Wolkenfrei started life as a three-piece schlager band in Aspach, Germany in 1999 with original members Marc Fischer and Stefan Kinski having met during a ski trip and bonding over a shared interest in music. They formed The Marc Fischer Band, inviting singer Heike Wanner to flesh out their sound. The duo settled on the name of Wokenfrei in 2012, swapping Heike Wanner for new singer Vanessa Mai, and released their debut single as Wolkenfrei, "Jeans, T-Shirt und Freiheit" (Jeans, T-Shirt and Freedom), the following July. The new line-up t0ured extensively throughout Germany before a follow-up single "Du bist meine Insel" followed in January 2014. Their debut album Endlos verliebt also arrived in 2014, produced by Felix Gauder and co-written by Olaf Roberto Bossi, Felix Gauder and Alexandra Kuhn. The LP cracked the German top 20, reaching number 18, while also charting in Austria and Switzerland in one chart week. In April 2015, Marc Fischer and Stefan Kinski announced their departure from the group, now a solo act fronted by Vanessa Mai. She inaugurated her new solo career with the 2015 album Wachgeküsst, co-written again by a similar cast of songwriters including Olaf Roberto Bossi, and Felix Gauder. All tracks were mixed, arranged and produced by Felix Gauder. However, the following year she decided to drop the Wolkenfrei name and perform under her own name. The Wolkenfrei name was later revived in 2022 by Vanessa Mai who marked her return to music in 2023 with a new single "Uns gehört die Welt" ("The World is Ours") and a new album, Hotel Tropicana.