Fady Maalouf

Fady Maalouf (Arabic: فادي معلوف‎) (born 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 was born to a Lebanese family and his father had German roots. He started very early age to show interest for music and singing. He sang in a church 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.

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 forming his own 4-member music band and performing as a club singer in piano bars, night clubs, as well as events and galas. Fady Maalouf had his public appearances on Lebanese television shows with some self-composed songs.^[1] He also lived for a while in Greece and France.

Besides singing, he studied fashion design, earned a degree and made an internship with the now famous Lebanese international fashion designer Elie Saab. He also lived for a time in France.^[1] When in 2006 the political situation in Beirut tightened, 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. He reached the finals of the show, where on 17 May 2008 he competed against Thomas Godoj in Grand Finale where Maalouf received 37.8% of the public votes finishing in 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

Career

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."

In April 2011, he toured with Russian star Valeriya on her European / German tour and sang a duet, Valeriya's 2004 hit "Ty Grustish" (in Russian Ты грустишь).

Charity

Soon after his success, Fady Maalouf established his charity Blessed E.V., named after his successful debut single "Blessed". It donates aid relief for people in need, especially in states of emergency such as war, famine and natural disaster or otherwise in distress, irrespective of their religious, political or ideological orientation. It is also active in advancement of the public healthcare and development aid.^[2]

Discography

Albums

Singles

Awards & Nominations

• VIVA COMET 2009 - Breakthrough Artist of the year (nominated)
• VIVA COMET 2009 - Onlinestar (nominated)

References

1. ^ ^{a b} Fady Maalouf Live: Biography section
2. ^ Blessed E.V. : About the charity
3. ^ ^{a b} Sources: GER AUT SUI
4. ^ http://www.media-control.de/coldplay-und-fady-maalouf-starten-am-besten.html
5. ^ ^{a b} http://hitparade.ch/weekchart.asp
6. ^ http://www.amazon.de/Into-Light-Fady-Maalouf/dp/B0036ZKLS2/ref=pd_bxgy_m_text_b
7. ^ http://www.rp-online.de/public/article/gesellschaft/leute/590373/Casting-Stars-stuermen-Charts.html
8. ^ http://charts.orf.at/oe3/single/2008/woche28/main

External links

• Official Site
• Fady Maalouf at the Internet Movie Database
• Fady Maalouf World official MySpace
• Fady Maalouf MySpace
• Fady Maalouf Facebook site
• Blessed E.V. (Fady Maalouf's charity)
• Fady Maalouf Live website
• Last FM: Fady Maalouf page