Senait Ghebrehiwet Mehari

Senait Ghebrehiwet Mehari is an Eritrean-born German singer. She goes professionally by her single name 'Senait'. She is also known as Senait Mehari, although this is a common understanding and is due to the Europeanization of an Eritrean naming convention.

She was born in Asmara, Eritrea, on 3 December 1974 to an Eritrean father and Ethiopian mother. When she was six years old, her father sent her and her two elder half-sisters to the Eritrean Liberation Front as 'Students of the Revolution'. Three years later her uncle took the three girls to Sudan where they lived with him for three years. When Senait was twelve years old, her father, who emigrated to Hamburg, Germany, sent for them. She had started writing songs around this time. She also wrote a sequel, Wüstenlied ('Desert Song'), about her visit to Eritrea. It was published in May 2006.

She released her first album, Mein Weg (My Way) on November 11, 2005. The first single 'Hey Du' (Hey, You) is a romantic song. The theme of the album is autobiographical –the song 'Wenn die Nacht' (When the Night)- is about her dead grandmother; 'Kap Gheza' is about a child who feels unloved, and 'Libbey' is a love story.

In February 2007, the 'Zapp' TV show on Germany's NDR channel accused Senait of fabricating some of the contents of her bestselling Feuerherz book, notably that she served as a child soldier in Eritrea. She denies the allegations. Her biography Feuerherz ('Heart of Fire') has been translated into several languages.

She worked as a songwriter and background singer before launching her own career. Her singles 'Leben/Aura' became big hits in Germany in 2001. 'Aura' was re-released early 2005 in new versions before the release of her album. A nice tune, called 'Hiwet' is available from her website feuerherz. Her song 'Herz aus Eis' ('Heart of Ice') came fourth in the German pre-selection for the Eurovision Song Contest of 2003.