Alexander Klaws
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| Alexander Klaws | |
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 Alexander Klaws live |
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| Background information | |
| Birth name | Alexander Klaws |
| Born | September 3, 1983 |
| Origin | Ahlen, North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany |
| Genres | Pop |
| Occupations | Singer, Actor |
| Years active | 2002–present |
| Labels | SonyBMG |
| Website | alexanderklaws.de |
Alexander Klaws (born September 3, 1983 in Ahlen, North Rhine-Westphalia) is a German pop singer, who came to fame as the winner of the first season of the television show Deutschland sucht den Superstar, the German version of Pop Idol.
Contents |
[edit] Biography
[edit] Early life
Alexander had a typical childhood growing up in Sendenhorst, Germany with his parents Richard and Hildegard and older sister Melanie (born 1980). He was an avid soccer player, and still plays soccer on charity teams whenever he finds the time. Alexander's musical gifts became apparent when he was still in elementary school. He made his first television appearance at the age of 10, performing Haddaway's "What Is Love" on a national TV show for children. By the time he was 13, Alexander was already taking vocal and piano lessons to strengthen his voice.
[edit] Career
In 2002 Klaws participated in the first season of Deutschland sucht den Superstar. Although he was seen as one of the more inconspicuous finalists at the very beginning of the show, he was able to boost his popularity constantly with standout performances of Robbie Williams' "Angels" or Michael Sembello's "Maniac". In the end he beat out runner-up Juliette Schoppmann. He earned 70.1 percent of the vote. This record would stand until 2007 when Mark Medlock gained 78.02 percent of the vote in the finale of the 4th season. Alexander is also one of the two DSDS winners to have never been in the bottom three. In 2003 he participated in the show World Idol.[1]
[edit] DSDS Performances
| Topic of the Show (Mottoshow number) | Song | Original Artist | Place/Percentage |
|---|---|---|---|
| Top 30 Show (Semi Finals) | "Angels" | Robbie Williams | 29% (1/10) |
| My Idol (Motto 1) | "Every Breath You Take | Sting & The Police | 8.1% (4/10) |
| Love Songs (Motto 2) | "Hello" | Lionel Richie | 6.2% (5/9) |
| Hits of 2002 (Motto 3) | "If Tomorrow Never Comes" | Ronan Keating | 17.6% (3/8) |
| Musicals (Motto 4) | "Starlight Express" | Starlight Express | 15.2% (4/7) |
| Songs of the 80's (Motto 5) | "Right Here Waiting" | Richard Marx | 21.2% (2/6) |
| Big Band (Motto 6) | "Mack the Knife" | Frank Sinatra | 24.9% (2/5) |
| Disco and Songs of the 70's (Motto 7) | "Maniac" | Michael Sembello | 36.9% (1/4) |
| "Relight My Fire" | Dan Hartman | ||
| Movie Hits (Motto 8) | "I Believe I Can Fly" | R. Kelly | 40.5% (1/3) |
| "You Can Leave Your Hat On" | Joe Cocker | ||
| Final (Best of...) (Motto 9) | "She's the One" | Robbie Williams | 70.1% (1/2) (Winner) |
| "Maniac" | Michael Sembello | ||
| "Take Me Tonight" | Alexander |
Alexander's first single "Take Me Tonight" (written and produced by judge Dieter Bohlen) was released in March 2003 via BMG. The song debuted at number 1 on the German, and Swiss singles charts and sold more than 1 million copies domestically, becoming the third most successful single of the year. In May he followed-up with his debut album Take Your Chance, which saw similar success and spawned a second single "Stay with Me". At the end of a year he entered the top of the charts again with "Free Like the Wind", the soundtrack to the German TV movie Held der Gladiatoren.
In 2004 Klaws returned with his second album Here I Am. Like its predecessor, the album debuted at number 1 on the German charts, but it ultimately failed to live up to the overwhelming success of his debut album. In spite of this, the album managed to snag Klaws another three top-20 hits with "Behind the Sun", "Sunshine After the Rain" and "Here I Am". He went on to record and release a duet with German singer Sabrina Weckerlin, "All (I Ever Want)", the theme song to the musical The Three Musketeers.
After a brief absence from the limelight Alexander returned in early 2006 with the single "Not Like You" and his third album Attention!. Both the album and the single barely made it to the top 20 on the German charts. As a result of Attention!'s relatively weak showing, SonyBMG opted not to release another single from the album.
From January 2007 until late March 2008, Alexander Klaws played Alfred in the musical Tanz der Vampire in Theatre des Westens, Berlin. He remained with the musical until Tanz der Vampire was replaced by the musical Elisabeth. His fourth album was released in early April 2008. It is the first album that Klaws has done that is completely in his native language of German. In March 2010 it was announced that Alexander will be playing the title character in the Hamburg production of the musical Tarzan after successfully auditioning for the show's composer, Phil Collins.
[edit] Discography
[edit] Albums
[edit] Studio albums
| Year | Album details | Peak chart positions | |||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| GER | AUT | SWI | EU | ||||||||||||
| 2003 | Take Your Chance | 1 | 3 | 6 | 4 | ||||||||||
| 2004 | Here I Am
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1 | 2 | 6 | 9 | ||||||||||
| 2006 | Attention!
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12 | 19 | 48 | 43 | ||||||||||
| 2008 | Was Willst Du Noch...
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23 | 58 | — | — | ||||||||||
| "—" denotes releases that did not chart or were not released. | |||||||||||||||
[edit] Singles
| Year | Single | Peak chart positions | Album | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| GER | AUT | SWI | EU | |||
| 2003 | "Take Me Tonight" | 1 | 2 | 1 | 5 | Take Your Chance |
| "Stay With Me" | 9 | 14 | 28 | 31 | ||
| "From the Heart of an Angel" | 15 | 41 | — | 76 | ||
| "Free Like the Wind" | 1 | 2 | 2 | 9 | Here I Am | |
| 2004 | "Behind the Sun" | 2 | 15 | 18 | 17 | |
| "Sunshine After the Rain" | 5 | 19 | 36 | 28 | ||
| "Here I Am" | 19 | 45 | 98 | — | ||
| 2006 | "Not Like You" | 16 | 22 | 28 | 40 | Attention! |
| "All (I Ever Want)" (with Sabrina Weckerlin) | 12 | 53 | — | 47 | ||
[edit] Promo Singles
| Year | Single | Peak chart positions | Album | ||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| GER | AUT | ||||||||||||||
| 2008 | "Missing You" | 29 | 60 | — | — | ||||||||||
| rowspan="2" | "Welt" | 63 | — | — | — | Was Willst Du Noch... | |||||||||
| "Sie liebt dich" | 82 | — | — | — | |||||||||||
| "—" denotes releases that did not chart or were not released. | |||||||||||||||
[edit] References
[edit] External links
- Official site
- Alexander Klaws in the German National Library catalogue (German)
- MySpace
| Preceded by None |
Deutschland sucht den Superstar Winner Season 1 (2003) |
Succeeded by Elli Erl |
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