Mehrzad Marashi

Mehrzad Marashi
Background information
Born 20 September 1980
Origin Hamburg, West Germany
Genres Pop & Soul
Occupation(s) Singer
Instruments Vocals
Years active 2006 – present
Labels Sony Music Germany
Associated acts Dieter Bohlen
Website mehrzad-marashi.tv
Mehrzad Marashi (Promiboxen 2013)

Mehrzad Marashi; (born 20 September 1980 in Iran)[1] is an Iranian-German singer and winner of Deutschland sucht den Superstar season 7.[2]

Beginnings

Born in Tehran where his father was in the military profession during the Shah's regime. The family family immigrated to Germany for political reasons when Mehrzad was just six residing in Hamburg. At 13 he joined a gospel choir and eventually took classes at the Sängerakademie studying voice and piano. Taking the stage name Marasco, he released self-produced recordings finding some limited success. He recorded "She's Gone", a cover of "She's Like the Wind" from Patrick Swayze. He opened a karaoke bar, but the business went bankrupt and he had to live on welfare for a while.

Deutschland sucht den Superstar

Marashi auditioned to the seventh season of the show Deutschland sucht den Superstar initially under his stage name Marasco. Very notably during a live show on DSDS on April 10, 2010, during the Top 3 stage, Marashi proposed to marry his girlfriend. The two married on 7 July 2010 in Hamburg. He eventually won against other finalist Menowin Fröhlich with 56.4% of the public vote.

DSDS performances

Theme (date) Song Original Artist Percentage/Place[3]
The Top 15 — Now or Never (February 13, 2010) Und wenn ein Lied Xavier Naidoo 27.3% (1/15)
Top 10 - Mega Hits from today (February 20, 2010) Broken Strings James Morrison 14.6% (2/10)
Top 9 — The biggest pop songs(February 27, 2010) One U2 9.2% (5/9)
Top 8 — Happy Holiday Hits (March 6, 2010) Fresh Kool & the Gang 18.7% (2/8)
Top 7 — 80s (March 13, 2010) Hello Lionel Richie 14.0% (2/7)
Top 6 — German vs. English (March 20, 2010) Flugzeuge im Bauch Herbert Grönemeyer 21.9% (2/6)
Beggin' Madcon
Top 5 — Ballermann vs. Balladen (March 27, 2010) Boombastic Shaggy 18.4% (3/5)
Hard to Say I'm Sorry Chicago
Top 4 — Old vs. New (April 3, 2010) Unchained Melody The Righteous Brothers 24.2% (2/4)
Crazy Gnarls Barkley
Top 3 — Boy bands, Music Heros & Number 1 Hits (April 10, 2010) End of the Road Boyz II Men 37.7% (2/3)
Runaway Del Shannon
Ich kenne Nichts Xavier Naidoo feat RZA
Top 2 — Finale — Singer's choice, Highlight Song, Winner's Single (April 17, 2010) Endless Love Lionel Richie 56.4% (1/2)
Fresh Kool & the Gang
Don't Believe Mehrzad Marashi

After DSDS

After his win in April 2010, he released "Don't Believe" written and produced by Dieter Bohlen. It topped the German, Austrian and Swiss charts. It was also a hit in the Netherland. The follow-up was "Sweat" a cover of Inner Circle's "Sweat (A La La La La Long)" also featuring season 4 winner Mark Medlock. Both were from his debut album New Life that was released on 11 June 2010. A planned tour was cancelled due to low demand. In February 2011, Marashi opened a dance school and established a recording studio both in Hamburg.

On 24 June 2011, he released a second album Change Up with "Beautiful World" as a single, both with no success. He later released "Eine Nacht", his own composition. In 2012 he also founded his own label M8. In 2013, at age 32, he was also involved in Promi-Boxen (celebrity boxing) with an initial fight against Daniel Aminati.[4]

Discography

Albums

Year Information Chart positions IFPI certifications
GER
[5]
AUT
[6]
SWI
[7]
EUR
2010 New Life
  • Debut studio album
  • Released: June 11, 2010
5
3
9
7
  • GER: -
  • AUT: -
  • SWI: -
2011 Change Up
  • Second studio album
  • Released: June 24, 2011
  • GER: -
  • AUT: -
  • SWI: -

Singles

Year Single Chart positions Album
GER
[5]
AUT
[6]
SWI
[7]
LIT LUX NL EUR
2010 "Don't Believe" 1 1 1 4 6 64 2 New Life
"Sweat" (feat. Mark Medlock) 2 7 16 33 24 16
"Bring Me Down" Promo
2011 "Beautiful World" 85 Change Up
"Eine Nacht"

References

  1. "Mehrzad Merashi DSDS Top 10 Biografie" (in German). RTL.de. 18 April 2010. Retrieved 18 April 2010.
  2. "Deutschland sucht den Superstar" (in German). RTL.de. Retrieved 18 April 2010.
  3. "Voting-Ergebnisse DSDS" (in German). RTL.de. Retrieved 1 May 2010.
  4. Bild: Ungleiche Paare beim Promi-Boxen (German)
  5. 5.0 5.1 "Mehrzad Marashi - German Charts". charts.de.
  6. 6.0 6.1 "Mehrzad Marashi - Austrian Charts". austriancharts.at.
  7. 7.0 7.1 "Mehrzad Marashi - Swiss Charts". hitparade.ch.

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Mehrzad Marashi.
Preceded by
Daniel Schuhmacher
Deutschland sucht den Superstar
Winner

Season 7 (2010)
Succeeded by
Pietro Lombardi