Ivy Quainoo (born 25 August 1992) is a German singer. In February 2012, she won the first series of '' The Voice of Germany''. In December 2017, it was announced that she would be one of six competing entrants in Unser Lied für Lissabon, the German national final for

Eurovision Song Contest 2018 The Eurovision Song Contest 2018 was the 63rd edition of the Eurovision Song Contest. It took place in Lisbon, Portugal, following the country's victory at the with the song " Amar pelos dois" by Salvador Sobral. Organised by the European ...

Early life

Ivy Quainoo was born in Berlin-Neukölln to

Ghana Ghana (; tw, Gaana, ee, Gana), officially the Republic of Ghana, is a country in West Africa. It abuts the Gulf of Guinea and the Atlantic Ocean to the south, sharing borders with Ivory Coast in the west, Burkina Faso in the north, and To ...

ian parents. She attended the Schiller High School in

Charlottenburg Charlottenburg () is a locality of Berlin within the borough of Charlottenburg-Wilmersdorf. Established as a town in 1705 and named after Sophia Charlotte of Hanover, Queen consort of Prussia, it is best known for Charlottenburg Palace, the ...

. While still in school and also after her Abitur in 2011, she attended a dramatic arts school in

Kreuzberg Kreuzberg () is a district of Berlin, Germany. It is part of the Friedrichshain-Kreuzberg borough located south of Mitte. During the Cold War era, it was one of the poorest areas of West Berlin, but since German reunification in 1990 it ha ...

. In the summer of 2011, Ivy was featured as a background singer in writer/singer Jakob Royal's self-titled debut album. After finishing high school, she auditioned for the reality talent show ''The Voice of Germany''. During the live broadcasts, Quainoo was the only participant of the series to be voted in every time by the spectators. During the finals show on February 10, 2012, she received 33.65% of the combined votes, based on telephone voting and the number of song downloads, with which she left the other three final candidates behind.

Career

2012: ''Ivy''

After the final show, she promoted her single "Do You Like What You See?" on the '' Harald Schmidt Show'' and on '' Verstehen Sie Spaß?''. Her first album, entitled ''Ivy'', was released in March 2012. At the

Echo In audio signal processing and acoustics, an echo is a reflection of sound that arrives at the listener with a delay after the direct sound. The delay is directly proportional to the distance of the reflecting surface from the source and the lis ...

award ceremony she sang, together with

Aura Dione Maria Louise Joensen (born 21 January 1985), known as Aura Dione, is a Danish singer and songwriter. In 2008 she released her debut album, '' Columbine''. The album spawned the hit single " I Will Love You Monday (365)", which reached number one i ...

Caro Emerald Caroline Esmeralda van der Leeuw (born 26 April 1981), known for the project Caro Emerald, is a Dutch pop and jazz singer who mainly performs in English. Active since 2007, she rose to prominence in 2009 with the debut single, " Back It Up". Th ...

, Ina Müller and

Dionne Bromfield Dionne Julia Bromfield (born 1 February 1996) is a British soul music singer, television presenter and television personality. Her debut album, '' Introducing Dionne Bromfield'', was released in 2009 by Amy Winehouse's Lioness Records label. Sh ...

, the song "Valerie" in memory of

Amy Winehouse Amy Jade Winehouse (14 September 1983 – 23 July 2011) was an English singer and songwriter. She was known for her deep, expressive contralto vocals and her eclectic mix of musical genres, including soul, rhythm and blues and jazz. A membe ...

. Furthermore, Quainoo presented her second single "You Got Me" on ''ProSieben Celebrity Boxing''. On 14 May 2012, she started her first tour of Germany with a concert in

Lüneburg Lüneburg (officially the ''Hanseatic City of Lüneburg'', German: ''Hansestadt Lüneburg'', , Low German ''Lümborg'', Latin ''Luneburgum'' or ''Lunaburgum'', Old High German ''Luneburc'', Old Saxon ''Hliuni'', Polabian ''Glain''), also called ...

. On the final show of ''

Germany's Next Topmodel ''Germany's Next Topmodel'' (often abbreviated as ''GNTM'') is a German reality television series, based on a concept introduced by Tyra Banks with ''America's Next Top Model''. The competition is hosted by Heidi Klum who also serves as the lea ...

'' Quainoo sang her single "Break Away". In October 2012, Quainoo worked with Mousse T. on a song for the movie ''Man tut was Mann kann''. She also recorded the Song "Who You Are" with

Stanfour Stanfour are a German rock band who formed in 2004. The band was founded on the German island of Föhr where the four core members live. Already prior to the band's formation, brothers Alexander and Konstantin Rethwisch spent years in Los Angeles ...

for the mini-series '' World Without End''. On November 16, she released her album '' Ivy'' as a Gold Edition in which these new songs are available.

2013–present: ''Wildfires'' & film debut

Quainoo has been working on her second studio album in

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the most densely populated major city in the Un ...

London London is the capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary dow ...

Los Angeles Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the List of municipalities in California, largest city in the U.S. state, state of California and the List of United States cities by population, sec ...

. In June, Quainoo stated that the album is finished and will be published in fall 2013. The album called ''Wildfires'' which was revealed some days later. On 6 September 2013, the first single "Wildfires (Light it Up)" from her second studio album was released. To promote the single and the album ''Wildfires'', Quainoo performed at ''Schlag den Raab'', ''Promi Big Brother'' and also having several radio interviews round the release dates. The album ''Wildfires'' was released on 27 September 2013. In October Quainoo is a special guest on

Olly Murs Oliver Stanley Murs (born 14 May 1984) is an English singer, songwriter, and television presenter. He was runner-up on the sixth series of '' The X Factor'' in 2009 and was subsequently signed to RCA Records and Sony Music in the United Kingdom ...

Germany tour dates. Her next solo tour started in January 2014 and was called Wildfires Live Tour. In 2015, Ivy Quainoo announced that she was focusing on an acting career by making her small film debut in the upcoming sequel '' Captain America: Civil War''.

Other ventures

Ivy Quainoo filmed commercial spots for VW in 2012. Since February 2013 she is the ambassador of the German campaign ''Together for Africa''. In June 2013, Quainoo walked as a model for the

Berlin Fashion Week Berlin Fashion Week (''Berliner Modewoche'') is a fashion week held twice annually (in January and July) in Berlin, Germany. Since its establishment in July 2007 it has gained great international attention for its many creative young designers wh ...

Discography

Albums

Singles

Awards and nominations

Tours

Headlining *2012: Ivy Quainoo Tour *2014: Wildfires Live Tour Opening act *2013: Right Place Right Time Tour

References

External links

Ivy Quainoo
at the-voice-of-Germany.de {{DEFAULTSORT:Quainoo, Ivy 1992 births Living people Musicians from Berlin The Voice (franchise) winners Winner01 German people of Ghanaian descent Quainoo, Ivy 21st-century German women singers