The band was founded in Aachen in 1999[1] and principally consisted of singer Bernd Heinrich "Der Graf" (the Count) along with various musical partners.

He was accompanied for live shows by musicians Christoph "Licky" Termühlen, Henning Verlage, and Martin "Potti" Potthoff.

"Der Graf", "The Count") founded Unheilig in 1999 with Grant Stevens (writer of "Everlasting Friends", a song featured in a German television commercial for Holsten Pilsener beer) and José Alvarez-Brill (Wolfsheim, Joachim Witt, De/Vision).

In February 2003, the band toured eleven European cities as support to L'Âme Immortelle, and played songs from the album Das 2.

Directly after the tour, the EP Schutzengel (Guardian Angel) was released, including four previously unreleased tracks.

A fan vote organised by Unheilig chose the tracks for the EP Freiheit, released 18 October 2004.

On 7 December 2009, the official Unheilig website received a major redesign to reflect the upcoming release of Große Freiheit, including a three-minute trailer showcasing Der Graf with a suitcase playing "Das Meer", the very first song off the new album.

On 14 January 2010, the first music video for their first single "Geboren um zu leben" (Born to Live) was posted on Unheilig's webpage.

The single "Geboren um zu leben" was released on 29 January 2010 and debuted on the Media Control Charts at number two.

The third single "Unter deiner Flagge" was released on 24 September 2010 and peaked in the German charts at No.

On 25 March 2011, Unheilig was nominated for five ECHO Awards (Best Video National for Geboren um zu leben, ECHO Radio, Most Successful Production Team, Best National Rock/Alternative Group and Album of the Year for Große Freiheit), eventually winning three.

On 18 January 2013, Unheilig released a 7-CD audiobiography titled Als Musik meine Sprache wurde.

The band released their first best-of album titled Alles hat seine Zeit on 14 March 2014.

At the Rock the Ring Festival in Switzerland in June 2014, Unheilig played "Goldrausch", a track from their then-upcoming album Gipfelstürmer.

The band released a DVD entitled MTV Unplugged: Unter Dampf – Ohne Strom on 12 December 2015.

Megaherz, Staubkind, "Be One", Schandmaul and Megazwei were all supporting acts during the Ein Letzte Mal Tournee.

[citation needed] On February 6th, 2025, Der Graf has announced that Unheilig is back and will release a brand new album.