Yvonne Catterfeld (born December 2, 1979, in Erfurt, Germany) is a German singer, actress, and television personality. She became one of the most recognizable female pop artists in Germany during the early 2000s, later establishing a parallel career in film and television. Her music combines polished pop with elements of soul, R&B, and adult contemporary songwriting.
Catterfeld developed an interest in music during her youth, studying piano and flute while also taking vocal and dance lessons. She later attended the Leipzig University of Music and Theatre, where she focused on pop and jazz. In 2000, she gained wider attention by finishing second in the television singing competition Stimme 2000. The appearance led to a recording contract with Hansa Records. Her earliest release, the single "Bum," appeared in 2001 under the shortened name Catterfeld, but did not achieve significant commercial success.
At the same time, Catterfeld began acting in the popular German soap opera Gute Zeiten, schlechte Zeiten. Her role as Julia Blum brought her substantial television exposure between 2001 and 2005 and helped establish her as a public figure beyond the music market. Her breakthrough as a recording artist came in 2003 with "Fur dich," a dramatic pop ballad that topped the charts in Germany, Austria, and Switzerland. The accompanying album, Meine Welt, became a major success and was certified platinum in Germany.
Catterfeld consolidated that success with Farben meiner Welt (2004), whose lead single "Du hast mein Herz gebrochen" became another German number-one hit. The album was followed by Unterwegs (2005), which debuted at number one in Germany and produced the successful single "Glaub an mich." During this period, she left Gute Zeiten, schlechte Zeiten and began concentrating more fully on music and acting. Her fourth album, Aura (2006), continued her pop-oriented work but did not match the commercial impact of her earlier releases.
Catterfeld gradually broadened her screen career. She appeared in films including U-900, Das Leben ist zu lang, Sputnik, Bocksprunge, and The von Trapp Family: A Life of Music. She also provided German voice work for animated productions such as Shark Tale and Tabaluga. From 2016 onward, she became particularly associated with the ARD crime series Wolfsland, in which she plays police commissioner Viola Delbruck.
Her later albums reflect a more mature and varied musical direction. Blau im Blau (2010) moved toward a restrained adult-pop sound, while Lieber so (2013) was revived commercially after her participation in the television music series Sing meinen Song - Das Tauschkonzert in 2015. She subsequently served as a coach on The Voice of Germany in 2016, 2017, 2018, 2020, and 2024, and also appeared on The Voice Senior.
Catterfeld founded the label Veritable Records and released Guten Morgen Freiheit in 2017, an album that combined contemporary pop production with themes of independence and social awareness. She later explored English-language material on Change (2021). Her ninth studio album, Move, appeared in 2025 and incorporated R&B, soul, and dance influences. Across her career, Catterfeld has maintained a position between mainstream entertainment and a more personal, vocally focused style, balancing chart pop with acting, television work, and continued artistic development.