Michelle

Michelle was born on February 15, 1972 in Villingen-Schwenningen with the real name Tanja Gisela Hewer and is a German pop singer. pop singer. Her writing credits include Tim Peters and Pe Werner songs for Michelle.

You are currently viewing a placeholder content from YouTube. To access the actual content, click the button below. Please note that doing so will share data with third-party providers.

More Information

Unblock content Accept required service and unblock content

Career

In 1994, Michelle came second at the German Schlager Festival with “Silbermond und Sternenfeuer”. In the same year, she came third in the preliminary decision for the 1997 Eurovision Song Contest with “Im Auge des Orkans”. A few days later, she won the “Golden Muse” at the 1997 German Schlager Festival with “Wie Flammen im Wind”. After winning the preliminary decision for the Eurovision Song Contest in March 2001, she represented Germany in Copenhagen in May 2001, where she came eighth.

In April 2003, Michelle suffered a minor stroke shortly before a concert performance, from which she made a full recovery. She then struggled with severe depression and attempted suicide. On May 25, 2004, she was found unconscious by her nanny and taken to a clinic in Cologne, where she was put into a coma for her own safety. Due to complete dehydration, she temporarily withdrew from the pop business and opened a short-lived dog salon.

In spring 2005, Michelle’s album “Leben” went gold within a few weeks. In 2006, she ventured into the music scene under the pseudonym Tanja Thomas with cover versions of disco hits from the 70s. Her album “Glas” stayed in the German charts for six weeks and reached number twelve. In addition to her musical career, she graced the cover of German Playboy in April and appeared with figure skater Jan Luggenhölscher in the German version of “Dancing on Ice” in October. The readers of the men’s magazine Maxim voted her Woman of the Year 2006 and she was featured in erotic photo shoots in the February 2007 issue.

In January 2007, Michelle suffered a fainting spell during a concert in Erfurt, which led to the cancellation of her tour. She announced the end of “Project Michelle” at a press conference in March of the same year. In August 2008, she had to file for personal bankruptcy.

After retiring to private life, Michelle returned in 2009 with a new studio album and performed one day later on the ARD program “Das Herbstfest der Volksmusik”. The album “Der beste Moment” followed at the end of 2010. Between summer 2011 and spring 2012, she was a jury member on the RTL 2 show “My Name Is”. The album “L’amour” was released in March 2012.

In 2014, Michelle presented the album “Die Ultimative Best of”, a mixture of old and new songs, which reached number 7 in the German charts, number 44 in the Swiss charts and number 2 in the Austrian charts. In Austria, the album was certified platinum for sales of over 15,000 units. From February to April 2015, she went on a solo tour in Germany and Austria. The live album and DVD for the tour were released in October 2015; the album reached number 18 in the German charts, number 9 in the Austrian charts and number 54 in the Swiss charts.

In 2016 and 2017, Michelle was a judge on the 13th and 14th seasons of “DSDS – Germany is looking for the superstar”. Her studio album “Ich würd’ es wieder tun” was released in April 2016. The album “Tabu” followed in May 2018 and entered the German charts at number 4. The second single “nicht verdient” from the album was released in June 2018. The duet with Matthias Reim was successful in the German and Swiss singles charts and marked Michelle’s first single success in Switzerland.

In October 2020, she released the single “Vorbei vorbei” and the studio album “Anders ist gut”. The music video featured dancer Christian Polanc. Since February 2021, Michelle has been managed by Markus Krampe, who previously worked for Michael Wendler.

Michelle has continued to be present since 2022: in March 2022, she posed naked again in Playboy. In spring 2022, she took part in the 15th season of the RTL dance show Let’s Dance and finished in 10th place. Her anniversary album “30 Jahre Michelle – Das war’s … noch nicht” was released in May 2022 and reached number 6 in the German and Austrian charts and number 12 in Switzerland. The song “Das war’s für mich” was released in October 2023, accompanied by the announcement in Florian Silbereisen’s show “Schlagerbooom” that Michelle would end her 30-year singing career next year with an autobiographical album and a farewell tour.

In October 2023, the singer announced the end of her career. She explained in an interview with Bild that her last album would be released in 2024 and also spoke of a farewell tour. “I’ve been swimming through a shark tank for 30 years, mostly without a lifebuoy. Now I’ve reached a point where I no longer have the strength to carry on” Michelle said in the interview. She “no longer wanted to remain in this poisoned environment”.

In 2021, 2022, 2023 and 2024, Michelle was a guest on the program “The Giovanni Zarrella Show”hosted by Giovanni Zarrella.

You are currently viewing a placeholder content from YouTube. To access the actual content, click the button below. Please note that doing so will share data with third-party providers.

More Information

Unblock content Accept required service and unblock content

Life

Michelle grew up with a brother and a sister in Blumberg. At the age of nine, she was placed in a foster family. At 14, she sang in a local band. A sound engineer introduced her to Südwestfunk, where she made her first public appearance. There she was introduced to the pop singer Kristina Bach discovered her. The composer Jean Frankfurter wrote and produced Michelle’s first single “Und heut’ Nacht will ich tanzen” in 1993. The single became a hit in the pop charts and brought Michelle into the ZDF hit parade. This was followed by further recordings and appearances on radio and television.

Michelle has three children from three marriages. Her eldest daughter Céline Oberloher is from her marriage to the former Wind singer Albert Oberloher, which lasted from 1995 to 1999. Marie Reimalso a well-known pop singer, is the child of Michelle’s relationship with Matthias Reimwhich lasted from 1999 to 2001. Michelle also has another daughter from her marriage to Josef Shitawey, who was born in 2008. After separating from Shitawey in February 2010, Michelle decided to go back to her birth name. Her relationship with musician Eric Philippi was made public in August 2023.

In 2024, Michelle will take part as an artist in the pop event “The pop night of the year 2024” will take part.

You are currently viewing a placeholder content from YouTube. To access the actual content, click the button below. Please note that doing so will share data with third-party providers.

More Information

Unblock content Accept required service and unblock content

Awards

Michelle has received numerous awards throughout her career. For example, she has received several Echo Pop Awards, including “Schlager Artist of the Year” in 1999 and “Schlager Act of the Year” in 2002, the Amadeus Austrian Music Award for “Solo Artist – Schlager” in 2001 and the “Schlager Album of the Year” for her album “Rouge” in 2003. She has also scored several times at the Golden Tuning Forks, in 1999 and 2001 as “Most Successful German Schlager Singer”.

In addition to these prestigious prizes, Michelle has received other awards, including the Silver Muse at the 1994 German Schlager Festival for her song “Silbermond und Sternenfeuer” and the Golden Muse in 1997 for “Wie Flammen im Wind”. She was also voted “Maxim – Woman of the Year” in 2006 and received the Smago! Award as “Most Successful Female Singer of the Year” in 2012. Particularly noteworthy are her awards as a “perennial favorite” at the DJ Hit Parade Awards for her songs “Große Liebe” (2014) and “Tabu” (2019). On the occasion of her 25th record anniversary in 2018, she received another Smago! Award in 2018 and was honored with the Apollo Award as “Star of the Year” in 2022.

Studio albums by Michelle

• 1993 First longing
• 1995 Dream Dancer Ball
• 1997 Like flames in the wind
• 1998 Call it love or madness
• 2000 Something like love
• 2002 Rouge
• 2005 Life!
• 2006 My Passion, glass
• 2009 Goodbye Michelle
• 2010 The best moment
• 2012 L’amour
• 2016 I would do it again
• 2018 Taboo
• 2020 Different is good
• 2022 30 years of Michelle – That’s it… not yet!
• 2024 Floodlight