Beate Baumgartner (born 9 May 1983), also known as "Yola B", is an

Austrian Austrian may refer to: * Austrians, someone from Austria or of Austrian descent ** Someone who is considered an Austrian citizen, see Austrian nationality law * Austrian German dialect * Something associated with the country Austria, for example: ...

Namibia Namibia (, ), officially the Republic of Namibia, is a country in Southern Africa. Its western border is the Atlantic Ocean. It shares land borders with Zambia and Angola to the north, Botswana to the east and South Africa to the south and ea ...

n singer. She was born in

Windhoek Windhoek (, , ) is the capital and largest city of Namibia. It is located in central Namibia in the Khomas Highland plateau area, at around above sea level, almost exactly at the country's geographical centre. The population of Windhoek in 20 ...

, South-West Africa (now Namibia), and gained her initial fame by participating in the talent show '' Starmania'' in 2002–3. She subsequently joined

Parov Stelar Marcus Füreder (born 27 November 1974), better known by his stage name Parov Stelar, is an Austrian musician, composer, Record producer, producer, DJ and designer. His musical style is based on a combination of jazz, House music, house, Electr ...

's electro-swing band, which formed in 2005. From 2008 to 2009 she sang with another electro-rock Band, Monilla, and is featured on their 2008 album, ''Hello World – Chapter 1''. In 2015 she joined Romany band DelaDap. The daughter of an Austrian father and a Namibian mother, she attended the German Higher Private School Windhoek, where she began acting and singing. Her mother is the actress Mara Baumgartner, who starred in the prize-winning 2015 film ''

Katutura Katutura (Otjiherero for ''The place where people do not want to live'') is a township of Windhoek, Khomas Region, Namibia. Katutura was created in 1961 following the forced removal of Windhoek's black population from the Old Location, which af ...

''. After relocating to

Graz Graz (; sl, Gradec) is the capital city of the Austrian state of Styria and second-largest city in Austria after Vienna. As of 1 January 2021, it had a population of 331,562 (294,236 of whom had principal-residence status). In 2018, the popul ...

, Austria, as a teenager, she worked for

Greenpeace Greenpeace is an independent global campaigning network, founded in Canada in 1971 by Irving Stowe and Dorothy Stowe, immigrant environmental activists from the United States. Greenpeace states its goal is to "ensure the ability of the Earth t ...

and the

World Wide Fund for Nature The World Wide Fund for Nature Inc. (WWF) is an international non-governmental organization founded in 1961 that works in the field of wilderness preservation and the reduction of human impact on the environment. It was formerly named the Wor ...

, and passed up on the opportunity to attend university in order to further her singing career. Having finished sixth in ''Starmania'', she was featured on the 2003 album ''Starmania: Best of Duets'', distributed by Universal, performing the track " Something Stupid", with Michael Tschuggnall.

Discography

Albums * 2008: ''Hello World – Chapter 1'' (with Monilla) Collaborations * 2009: ''Coco'' (Parov Stelar Band), on the track "Dandy" * 2009: ''Midnight Rendezvous'' ( Mike Rigler EP), on the track "Heroes (feat. Yola B)" * 2014: ''Listen up'' ( DelaDap) Singles * 2003: ''Shosholoza'' * 2008: ''Monilla: 2nd Life'' * 2014: "Skyrocket" (with DelaDap)

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Baumgartner, Beate 1983 births 21st-century Austrian women singers 21st-century Namibian women singers Living people People from Windhoek