1984–2003: Beginnings and successes as singer and moderator In a
Silvester broadcast, Bause appeared on television for the first time with the song "Spielverderber" ("Spoilsport"). She was voted as Up-and-Coming Singer of the Year in 1985, 1986, and 1987 by the magazine
Neues Leben, ranked highly in national competitions, and won the highest prize on the music television show
Bong five consecutive times. Her first album
Inka was released in 1987. In 1988 Bause began developing a second career as a television presenter; she regularly hosted the children's show
Talentebude ("Talent Booth") until 1991 with her future husband Hendrik Bruch. During this time, she also toured the country with ''Super Pop '88
and Traumpassagiere'' ("Dream Passengers"). In 1989, she released her second album
Schritte ("Footsteps") that contains the song "Aber Du" ("But You"), which Bause sang on the West German series
ZDF-Hitparade in 1990. This gives her the distinction of becoming the first East German to take third place on the series. As a result, the song was released as a single by
Virgin Records, a label Bause would later release the albums ''Ich geh' durch die Nacht
("I Walk Through the Night") and Ein Zug von irgendwo
("A Train from Somewhere"). At the same time, she expanded her career as a presenter with broadcasts like Weinachten bei uns'' ("Christmas with Us") and a program on the Berlin radio station Spreeradio. In 1996, Bause ventured into acting, playing the role Janine Seidelmann in the
television film comedy
Der Millionär ("The Millionaire") alongside
Herbert Köfer and
Günter Schubert. She performed in the
Deutsche Schlager-Festspeile festival in 1998, winning first place with her song "Ich will nur Dich" ("I Only Want You"). The same year she played the main role in the
MDR television film
Panik in der Blumenstadt ("Panic in Flower City"). With the support of her manager Ingrid Reith she appeared on
Starclub on the broadcaster
Hessischer Rundfunk and signed a record contract with the German music producer
Jack White, both in the year 2000. The 2001 single "Florian" from her album
Sei happy ("Be Happy") was noted as a comeback for her. She appeared as a guest on more than 20 television shows, and the song was chosen as the top hit of the summer by the radio station MDR Sachsen. Her father died in February 2003, leading her to cancel a concert tour. In June 2003, her song "Mein Herz bleibt bei dir" ("My Heart Stays with You"), for which she wrote the lyrics, won the MDR-Hitsommernacht. The same year she joined the television network
ZDF and hosted the special
Musik aus dem Weihnachtsland ("Music from the Christmas Land") on Christmas Eve for the first time.
Since 2004: Further career At the beginning of 2004 Bause hosted
Hüttenzauber on ZDF with
Thomas Ohrner. She presented the last broadcasts of ZDF's Sunday concerts in 2004 and 2005. For the 20th anniversary of her debut performance, MDR aired a
Langer Samstag ("Long Saturday") tribute, hosted by
Jörg Kachelmann. At this time, she worked primarily as a television presenter; in addition to appearances on MDR and ZDF she hosted the
RTL reality show Bauer sucht Frau, a German version of
Farmer Wants a Wife. From 2006 to 2009 she hosted the reality show
Unser neues Zuhause ("Our New Home"). From 2008 to 2012, Bause appeared in the ZDF series
Das Traumschiff ("The Dream Ship") and its spinoff
Kreuzfahrt ins Glück ("Cruise to Happiness") in the recurring role of the fitness trainer Inka. In 2008 she hosted the game show
Die 100,000 Euro Show ("The 100,000 Euro Show") on RTL. She moderated the RTL music reality show
Die singende Firma ("The Singing Company") with
Ross Antony in 2008. In 2010, she hosted the RTL reality show
Die Farm ("The Farm"), which was shot in Norway. She also hosted the RTL shows
Papa gesucht ("Looking for Dad") from 2007 to 2009 and
Jugendliebe ("Young Love") from 2011 to 2012, in addition to a 2006
Guinness World Records special. In 2008, Bause released the album
Mir fehlt nichts ("I'm All Right"), serving as executive producer and lyricist. She worked on the album with her ex-husband Hendrik Bruch, as well as
Stefan Waggershausen and
Tobias Künzel (the latter from the band
Die Prinzen). The album led to further television appearances, such as
N3 Talkshow,
Willkommen by Carmen Neben, and
Florian Silbereisen. In April 2013, Bause became the co-host for the ZDF music show
Die Frühlingsshow ("The Springtime Show"). In September 2013, she began hosting the talk show
inka!, but according to press releases the show failed to meet the broadcaster's expectations, and it was canceled two months later. In 2015, she served on the 9th season jury for
Das Supertalent (Germany's entry in the
Got Talent franchise), along with
Dieter Bohlen and
Bruce Darnell. After a ten-year music hiatus, Bause released her eighth album
Mit offenen Armen ("With Open Arms") through
Universal Music Group in 2018. This was followed by the album
Lebenslieder ("Life Songs") in 2020, which was accompanied by a national tour. The album covered themes relating to her childhood and youth. She founded her own record label to release the album and served as co-producer, working with a production team from Musicago. Bause produced two music videos from the album herself: "So ging noch die Sonne auf" ("That's How the Sun Still Rose"), which was shot in
Mallorca, and "Mein Herz" ("My Heart"), which was shot at Zirkus Mondeo in Berlin. Since November 2020, Bause has hosted the show
Inkas Abend ("Inka's Evening") on Schlager Radio B2. She began appearing in advertisements for an online dating platform in 2021. She took part in the 8th season of the reality show
The Masked Singer, where she dressed as a slice of
toast and took fifth place. == Community involvement ==