned six singles, including first single "Sag's Mir", the socially critical track "Im Ghetto von Soweto" and "Kinderlied", a song dedicated to her oldest son Isaiah.

In 2003 Denalane went on a solo tour and finished collaborations with Youssou N'Dour, ASD and Till Brönner. She also performed in New York and Philadelphia for the first time and eventually received a Comet for "Best Hip-Hop/R&B National" and three ECHO nominations, including "Best Female Artist". Soon after she released a Live Edition of Mamani on CD and DVD, which was recorded during a special performance in Berlin's Tränenpalast and involved a set of previously unreleased remakes. In summer 2005 Denalane contributed vocals to the German version of Common's single "Go!".

In April 2006 Joy and husband Max founded their own label Nesola Records. Simultaneously Denalane prepared the released of her sophomore album Born & Raised, her first record in English language. Pre-programmed in Germany, the album was entirely recorded in Philadelphia and featured appearances by U.S. rappers Lupe Fiasco, Raekwon and Governor. While its lead single "Let Go" reached a moderately successful number #40 on the German singles charts, critically-acclaimed Born & Raised (released on August 11, 2006) debuted at #2 on the national albums charts.

Recently, Joy Denalane finished filming the music video for her next single "Heaven or Hell" in Atlanta and Berlin. In September 2006 she collaborated with Scott Lawton and the Deutsches Filmorchester Babelsberg in Potsdam's Nikolaisaal.

(from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia)