Jacqueline Zebisch (born 18 June 1984), known professionally as Ella Endlich, is a German singer who also performed as Junia as a teenager. Best known for her song "Küss mich, halt mich, lieb mich", which is based on the title song of the film ''

Tři oříšky pro Popelku ''Tři oříšky pro Popelku'' ("Three Little Nuts for Cinderella"; known in German as ''Drei Haselnüsse für Aschenbrödel'', "Three Hazelnuts for Cinderella"; also called in English ''Three Wishes for Cinderella'' or ''Three Gifts for Cinder ...

'', she participated in the national final for the

Eurovision Song Contest 2016 The Eurovision Song Contest 2016 was the 61st edition of the Eurovision Song Contest. It took place in Stockholm, Sweden, following the country's victory at the with the song "Heroes" by Måns Zelmerlöw. Organised by the European Broadcasting ...

Career

1984–2009: Early life and career beginnings

Ella Endlich was born in

Weimar Weimar is a city in the state of Thuringia, Germany. It is located in Central Germany between Erfurt in the west and Jena in the east, approximately southwest of Leipzig, north of Nuremberg and west of Dresden. Together with the neighbouri ...

. She is the daughter of songwriter and record producer Norbert Endlich. In 1989, she moved with her family to

West Berlin West Berlin (german: Berlin (West) or , ) was a political enclave which comprised the western part of Berlin during the years of the Cold War. Although West Berlin was de jure not part of West Germany, lacked any sovereignty, and was under mi ...

. At age 10, she sang for the first time in a recording studio at the

Hansa Tonstudio Hansa Tonstudio is a recording studio located in the Kreuzberg district of Berlin, Germany. The studio, famous for its Meistersaal recording hall, is situated approximately 150 metres from the former Berlin Wall, giving rise to its former nickna ...

s and was hired as a background vocalist for the ''

ZDF-Hitparade The ''ZDF-Hitparade'', or ''Hitparade'' for short, by German TV channel ZDF, was one of the most popular and most well-known music television series presenting mostly German Schlager. From 1969 to 1984 the presenter was Dieter Thomas Heck. The ...

''. During her schooldays, she took dancing and singing lessons and also filmed various videos with her own choreographies for the television channel

VIVA Viva may refer to: Companies and organisations * Viva (network operator), a Dominican mobile network operator * Viva Air, a Spanish airline taken over by flag carrier Iberia * Viva Air Dominicana * VIVA Bahrain, a telecommunication company * ...

in Los Angeles, Miami, and London. She signed her first contract with

Columbia Records Columbia Records is an American record label owned by Sony Music, Sony Music Entertainment, a subsidiary of Sony Corporation of America, the North American division of Japanese Conglomerate (company), conglomerate Sony. It was founded on Janua ...

on 18 June 1998, her fourteenth birthday, which inspired her stage name at the time, Junia. Her début single "It's Funny" was released in 1999 and peaked at 17 in Germany and 21 in Switzerland. Its follow-up "My Guy" peaked at 54 in Germany and her third single "Who's the Other Woman" peaked at 72 in the country, while her fourth single "Skaterboy", released in 2000, did not chart. All of these songs appeared on her début album ''Junia'', released in 2000. In 2000, during her teenage career, she took an apprenticeship in the field musical theater at the Musicalstudio Neukölln and finished the

Realschule ''Realschule'' () is a type of secondary school in Germany, Switzerland and Liechtenstein. It has also existed in Croatia (''realna gimnazija''), the Austrian Empire, the German Empire, Denmark and Norway (''realskole''), Sweden (''realskola''), ...

to study at the Bayrischen Theaterakademie August in

Munich Munich ( ; german: München ; bar, Minga ) is the capital and most populous city of the States of Germany, German state of Bavaria. With a population of 1,558,395 inhabitants as of 31 July 2020, it is the List of cities in Germany by popu ...

in October 2001. She specialised in drama and was also educated in dancing, musical, and singing. In 2001 and 2002, she was part of the ensemble of the Bregenzer Festspielproduktionen that performed ''

La Bohème ''La bohème'' (; ) is an opera in four acts,Puccini called the divisions ''quadri'', ''tableaux'' or "images", rather than ''atti'' (acts). composed by Giacomo Puccini between 1893 and 1895 to an Italian libretto by Luigi Illica and Giuseppe G ...

'' and ''

West Side Story ''West Side Story'' is a musical conceived by Jerome Robbins with music by Leonard Bernstein, lyrics by Stephen Sondheim, and a book by Arthur Laurents. Inspired by William Shakespeare's play ''Romeo and Juliet'', the story is set in the mid-1 ...

''. She performed at the Prinzregentheater München and the

Theater Erfurt The Theater Erfurt is a German municipal theatre located in Erfurt, the capital of Thuringia. The main stage is in a building in the Brühlervorstadt, completed in 2003. The theatre offers musical theatre and concerts, played by the Philharmonisc ...

in '' City of Angels''. In 2005, she completed her studies at the Bayrische Theaterakademie with a diploma. In 2006, she won the singing contest of the HypoVereinsbank as well as the audience prize. From 2005 to 2009, she performed in numerous musicals, such as ''Heidi'' (as Tinette), ''

Sweet Charity ''Sweet Charity'' is a musical with music by Cy Coleman, lyrics by Dorothy Fields and book by Neil Simon. It was directed and choreographed for Broadway by Bob Fosse starring his wife and muse Gwen Verdon alongside John McMartin. It is based on ...

'' (as Betzy), '' Grease'' (as Sandy), '' Prinzessin Lillifee und der Zauber der Rose'' (as Princess Lillifee), ''Best of Musicals'' (as Christine from ''

The Phantom of the Opera ''The Phantom of the Opera'' (french: Le Fantôme de l'Opéra) is a novel by French author Gaston Leroux. It was first published as a serial in from 23 September 1909 to 8 January 1910, and was released in volume form in late March 1910 by Pierr ...

''), ''

Moulin Rouge! ''Moulin Rouge!'' (, ) is a 2001 jukebox musical romantic drama film directed, co-produced, and co-written by Baz Luhrmann. It follows a young English poet, Christian, who falls in love with the star of the Moulin Rouge, cabaret actress and cour ...

'' (as Satine), ''

The Little Mermaid "The Little Mermaid" ( da, Den lille havfrue) is a literary fairy tale written by the Danish author Hans Christian Andersen. The story follows the journey of a young mermaid who is willing to give up her life in the sea as a mermaid to gain a h ...

'' (as Ariel), ''

Wicked Wicked may refer to: Books * Wicked, a minor character in the ''X-Men'' universe * '' Wicked'', a 1995 novel by Gregory Maguire that inspired the musical of the same name * ''Wicked'', the fifth novel in Sara Shepard's ''Pretty Little Liars'' s ...

'' (as Elphaba), or ''

Les Misérables ''Les Misérables'' ( , ) is a French historical novel by Victor Hugo, first published in 1862, that is considered one of the greatest novels of the 19th century. In the English-speaking world, the novel is usually referred to by its original ...

'' (as Cosette). She also had a role in the play ''Der Steppenwolf'', which is based on a

Hermann Hesse Hermann Karl Hesse (; 2 July 1877 – 9 August 1962) was a German-Swiss poet, novelist, and painter. His best-known works include ''Demian'', ''Steppenwolf (novel), Steppenwolf'', ''Siddhartha (novel), Siddhartha'', and ''The Glass Bead Game'', ...

work.

2009–present: Career as Ella Endlich

Her first release under the name Ella Endlich was the single "Küss mich, halt mich, lieb mich", which peaked at 12 on the

German charts The GfK Entertainment charts are the official music charts in Germany and are gathered and published by GfK Entertainment (formerly Media Control and Media Control GfK International), a subsidiary of GfK, on behalf of Bundesverband Musikindust ...

and reached gold status. The song is based on the title song of the film ''

''. In October 2010, she released her first album as Ella Endlich, ''Da'' (English: "Here"), which peaked at 53 in Germany and 66 in Austria. Its follow-up ''Meilenweit'' (English: "Miles and Miles"), released exactly a year later, peaked at 94 in Germany. Shows peak position in Germany. In 2012, Endlich released an EP titled ''Wintercollage''. Her album ''Die süße Wahrheit'' (English: "The Sweet Truth") was released in June 2014. Later that year, she switched record labels, management, and producers. In February 2016, Endlich released the album ''Träume auf Asphalt'' (English: "Dreams on Asphalt") through

Universal Universal is the adjective for universe. Universal may also refer to: Companies * NBCUniversal, a media and entertainment company ** Universal Animation Studios, an American Animation studio, and a subsidiary of NBCUniversal ** Universal TV, a ...

and participated in the national final for the

with the song "Adrenalin". She was a judge on the fifteenth season of ''

Deutschland sucht den Superstar ''Deutschland sucht den Superstar'' (''DSDS''; "Germany is looking for the Superstar") is a German reality talent show. Part of the ''Idol'' franchise, it was created by British media mogul Simon Fuller as a spin-off from the British show ''P ...

'' (the German version of ''

Pop Idol ''Pop Idol'' is a British music competition television series created by Simon Fuller which ran on ITV from 2001 to 2003. The aim of the show was to decide the best new young pop singer (or "pop idol") in the UK based on viewer voting and par ...

'' and ''

American Idol ''American Idol'' is an American singing competition television series created by Simon Fuller, produced by Fremantle North America and 19 Entertainment, and distributed by Fremantle North America. It aired on Fox from June 11, 2002, to Ap ...

''), which aired from 3 January to 5 May 2018, alongside

Dieter Bohlen Dieter Bohlen (; born Dieter Günter Bohlen, 7 February 1954) is a German songwriter, producer, singer and television personality. He first achieved fame as a member of pop duo Modern Talking in the 1980s, and has since produced numerous German a ...

Mousse T. Mustafa Gundogdu ( tr, Mustafa Gündoğdu ; born 2 October 1966), best known under his stage name Mousse T., is a German-Turkish DJ, record producer, film composer and judge on season 15 of '' Deutschland sucht den Superstar'', the German vers ...

, and Carolin Niemczyk.

Discography

Studio albums

As Junia

* 2000: ''Junia''

As Ella Endlich

* 2010: ''Da'' * 2011: ''Meilenweit'' * 2012: ''Wintercollage'' (Teldec, 5053105521326) * 2014: ''Die süße Wahrheit'' * 2016: ''Träume auf Asphalt'' * 2018: ''Im Vertrauen'' * 2021: ''Endlich Weihnachten'' (with Norbert Endlich)

References

External links

Ella Endlich's official website
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Endlich, Ella 1984 births Living people Musicians from Weimar People from Bezirk Erfurt German pop singers Deutschland sucht den Superstar judges 21st-century German women singers Masked Singer winners