Hella Donna (means: “Hell, what a woman”) is a Saxony
(Germany) based pop project and stands for expressive modern pop - a
powerful mix of groovy pop songs, rock tracks with electro-, house- and
RnB-elements as well as emotional and soulful ballads.
Hella Donna was founded in 2003 by guitarist Sven Hessel from
Plauen/Vogtland. Currently, the group is represented by the charismatic
Anika Karabas (Vocals, Since 2011 successor to the former frontwoman
Cindy Leißner) and her four fellow musicians Sven Hessel (Guitar), René
Voigt (Bass), Lars Henrik Lincke (Keys) and Christian Scherff (Drums,
Backing vocals).
The first successes, first publications, first concerts
The original cover band Hella Donna had arranged within the shortest
possible time to get plenty of attention on their own songs. The tracks
take very quickly their place in the regional, national and even
international web and radio charts.
In 2005, the band released the debut single "Hometown Radio", which was
heard on numerous radio frequencies (like Vogtland Radio, R.SA,
Bayern3, Radio Zwickau, Radio Zusa, Radio NRW). The debut album "Come
on" followed in April 2007 with a total of three singles ("Give me some
time", "Star Stalker" and "Come On"). In cooperation with the Bavarian
film company Dreamfilms an elaborate music video has been produced,
which was a promo clip for the planed same name movie "Starstalker".
Invitations to various radio shows and television shows (like
FAB-Berlin, VRF, Antenne Thüringen, TV Zwickau, Landeswelle Thuringia,
Vogtland Radio) as well as numerous live performances throughout Germany
enthused the audience.
First career peak in autumn 2007: During her headlining club tour Hella
Donna played in 16 German cities (including Hamburg, Stuttgart, Cologne
and Nuremberg) and was also at the Wood Pop and the Summer Summit
Festival on stage.
Baby break of the front woman = Hiatus for the whole band
The maternity leave of front singer Cindy Leißner was used by the band
as a a real creative break. With new ideas and much enthusiasm Hella
Donna returned in 2009 and presented their fans in July the second album
"Different Faces". The first single "Only You" was previously published
in May and promoted in the Pro7 TV show "Germany's next Show Stars".
"Only You" climbed to number one in the "Official Webcharts" and was
played by over 70 radio stations (including JUMP , Radio BOB , rock
radio).
The band was also with over 30 live shows again very present in 2009.
The highlights were the “Jump Community Party” in Ferropolis and the
“Splash Diving World Cup” in Essen.
In January 2010, Hella Donna published with "Good Things" another single from the second album.
Break up and a new beginning
After the live season 2010, the members of Hella Donna broke up to
focus on other music projects. But as early as the spring of 2011 René
Voigt and Sven Hessel decided to rebuild the band.
By 2012, Hella Donna was back again - with new front woman, new
program, new musical orientation and a new show concept. Also a new
album and first live performances would not take long to wait for.
"Groove On", the now third longplayer by Hella Donna, includes a total
of 14 ballades, pop and rock songs. It was published in September 2012.
The first single "Perfect" came out before, including the bonus track
"Block by Block", a Hella Donna homage to the cult computer game
"Minecraft". The accompanying video has already more than 280,000 views
on YouTube. The second single was followed in October 2012: "Not the
Cure". A song in cooperation with Grammy-Award winner Philip Larsen
(also remixer for Lady Gaga, Katy Perry and more) was produced and
nominated before the publication for the "Hollywood Music in Media
Awards”. The team around Anika Karabas is the first German band that was
nominated for this American Music Award in 2012. In addition, the song
reached top rankings in several dance and radio charts. So it was not
surprising that the music video with a focus on the impressive front
woman Anika Karabas was from the beginning of great interest. It was
followed by airplays on many TV stations (A- rotation IM1 and MTV
Music24). Also at the German Rock and Pop Award in 2012 and 2013 Hella
Donna was one of the big winners. After 6 nominations in two years there
were three initial placings for "Not the Cure" as “Single of the Year
in 2013” and for "Groove on": "Best Producer of 2012" and "Best Cover
2012". Also: Nominations for the LSFM Newcomer Award 2012, winning the
Bubble Beat Awards (Best Newcomer) of the Dude magazine and the BMT
Award “Video of the Year 2013”
In addition to numerous television appearances (Pro7, TV.Berlin,
RNF.TV, IM1, BubblegumTV, NachtfahrtTV, YagalooTV, FAB, FAN) and video
airplay (MTV Music 24, IM1, McDonalds Instore.TV, Putpat.TV, tape.tv,
QTom, StreetclipTV) enthused Hella Donna her fans in the last year live
in Germany - Anika and the band grooved at numerous major events and
concerts. Further successes on the World Wide Web: 500,000 Views in
YouTube channel and over 18,800 fans on Facebook - and rising.
Another highlight in April 2014 was a tour through Germany, Switzerland
and Poland as the support of the British Led Zeppelin tribute band Letz
Zep. Especially Anika and her boys were also excited to cooperation
with the New European Westling League (N.E.W. ) for a new anthem
produced by Hella Donna.
Future plans, tragets and visions
For 2014, the publication of the single "Gimme - Light, Camera &
Action" (May 2014), a collaboration with U.S. indie rapper and YouTube
Star None Like Joshua as well as the release of th fourth studio album
"Unbreakable" (June 2014) is planned.
In addition, Anika Karabas and her four band mates look forward to numerous festival and club shows throughout Germany!