Sarah Connor (singer)

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Sarah Connor
Birth name Sarah Lewe
Born June 13, 1980 (1980-06-13) (age 27)
Delmenhorst, Lower Saxony, Germany
Genre(s) Pop, R&B, soul
Occupation(s) Singer-songwriter, dancer, pianist, philanthropist
Years active 2001–present
Label(s) X-Cell, Sony BMG
Associated acts Wyclef Jean, Ne-Yo, Natural, Naturally 7, Marc Terenzi, TQ
Website www.sarah-connor.com

Sarah Terenzi (née Lewe; born June 13, 1980), better known as Sarah Connor, is a German singer-songwriter and dancer. She debuted in 2001 under the guidance of producers Rob Tyger and Kay Denar and became the first act to ever have four consecutive chart-topping hits on the German Media Control singles chart. Following a major international success with her single "From Sarah with Love," a series of hit records established her position as one of the most successful German pop vocalists to emerge in the early 2000s.

Connor has been married to American pop-rock musician Marc Terenzi since 2004. She gave birth to her first child, Tyler, in 2004 and to her second child, Summer, in 2006

Contents

[edit] Biography

[edit] Early life

Connor is the eldest of six siblings born to Michael Lewe, an advertising writer of American descent,[1] and his ex-wife Soraya Gray, a former fashion model and homemaker of Scottish and German heritage,[1] in Delmenhorst, Lower Saxony. She has four sisters: Anna Maria, Marisa, Sophia-Luisa (born 1992) and Valentina (born 1996); and one brother, Robin.

Connor grew up listening to soul music under the influence of her paternal grandfather, a New Orleans native, and by an early age she started singing gospel music in a church choir and appearing in school musicals. In her teen years Connor tried out and was accepted to a performing arts school. Although all students were required to choose an instrument, Connor was the only one allowed to study voice.[2] She took vocal lessons once a week and worked as a waitress in a hotel to pay for them. She said it inspired her to work hard so someday “she could be the one performing instead of serving”.[3]

[edit] 2000–2001: Career beginnings and development

Connor’s first big break came at the age of seventeen when she was picked from her school to sing at a Michael Jackson concert in Germany. She quit school in twelfth grade and started sending off demo tapes to record labels and producers under the name Sarah Grey. [4]She insisted she picked just the right deal, wanting to keep creative control. In 2001 she was finally decided to sign with Sony Music’s sub-label X-Cell Records under her new pseudonym Sarah Connor.[5]

Once signed with X-Cell Connor began working with such producers as Bülent Aris, Toni Cottura, Diane Warren, and the production duo Rob Tyger, and Kay Denar (KayRob) for her debut album.

Green Eyed Soul, was released on November 26, 2001. Connor co-wrote four songs on the album which yielded her first two singles “Let’s Get Back to Bed – Boy!”, a collaboration with American R&B singer TQ, and “French Kissing”, a song based on BLACKstreet’s “No Diggity”. It was the album’s third single “From Sarah with Love” which reached the top position in Germany, Poland, Portugal, and Switzerland and raised Connor’s fame all over Europe. The song garnered the singer a Comet and an ECHO Award. Album reviews were generally positive, with LAUT especially praising Connor’s vocal strengths.[6]

[edit] 2002–2003: Continued success

To follow the success work quickly began on Connor’s second album. Unbelievable was released in 2002 in Europe. Wyclef Jean wrote, produced and rapped on the CD’s first single, “One Nite Stand (of Wolves and Sheep)”, which once again entered the top 5. Unbelievable simultaneously achieved gold status in Germany within 48 hours. The album spawned another 3 singles: the Diane Warren penned “Skin on Skin”, “He's Unbelievable” and “Bounce” (which would be released as a single on 3 different occasions and countries including the United States.)

A DVD was recorded and released. Sarah Connor Live – A Night to Remember: Pop Meets Classic was recorded in January, 2003 and released in October, 2003. A Night to Remember was mainly Connor’s songs; but with an actual classical Orchestra backing her up.

