[4] Throughout her musical career, Petruo scored four number-one hits, including "Something About Us", which she co-wrote, and sold over five million albums and singles worldwide.

While she continued working as a songwriter throughout the late 2000s, further musical projects failed to materialize, and she retired from the recording business in favor of an academic career.

Her mother Mercedes, a Spanish-Peruvian, owned a salsa nightclub in Berlin-Charlottenburg, and her father Thomas Petruo (1956–2018) was a radio host and actor, best known as the German voice of Plankton in SpongeBob SquarePants[5] and Biff Tannen in Back to the Future.

[5] Her grandfather, Heinz Petruo (1918–2001), was a famous radio show host for RIAS and also worked as a voice actor, best known as the German dub of Darth Vader in the Star Wars saga.

In her teenage years, she made several appearances on German television, while gaining experience in music with her own bands and first professional song recordings.

After her high school graduation, Petruo applied herself to her communication studies but quickly chose to leave university in favor of internships at both MTV Germany and news channel N24.

She entered the competition with thousands of other women, and the judges Simone Angel, Rainer Moslener and Mario M. Mendryzcki were impressed with her performance of Bill Withers' hit single "Ain't No Sunshine".

[9][10][11] The album Elle'ments mirrored the success of "Daylight in Your Eyes", selling one million units and earning triple platinum and septuplicate gold certifications.

[14] In April 2004, she released her first single "Drama Queen", co-written along with No Angels collaborators Thorsten Brötzmann and Alexander Geringas, under her nickname Vany.

Petruo also spent time on dubbing movies (including Lilo & Stitch and Back to Gaya) and acting, most noticeably as a member of the main cast of Wilde Engel [de], a TV action series influenced by Charlie's Angels whose four episodes were broadcast in April 2005.

On 13 March 2010, Petruo posted a brand new demo from her forthcoming album, Happy, on her Facebook page and YouTube account—a new song aimed "for those who are in love".