Joana Zimmer was born blind in southwest Germany before briefly living in both the United Kingdom and the United States. When she was four, she returned to the country of her birth. She is bilingual in English and German. In 1999, aged 17, she graduated from the Brandenburg School for the Blind and Visually Impaired in Königs Wusterhausen, Germany. Prior to graduation, Zimmer had been performing in jazz clubs in Berlin from the age of 15. While doing this she also recorded demos of her own songs and sent these off to record companies. She was eventually signed by Universal Music Germany, and in 2005 released her debut single, 'I Believe (Give a Little Bit)', a cover of the 1993 Marcelle Detroit hit, which reached the #2 spot in the German singles chart.
Not only does Zimmer perform as a singer and actress, she is also an ambassador for the Christian Blind Mission, and a fashion model. She is also an author. Kösel Verlag, a German subsidiary of Random House published her autobiography, 'Blind Date - Seeing the World With My Eyes' in 2013 which became an audiobook in 2014. Zimmer began work on an album featuring the lyrics of the late German children's book author and the author of 'The Neverending Story', Michael Ende.