In spite of being heavily pregnant with her first child, Connor decided to release her third album called, Key to My Soul in November 2003. The album’s first single, “Music Is the Key”, featuring New York a cappella singers Naturally 7 became her second number one in Germany. “Just One Last Dance”, the next and final single, was a re-recorded edition of the album’s original version, including new vocals by Marc Terenzi’s band Natural. The duet once again reached number one in Germany, Switzerland and Austria and the top 20 on a composite World Top 40.

[edit] United States release

In fall of 2003 a pair of American DJs found a copy of Connor’s previous hit “Bounce”. Soon the song was getting heavy radio airplay and Sony Records decided to release a CD of her songs in the United States. Connor was about six months pregnant when “Bounce” began charting, eventually peaking in the top 40 because she was unable to promote. A compilation of her previous three album’s singles, entitled Sarah Connor, was released in 2004, a few weeks before her son Tyler was born. The album debuted at #106 on the album charts and never climbed again due to lack of promotion.[7]

[edit] 2004–2005: New image

In fall 2004 after a short break following the birth of her first son, Connor returned with “Living to Love You”, which peaked at #1 in Germany and Switzerland. In March 2005 she contributed to the soundtrack of the computer-animated movie Robots with her single “From Zero to Hero”, which became her fifth #1 single in Germany and the fourth #1 in a row.

In the Summer of 2005 Connor and her husband Marc starred in their own reality show Sarah and Marc in Love. The series was a hit and helped reinvent Sarah’s diva status and made Marc Terenzi (now a solo artist) a known name. The series was a one off type “documentary” that led up to Sarah and Marc’s re-wedding in Spain at the end of July. Terenzi had recorded a song for Connor entitled, “Love to be Loved by You”, which became an instant hit charting at #3 in Germany. A DVD featuring all of the episodes was released on November 25, 2005 to help promote her Naughty but Nice tour.

In December 2005 as she toured to support her album Naughty but Nice Connor released a Christmas album called Christmas in My Heart. The same titled single reached #4 in the singles charts, while the album reached the top 10 of the German albums chart. Christmas in My Heart was unique by taking German language traditional carols and singing them in English.

[edit] 2006–present: finding soul

It was announced during her tour in December of 2005 that Connor was again pregnant and so for the time being her music was put on hold. On November 24, 2006 Connor released a new Christmas single titled “The Best Side of Life”. The song debuted at number six on the German singles charts. “The Best Side of Life” also had the honor of being part of Coca Cola’s Christmas Promotional campaign in Germany (this was not the first time she was connected to Coca Cola; Diet Coke was a sponsor for her 2005 reality television show).

On the same date Connor also reissued her Christmas album, Christmas in My Heart, this time featuring the new single. The reissue debuted at number 49 on the German charts. Her final 2006 release was the Christmas in My Heart DVD.

In February 2007 it was announced that Connor was working on a new album, Soulicious. It was mainly made up of 1970’s Motown covers, but also included two originals. The lead single “The Impossible Dream (The Quest)” was featured in a publicity campaign for the comeback fight of German boxer Henry Maske.

Soulicious was promoted heavily, including several radio promotional visits, television performances, and a cover story with the German debut of Vanity Fair. Released on March 30th the album debuted at #6 on the German Albums Charts.

Again with little notice, Connor released a remixed version of “Sexual Healing” featuring US-American singer Ne-Yo in time to be a summer single. The single was just moderately promoted and charted at #11 in Germany. As a follow-up it was decided to release “Son of a Preacher Man” as a digital single in time for the Holiday market. In December 2007 'The Best Side of Life' began to reenter the charts as well.

