Maite Kelly

Among the dozen children of the widely celebrated Gypsy-folk ensemble the Kelly Family, Maite Kelly emerged as perhaps the sole sibling to build a thriving independent career beyond the group. Born in Berlin in 1979, she passed her early years on the road with her father and siblings, whose 1994 release Over the Hump moved more than four million copies. She later moved briefly to the United States, completing high school there in 2000. Over the following ten years she made occasional appearances with her relatives while directing greater attention toward her religious convictions and humanitarian efforts, most notably in Togo, where she assisted in establishing a fresh university parish. In 2009 she supplied the German voice for Tinker Bell & The Lost Treasure, co-hosted the daytime talk show Frauenzimmer, and portrayed Tracy Turnblad in the Cologne staging of Hairspray. Two years afterward she claimed victory on RTL’s counterpart to Dancing with the Stars, titled Let’s Dance, and issued her debut official solo album, the 1930s jazz-pop-inspired Das Volle Programm.