Fady Maalouf: Difference between revisions
Tag: possible conflict of interest |
|||
| Line 172: | Line 172: | ||
* [http://www.fadymaalouf.de/ Fady Maalouf's Official Site] |
* [http://www.fadymaalouf.de/ Fady Maalouf's Official Site] |
||
* {{imdb name|id=2935700}} |
* {{imdb name|id=2935700}} |
||
* [http://www.fadymaalouflive.com/ Fady Maalouf Live Events site] |
|||
* [http://www.myspace.com/fadymaaloufworld Fady Maalouf World official MySpace] |
* [http://www.myspace.com/fadymaaloufworld Fady Maalouf World official MySpace] |
||
* [http://www.myspace.com/fady_maalouf Fady Maalouf MySpace] |
* [http://www.myspace.com/fady_maalouf Fady Maalouf MySpace] |
||
Revision as of 17:41, 15 January 2011
Fady Maalouf |
|---|
Fady Maalouf (in Arabic فادي معلوف) (born as Fady Mounir on April 20, 1979 in Zahlé, Lebanon) is a Lebanese-German pop singer. He is known as runner up of the fifth season of Deutschland sucht den Superstar, the German version of Pop Idol.
Early life
Maalouf went to a Christian school and began at a very early age to show interest for music and singing. He sang in the children's choir and took some piano lessons, which was his first developing musical activity. Later on he received professional voice training with a vocal coach, learning the singing technique of Bel canto. This kind of vocal training allowed him to develop a multi-octave powerful belting voice, which he started to show at the age of 17 by performing as a club singer in piano bars, night clubs, as well as events and galas.
Besides singing, he studied fashion design, earned a degree and made an internship with the now famous Lebanese international fashion designer Elie Saab. When in 2006 the political situation in Beirut tightened again, he went to his half-brother in Germany where he worked in Hamburg as a barista (espresso specialist).
One of his favorite hobbies (swimming and free diving or apnea) allowed him to develop an incredible lungs capacity. One can see his passion for free diving in the music video he released for his single "Show Me Your Love" as almost half the video was shot under water.
DSDS
Having lived in Hamburg for only 10 months he took part in Germany’s most popular audition reality show "Deutschland sucht den Superstar" (DSDS, the German version of Pop Idol or Superstar) in autumn 2007.
In the motto shows (primes) the viewers voted him into the finals, where on 17 May 2008 he competed against Thomas Godoj in Grand Finale. With a caller rate of 37.8% Maalouf finally won the second place.
The song "Blessed" was written for Fady by Jörgen Elofsson and Peer Åström, to be released as the winning song in case Fady won. Elofsson and Åströma were a songwriter team of international standing, who have worked with such names as Kelly Clarkson, Leona Lewis, Madonna, Britney Spears, Cyndi Lauper, Il Divo, and especially Céline Dion, who, as an artist, has had a great influence on Fady. He sang the song on May 17, 2008, in the final showdown between him and Thomas Godoj who eventually won. The producer was Alex Christensen, who has worked with artists such as Justin Timberlake, Tom Jones, Paul Anka or Michael Bolton.
DSDS Performances
| Topic of the Show (date) | Song | Original Artist | Place/Percentage |
|---|---|---|---|
| Top 15 Show: Jetzt oder nie (March 8, 2008) | "Home" | Michael Bublé | 8,55 % (2/15) |
| Current Hits (March 15, 2008) | "Helpless When She Smiles" | Backstreet Boys | 7,08% (4/10) |
| Greatest Film Hits (March 22, 2008) | "She's Like the Wind" | Patrick Swayze | 21,09% (2/9) |
| Mariah Carey and Take That (April 5, 2008) | "Back for Good" | Take That | 8,54% (3/8) |
| Greatest Hits (April 12, 2008) | "Your Song" | Elton John | 13,91% (3/7) |
| Judges' Choice (April 19, 2008) | "We Have a Dream" | Pop Idol | 12,98 % (3/6) |
| Party Songs and Ballads (April 26, 2008) | "Never Gonna Give You Up" | Rick Astley | 16,69 % (2/5) |
| "All by Myself" | Eric Carmen | ||
| Germany vs. England (May 3, 2008) | "Und Wenn Ein Lied" | Söhne Mannheims | 19,22 % (3/4) |
| "Breathe Easy" | Blue | ||
| No. 1 Hits, The Beatles, Dedications … (May 10, 2008) | "You Raise Me Up" | Westlife | 30,32 % (2/3) |
| "Yesterday" | The Beatles | ||
| "Feeling Good" | Michael Bublé | ||
| Final (May 17, 2008) | "Careless Whisper" | George Michael | 2/2 by 37,80 % |
| "She's Like the Wind" | Patrick Swayze | ||
| "Blessed" | Fady Maalouf |
Post DSDS
Even though Fady did not win the DSDS title, his extraordinary voice and his charming personality had won him the hearts of an enormous fan base, which then, in an unprecedented effort, bombarded Sony BMG with letters, mails and phone calls, all demanding the same - the release of Fady Maalouf’s title "Blessed", performed by him during the final show.
After a contract with Columbia, a subsidiary of Sony BMG Music Entertainment "Blessed" was released on 4 July 2008 as a single and went straight to no. 2 in the German single charts.
The album, also named Blessed including 14 tracks, saw the light on 25 July 2008, and went as well straight to no. 2 in the German album charts.
These simultaneous single and album charts positions made Maalouf the most successful DSDS finalist of all time.
On 21 November 2008 Maalouf released a new Single called "Amazed", a cover version song originally from the band Lonestar. This single CD included the song "Vole Mon Ame", the French version of "Show Me Your Love" to which Maalouf wrote the French text himself.
On 28 November 2008 Sony Music Entertainment released a new edition of Maalouf's album Blessed, including a double CD package and new unreleased tracks.
Being a multilingual artist, besides songs mainly in English, he also sang in German and French. He has also sung remakes and new arrangements of Arabic popular songs including "Hibbina" and "Ya Leil"
Fady Maalouf has also established his own charity organization called "Blessed E.V."
Discography
Albums
| Release date | Title | Charts positions[1] | Award | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| GER | AUT | SUI | |||
| 25 July 2008 | Blessed | 2[2] | 7 | 7[3] | |
| 12 March 2010 | Into the Light [4] | 33 | 42 | - | |
Singles
| Release date | Title | Charts positions[1] | Award | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| GER | AUT | SUI | LTU | |||
| 2008 | "Blessed" From album Blessed |
2[5] | 8[6] | 11[3] | 5 | |
| 2008 | "Amazed" From album Blessed |
26 | 52 | - | - | |
| 2009 | "Show Me Your Love" From album Blessed - New Edition |
- | - | - | - | |
| 2010 | "Into the Light" From album Into the Light |
44 | 72 | - | - | |
Awards & Nominations
Viva COMET 2009 - Breakthrough Artist of the year (nominated)
Viva COMET 2009 - Onlinestar (nominated)
References
- ^ a b Sources: GER AUT SUI Cite error: The named reference "charts" was defined multiple times with different content (see the help page).
- ^ http://www.media-control.de/coldplay-und-fady-maalouf-starten-am-besten.html
- ^ a b http://hitparade.ch/weekchart.asp
- ^ http://www.amazon.de/Into-Light-Fady-Maalouf/dp/B0036ZKLS2/ref=pd_bxgy_m_text_b
- ^ http://www.rp-online.de/public/article/gesellschaft/leute/590373/Casting-Stars-stuermen-Charts.html
- ^ http://charts.orf.at/oe3/single/2008/woche28/main
External links