[edit] 2008: Return to music

In Fall 2007 Connor announced that she was ready to record a new album at the end of 2007 which included flying to New York City. Connor said that soul had been fun but now she wanted to do something more suited for the “dance floor”.[8]

On May 7th, 2008 Connor performed at "Linked against Leukemia" event for the charity Deutsche Knochenmark Spende Datei (DKMS) in New York City. The event was to raise money and awareness against Leukemia.[9]

On May 21st it was announced Connor had finished work on a new album, and her and her husband would partcipate in a 8 part reality show titled Sarah and Marc: Crazy in Love" on ProSieben in Germany. The special begins airing on July 3rd, 2008. The documentary follows the recording and promotional events for her new album.[10][11] The album is expected to be released in August or September.[12]

[edit] Personal life

Connor speaks three languages fluently: English, German, and Spanish. She is a vegetarian and a supporter of PETA.[13]

As her musical career began there was quite a bit of buzz over the fact that Connor was dating Martin Scholz; who was a member of a local boy band Touché.[14] After dating Scholz she was rumored to be dating her fellow collaborator TQ. She began dating Wyclef Jean around the time she released their duet “One Night Stand”. X-Cell wanted to use it as a publicty stunt, though Connor met Marc Terenzi shortly after and the relationship ended.

Terenzi was part of the American boy band Natural. The couple met on July 27, 2002 when they were both performing on the Bravo Happy Holidays festival in Rust, Germany.[15] The two soon fell in love but faced some problems. Both being famous the relationship was no secret; Terenzi’s manager Lou Pearlman was not happy with that. As several former boy band members have stated, Pearlman had rules for his boy bands: No facial hair, no public drinking, and no girlfriends or wives.[16]

Terenzi refused to end the relationship and once Connor was pregnant rumors had it that Pearlman gave the ultimatum: replace Marc or end the band. The members decided not to replace Terenzi (who was a founding member) and the band ended.

In June 2003 the couple became engaged and announced Sarah was pregnant with their first child. Their first child Tyler Marc Terenzi was born February 2, 2004 in Orlando, Florida. On February 29, 2004 the couple invited their friends to a dinner supposedly to celebrate the birth of their son. However they announced that they in fact had eloped.

The couple renewed their vows this time with a big family wedding on August 18, 2005 in Altafulla, Spain; near Barcelona. The wedding was the subject of their reality show Sarah and Marc in Love.

On June 23, 2006 Sarah gave birth to their second child, a girl, named Summer Antonia Soraya. Summer was named after Marc’s mother Antonia and Sarah’s mother Soraya. It was revealed a short time later that Summer had a hole in her heart. Summer had an operation in August 2006, and has been in good health since.

[edit] Impact and controversy

Sarah on the debut cover of the German version of Vanity Fair (2007).
Sarah on the debut cover of the German version of Vanity Fair (2007).

Connor has made an impact in Germany as well as surrounding countries. She is one of the best selling German artists of all time, holding records for having four consecutive number ones (ending with “From Zero to Hero”), and five number ones overall (four of which are ballads). She ties with Modern Talking and Boney M for this feat.

Image wise her image and logo have graced several products. In Germany outside of her own promotional merchandise, she has her own line of jeans, perfume, and her own cakes.[17]

Connor has also been embroiled in a few controversies. In January 2002, she performed on the popular German television show Wetten, dass..? wearing a tight and revealing dress. Rumors swirled she had worn no panties, which created such a controversy that the front pages of popular tabloids (including Bild) ran headlines about it. Connor had actually worn skin colored panties so they would not show. She later auctioned the dress off for charity.[18]

In June 2005, she got into another controversy, when she performed the German national anthem at the opening ceremony of the new stadium in Munich, at the Allianz Arena, singing “Brüh im Lichte dieses Glückes” (“Scald in the light of this luck”) instead of “Blüh im Glanze dieses Glückes” (“Blossom in the glamor of this luck”).[19] This faux pas was documented in her show 'Sarah and Marc in Love'.

