Tarek Hussein better known by his stage name Tarééc (born in Berlin, Germany on 3 July 1978) is a German R & B singer of Lebanese - Palestinian descent. He was earlier part of the German band The Boyz where he was known as T-Soul
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Tarek Hussein grew up in Neukölln, an inner city area populated largely by Arab and Turkish immigrants, son of a large family originating from Lebanon and Palestine. He began singing at the age of 13 years at school and at parties. He also played football (soccer) in Tasmania Berlin and later at Hertha Zehlendorf. He was considered for inclusion in the Under-16 German National Football Team. But he decided to leave a possible football career to be able to focus on music.
In the early 1990s, he formed his first band Da Corner made of four rappers in addition to Tarek Hussein, who adopted the stage name T-Soul.
Through the talent show Blonds Talent Award, he got discovered and shortly thereafter made his first studio recording and became a member in 1996 of the boy band The Boyz, which included Florian Fischer ('Flow'), Adel Tawil ('Kane'), Tarek Hussein ('T-Soul'), Salvatore Di Blasi and Stephane Claudio Kroll-Marongiu. The Boyz released two studio albums, Boyz in da House in 1997 and Next Level in 1998. Their single "One Minute" attained gold status. The Boyz split-up in 1999.
After the dissolution of The Boyz, Tarek fell into deep depression and became a drug addict. As part of his therapy, his psychologist advised him to express feelings and experiences in writing, Tarek started writing lyrics to possible songs and composed music for them.
In April 2007 Tarek Hussein adopting the stage name Tarééc signed a contract with ersguterjunge, a hip-hop record label.[1] He had been a childhood friend of Arafat, an act signed to the label.[2] The Boyz Adel Tawil was also part of the label. This helped him get introduced. His first release on the label was a free downloadable track "Ich halte deine Hand" (meaning I hold your hand in German) with rapper Bushido.
In November 2008 Tarééc released the single "Für das Volk" (meaning for the people) featuring Austrian rapper Chakuza. In the music video released, Bushido, Adel Tawil, Oliver Petszokat, Bizzy Montana and DJ Stickle all appear.[3] The video was shot in a football field as a nod to Tarééc's earlier sports career. This was followed by the second single "Tränen lügen nicht" (meaning Tears do not lie). On 8 May 2009 the debut solo album Hoffnung (meaning hope) was released, that included his two released singles and many guest contributions from the other rappers signed to the "ersguterjunge" label most notably German rapper Nyze and Austrian rapper Chakuza. Many of the tracks were produced by "Trackworks Productions" related to his band mate in The Boyz Adel Tawil.[2] In February 2010, Tarééc left the label through mutual consensus, without excluding further cooperation. He is working on a new set of songs more geered to pop music.[4]
For albums and singles with The Boyz, refer to discography on The Boyz' page