Prior to the formation of Rosenstolz, native Berliner AnNa R. had ambitions of becoming a bar singer,[1]: 22, 30  whereas Plate was a member of a short-lived band while living in Braunschweig.

They considered various possibilities for the name of their band, one of the early favourites being A & P, but eventually settled on Rosenstolz, a made-up name which somehow occurred to them and which immediately appealed to them.

However, the members of the audience, who were waiting for the main act, became restless after Rosenstolz had played a few songs and eventually shouted at the duo.

[1]: 47–49 Rosenstolz continued to perform live following the initial concerts and was soon discovered by record producer Tom Müller, who had previously worked with German singer Nina Hagen.

[1]: 59–65  Recording began on the band's debut album, Soubrette werd' ich nie, which was released towards the end of 1992 by indie label Pool.

By 1993, the band was able to hold – according to Plate – its first proper concert, which took place at the WABE culture centre in Berlin and had 600 fans attending.

("Their music lives on well measured changes in style – from sparkling soprano to synthesizer sounds, from electropop racket to lyrics of mild melancholy, and on AnNa R.'s role plays from divine Garbo to big-city tart.

[1]: 93–94  The first single from Nur einmal noch, also of the same name, received frequent airplay on local radio in Berlin, helping to give the band more exposure.

The song was part of Rosenstolz's next studio album, Objekt der Begierde, which was released in 1996 and coincided with a tour that took place between May and December, with a break for the summer.

During the tour, Rosenstolz saw increased audience numbers in the western states of Germany and performed in front of over 4000 people at the final concert in Berlin.

[6] Towards the end of the year, Rosenstolz went on a concert tour and entered the German charts for the first time with Die Schlampen sind müde, the band's fifth studio album.

[7][8] Rosenstolz gained more exposure in 1998 by participating in the televised competition to find Germany's next representative for the Eurovision Song Contest.

[9][10][11] "Herzensschöner" was included in the Rosenstolz compilation album Alles Gute, which was released in April 1998 and directly followed by a concert tour.

Released in September 2000, Kassengift was the first Rosenstolz album to credit Ulf Leo Sommer, Plate's partner since 1990, as both co-songwriter and co-producer.

[21] Two songs from Kassengift – "Total Eclipse" and "Die schwarze Witwe" – were re-recorded with guest singers Marc Almond and Nina Hagen, respectively, and released as a double single in March 2001.

Rosenstolz's first open-air concert tour also took place that summer, ending in Berlin in front of an audience of 17,000 people at the Kindl-Bühne Wuhlheide.

[7][28] In March 2004, Rosenstolz's ninth studio album, Herz, was released, featuring a mix of ballads and pop and rock songs.

[31] The last concert of the tour, which took place outdoors at the Kindl-Bühne Wuhlheide in Berlin, was recorded and released as the live DVD album Willkommen in unserer Welt (2004).

[32][33] During the whole of 2005, Rosenstolz took a break from public appearances and worked on Das große Leben, the band's tenth studio album, which was released in March 2006.

[46] After a break of nearly three years, Rosenstolz returned to public attention in September 2011 with the release of the single "Wir sind am Leben" and a new studio album of the same name.

[54] In 2013, the duo announced their new music projects, with Plate releasing a solo album[55] and AnNa R. becoming a member of Gleis 8, a newly formed four-piece band.

[2] Writing in 1995, Regina Kerner of Berliner Zeitung described Mondänpop as "freche Texte über Erotik und Musik ohne Angst vor Kitsch mit Schlagerelementen" ("impudent lyrics dealing with eroticism and music which does shy away from kitsch and features elements of schlager").

[64] A further explanation was given by Tanja Stidinger, also of Berliner Zeitung, in 1996: "Beherzt klauen die beiden das Beste aus Schlager, Chanson und Neuer Deutsche Welle, rühren kräftig um, würzen das Ganze ab mit Diva-Allüren und Synthesizerklängen."

("The duo courageously lift the best bits from schlager, chanson and Neue Deutsche Welle, stir thoroughly, and season the whole thing with diva affectations and synthesizer sounds.

")[58] Rosenstolz's range of song styles was summarized by Björn Döring in his review of the band's sixth studio album, Zucker (1999), in Berliner Zeitung:[65] Rosenstolz bedienen sich der Songmodelle, die sie auf ihren vorhergehenden Platten erfolgreich formuliert haben.

Da trällert Anna R. manchmal grandios im Belcanto herum oder begibt sich in die Tiefen ihrer Trauer.

In his review of Das große Leben (2006) in German newspaper Die Welt, Harald Peters found that Rosenstolz had dispensed with the (in his opinion) disagreeable musical and vocal elements from earlier years, focusing instead on mid-tempo piano-saturated guitar pop.

[59] While writing about Die Suche geht weiter (2008), Stefan Rother of German newspaper Badische Zeitung commented that the over-the-top vocals of AnNa R. were no longer to be heard and that Rosenstolz now dealt with more serious issues.

[68] In a 1999 interview, AnNa R. explained that the Rosenstolz songwriting process usually involved the music first being composed by Plate, followed by the lyrics being co-written by the duo.

[70] In addition, the band was awarded the Fred-Jay-Preis for song writing[82] and Plate received the Paul-Lincke-Ring in recognition of his contribution to music.