Unfortunately some of the impact and controversy has also touched her personal life. In 2005, German comedian Oliver Pocher mocked and parodied Connor’s reality show Sarah and Marc in Love on his show Rent a Pocher. Not liking having her family mocked, Connor brought legal action against him. The outcome is unknown but he did eventually apologize.[20]

[edit] Discography

Main article: Sarah Connor discography

[edit] Studio albums

[edit] Other albums

[edit] DVDs

[edit] #1 Singles

  1. "Let’s Get Back to Bed – Boy!" (PL)
  2. "From Sarah with Love" (GER, PL, PT, CH)
  3. "Music Is the Key" (GER)
  4. "Just One Last Dance" (GER, PL)
  5. "Living to Love You" (GER, CH, PL)
  6. "From Zero to Hero" (GER)

[edit] Awards

2002
  • ECHO – “Best National Female Rock/Pop”
  • Goldene Europa – “Most Successful German Female Singer”
  • BRAVO Otto – “Supersinger National” (Silver Otto)
  • Radio Regenbogen Award – “Best Hit 2001” (“From Sarah with Love”)
  • Maxim – “Woman of the Year – Popstar”
2003
  • Radio Hamburg Award – “Best Female National Pop Act”
2004
  • World Music Award – “Best Selling German Artist”
  • Neo Award – “Most Successful Download Album” ("Key to My Soul")
2005
  • Diva Awards – “Music Artist of the Year”
  • Goldenen Kamera – “Pop National”
  • BRAVO Otto – “Supersinger Female” (Golden Otto)
  • Comet – “Best Female Artist”
  • Eins Live Krone – “Best Female Artist”
2006
  • BRAVO Otto – “Supersinger Female” (Golden Otto)
  • Comet – “Best Female Singer”
2007
  • BRAVO Otto – “Supersinger Female” (Golden Otto)
  • Comet – “Best Female Singer”

[edit] Notes

  1. ^ a b “Sarah Connor: Das nackte Leben”. Vanity Fair Magazine. Retrieved on 2007-06-12.
  2. ^ Absolute Sarah Connor goes Soulicious!
  3. ^ Absolute Sarah Connor goes Soulicious!
  4. ^ Absolute Sarah Connor goes Soulicious!
  5. ^ Absolute Sarah Connor goes Soulicious!
  6. ^ Green Eyed Soul review. LAUT. Retrieved on 2007-06-07.
  7. ^ Sarah Connor Chat History. Allmusic (2001-04-24).
  8. ^ BILD September 09, 2007 Quote: "BRAVO: Your new haircut is quite similar to Rihanna! Was it intentionally? Sarah: I think Rihanna is great and listen to hear CD all the time! She really inspires me! At the end of the year I want to record a new record. The soul thing was great, but I want to go back to where I freak out on the dancefloor the most!"
  9. ^ http://www.presseportal.de/pm/16259/1154256/dkms_deut_knochenmarkspenderdatei?search=dkms
  10. ^ http://www.prosieben.de/music_cd/samil/artikel/52525/
  11. ^ http://unterhaltung.de.msn.com/stars/news-artikel.aspx?cp-documentid=8346012
  12. ^ BRAVO: How is your new album going to sound? Poppy again or soul like the last one? Sarah: It sounds like HipPop. Trendy Pop with R'n'B and HipHop elements to it. Just like I've done before, but this time the production is gonna sound improved - more international. Great riffs and fat beats! I also want that the lyrics are provocative and come from my soul. That's why I want to write them myself this time. That's why it takes longer - but I want to give it time. The album will probably be released in August or September.
  13. ^ Sarah and PETA beliefs. Ask Men.com (2007-08-24).
  14. ^ The beginning of her professional career. Absolute Sarah Connor (2001-04-24).
  15. ^ The Love Story. Absolute Sarah Connor (2001-04-24).
  16. ^ Mad About the Boys: Fame & Scandal: vanityfair.com
  17. ^ Sarah Merchandise and Collectables. Absolute Sarah Connor (2001-04-24).
  18. ^ Absolute Sarah Connor goes Soulicious!
  19. ^ First Word » National Anthems
  20. ^ TVBlogger.de » Oliver Pocher vs. Sarah Connor

[edit] External links

v • d • e
Sarah Connor
Studio albums
Other albums
Singles
Related articles


Persondata
NAME Connor, Sarah
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Lewe, Sarah; Terenzi, Sarah
SHORT DESCRIPTION Singer-songwriter, dancer, pianist, philanthropist
DATE OF BIRTH 1980-6-13
PLACE OF BIRTH Delmenhorst, Lower Saxony, Germany
DATE OF DEATH
PLACE OF DEATH