2006–2015: Born and Raised and Maureen
In April 2006, Denalane and Herre founded their own label, Nesola. Simultaneously Denalane prepared the release of her second album, Born & Raised, her first record in English. Pre-programmed in Germany, the album was entirely recorded in Philadelphia and features appearances by American rappers Lupe Fiasco, Raekwon, and Governor. While its lead single "Let Go" reached a moderately successful number 40 on the German Singles Chart, the critically acclaimed Born & Raised (released in August 2006) debuted at number two (behind Christina Aguilera's Back to Basics) on the national albums chart, making it Denalane's highest chart entry to date. Further singles from the album, "Heaven or Hell" and "Sometimes Love", failed to chart within the top one hundred. In early 2007, Denalane released the single "Change" (featuring Lupe Fiasco) in the United Kingdom, which failed to chart; however, it was featured in the 2008 blockbuster film, Taken, starring Liam Neeson.
In 2008, Denalane worked with Tweet, Dwele and Bilal on the project The Dresden Soul Symphony in Dresden, Germany. They performed classic soul cuts like "Let's Stay Together", "Natural Woman", "It's a Man's Man's Man's World", "Ain't Nothing Like a Real Thing", etc. with the MDR Symphony Orchestra. An album, The Dresden Soul Symphony, and DVD were later released on 24 October 2008.
Denalane's third studio Maureen, titled after her middle name, was released May 2011. Her first German-language studio album since Mamani (2002), it received a positive response from critics and reached number eight on the German Albums Chart. Elsewhere the album peaked at number thirty-six in Austria and number eleven on the Swiss Albums Chart, becoming both her highest and lowest-charting album yet, respectively. Spawning four singles, an English language version of Maureen was released in March 2012.
In August 2014, Denalane became a judge on the debut season of the RTL reality program, Rising Star along with Sasha, Gentleman, and Anastacia.
