[6][7] Anne Linnet began her career in 1969 by performing folk rock, and she was in the Århus-based band Tears from 1971 to 1976.

Anne Linnet also sang musical works by Holger Laumann with Radioens Big Band and others for some time since 1971.

Two other singers and musicians in the band were Sanne Salomonsen and Lis Sørensen, both popular singers/musicians who have since had long and successful careers.

The musical theme and lyrics of Marquis de Sade centered on gender inequality and sadomasochism were also inspired by Hamburg's red-light district, which Anne Linnet Band had encountered during a tour.

[13] The album Linnet/Salomonsen from 1984 was the music for a play in Bellevue Teatret named Berlin 84, and was inspired by Toula and Barbarella who worked in a red-light district.

The lyrics of Linnet/Salomonsen deal with issues of LGBT erasure and male privilege, and the album has similar themes to Marquis de Sade.

At the time, they created some controversy, and became known for some of their songs having sadomasochistic ("Marquis de Sade") and lesbian ("Hils din mor", "Venus") themes.

Linnet set a number of Tove Ditlevsen's poems from this novel to music, which was released on the album Barndommens gade that year.

[12] In 1989, she released the album Min sang in collaboration with the Danish priest, author and lecturer Johannes Møllehave.

[2] The same year, her song from Shit & Chanel named "Smuk og dejlig" (1976), was included in the Danish Culture Canon under the heading "Evergreens".

In 2007, she released the critically acclaimed solo album Akvarium which became a success and reached first place on the Danish record chart.

[20][29] Anne Linnet's grief from the aftermath of her father's death from a blood clot in 1979 at age 58, as well as the divorce from Laumann in 1985 left her in shambles, she described to the magazine Gaffa in 2015, where she also stated: "The processing of grief in Marquis de Sade was a bit like this: if you pinch your arm so that it hurts, you don't feel so much that it also hurts somewhere else.

[32][33] On 6 June 2010, BT reported that Anne Linnet had signed a partnership and awaited children with 22-year-old Tessa Franck.