| Radu Sîrbu | |
|---|---|
| Born | 14 December 1978 |
| Origin | Romania |
| Genres | Rock, Eurodance, Pop rock |
| Years active | 1995–present |
| Labels | Indie |
| Associated acts | O-Zone, Wild Rose Project, Mr&Ms, DJ Layla&Alissa |
| Website | Official MySpace |
Radu Sîrbu (also known as Radu Sârbu, RadU, and Picasso; born 14 December 1978 in Peresecina, Moldavian SSR, Soviet Union) is a Romanian singer.[1] He was part of the Romanian pop music trio O-Zone. He currently lives and works in Bucharest, Romania.
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Radu Sîrbu was the oldest member of the former band O-Zone.
Radu spent most of his childhood in his hometown, however, he moved to Orhei and Bălţi for a time. He went back to Peresecina after the 9th grade in order to finish high school. During the 10th and 11th grade, he worked as a DJ at his father's nightclub, and organized musical theatre shows through his studio, "Artshow," which he created for children and teens. In 1996, after graduating, he began his studies at the Chişinău Music Conservatory, as well as teaching vocal classes for children on the side.
In 2001, a man named Dan Bălan was holding casting calls for a band to be called O-Zone. O-Zone used to consist of just Dan and his friend Petru Jelihovski, but even after Petru dropped out, Dan still desired to continue his musical career - hopefully with two others. Arsenie Todiraş (nicknamed "Arsenium") had auditioned successfully, then Radu joined to become the third and final member. As a group, O-Zone became extremely popular in their home country of Moldova, and were able to branch out to their neighbour, Romania. What came after defined the height of their careers: with the release of two chart-topping albums, Number 1 in 2002 and DiscO-Zone in 2004, they found themselves constantly played on the airwaves throughout Europe, attracting numerous fans.
O-Zone's dance-pop music consisted of beats and catchy lyrics, able to surpass any language barrier. As Radu himself said, their songs have "positive emotion"—it really does not matter if you cannot speak or understand Romanian, you just "feel the love" in the music. O-Zone later became well known in France, Italy, Germany, Romania, Mexico and the United Kingdom. Their most popular hits included "Despre tine" and "Dragostea din tei". Later, Gary Brolsma of New Jersey made an internet video dance to the song "Dragostea din tei", entitled Numa Numa. Gary's internet video helped the group become known in the United States.
In January 2005, Dan, Arsenie, and Radu announced that O-Zone disbanded, deciding instead to focus on their respective solo careers. With Dan in America making rock music with his band "Balan", and Arsenie launching in Germany under the name Arsenium, Radu is also working on his solo project. In 2005, he worked together with DJ Mahay and released a song called "Dulce". RadU (as this was his new stage name) currently lives in Romania with his wife, and his daughter, Anastasia Dalia, and he's working on getting his official Website up at RaduSirbu.ro. He made a video on his song called "Whap-pa" and released his album Alone, and more recently he released his single "Doi străini" ("Two strangers"), and made a video for it. In 2007 he and Arsenium got together and released the single "July".
As of March 2008, Radu is currently working on a new project called MR. & MS. He is working with his wife Ana, whose name so far has been kept secret. On Jun. 2008 he appeared on the Romanian talk show Teo on Antena 1 and it has been revealed that the female singer is his wife. They released the single "Love Is Not a Reason to Cry" in late March 2008. Mr&Ms have also released an album, titled Heartbeat. The couple has done many performances together, and recently the couple appeared on Dansez Pentru Tine, performing a dance number for charity, specifically for a talented young child without sufficient funds to attend dance classes.
Soon after releasing his first album under Mr&Ms, Radu began work with DJ Layla, and together they produced the song "Single Lady" sung by DJ Layla Feat. Alissa.[2] The lyrics were co-written by Radu and Ana Sirbu, the video has been released for "Single Lady", Single Lady had reached No.1, on Europa Plus Moscow/Russia. Radu has also released a second single with DJ Layla "City Of Sleeping Hearts" and released a music video for it always new and fresh music in collaboration with many new or well-known voices, all under the same brand – Wild Rose Project. All songs will be composed and produced by Radu Sirbu and the main voice of the project will be Radu itself. The first single of the project named “Ecstasy” is in collaboration with Dee-Dee. More information coming soon… Stay tuned on www.radusirbu.com