Nadja Benaissa is a German singer, songwriter and occasional actress, who rose to fame as one of the founding members of the successful all-female pop band No Angels, the “biggest-selling German girlband to date”, according to the German media. Benaissa is the second child born to a Moroccan father, Muhamed Benaissa, and an ethnic Serbian mother with German citizenship, Sabina.
After a series of commercially successful releases with the group, Benaissa released her solo debut album Schritt für Schritt in 2006. The semi-autobiographical album was entirely recorded in German language, taking Benaissa’s work further into soul, R&B and jazz music, but enjoyed moderate commercial success. She’s currently recording her second solo album.
In April 2009, she was arrested by German police on the urgent suspicion that she had unprotected sex with three men between 2004 and 2006, without informing them she was HIV-positive.
