Darin Zanyar

Darin
Darin in 2014
Background information
Birth name	Darin Zanyar
Born	(1987-06-02) 2 June 1987 Stockholm, Sweden
Genres	Pop
Occupation(s)	Singer songwriter
Instruments	Vocals
Years active	2004–present
Labels	Dex Music (Sweden), Sony Music, EMI Germany, Universal Music
Associated acts	Kat DeLuna
Website	www.darinofficial.com

Darin Zanyar (born 2 June 1987), better known simply as Darin, is a Swedish pop singer and songwriter of Kurdish descent and one of Sweden's best-selling artists, with numerous chart topping songs and music albums.^[1]

Early life

Darin was born to Kurdish parents and began singing at an early age, citing Michael Jackson as his biggest inspiration. On the DVD Tour Videos Interview, Darin is shown as a child dancing to Michael Jackson and singing "Eternal Flame" by The Bangles. He started writing and recording songs at the age of 14.

Career

2004: Idol

In spring of 2004, Darin auditioned for a place on the first series of Idol with "God Must Have Spent A Little More Time on You" by N*Sync, the four judges were very impressed and he passed through to the theatre round and then on to the semi-finals where he sang "Beautiful" by Christina Aguilera and received 78% of the public vote to get through to the live finals. He eventually came in second place, losing to Daniel Lindström.

2005–2006: The Anthem, Darin and DVD

Soon after the show Darin signed a record deal with BMG to release an album and in January 2005 Darin's debut single "Money For Nothing" was released gaining him his first number one single^[2] and a platinum certification. On 16 February 2005 his debut commercial album The Anthem was released. The album enjoyed much success entering the Swedish Album Charts at number 1 and eventually being certified gold by the IFPI. Also in 2005, Darin released his second self-titled album Darin which became Darin's second chart topping album^[3] and also the first to be released outside of Sweden, being released in Finland. This second album had greater success than The Anthem, being certified platinum by the IFPI. It was a different sound to Darin's debut album, he worked more with RedOne on this album, writing together the platinum selling and Darin's most successful single to date "Step Up", this single, when released in September 2005 spent a total of 26 weeks on the Swedish Singles Chart and was also the first single to be released in Finland.

In 2006 Darin staged a tour to support the release of his second album called Step Up to the Party Tour 2006 footage of which can be seen on Darin's first music DVD Tour Videos Interview which was released on 25 October 2006. Three singles were released from Darin, "Step Up", "Who's That Girl" and "Want Ya!" all becoming top 10 singles in Sweden and all 3 receiving a release in Finland.

Step Up to the Party Tour 2006

2006–2007: Germany and Break The News

In November 2006, Darin released his third album Break the News. The album went straight to number 1 on the Swedish Album Charts^[4] and was certified gold in its first week of sales. This album produced four singles, two of which were digital only releases.

Darin did a short promotional tour in Sweden calling at 10 cities to promote the album, with small performances and signings from 25 November until 16 December 2006.^[5] Also to promote the album, large billboard posters were placed around Swedish cities Stockholm, Göteborg and Malmö.^[6] The album was supported by the "Pure Desire Tour" in 2007, which called at various cities in Sweden. Following his success in Sweden, Darin signed a new recording contract with EMI Germany to release singles in Germany, Austria and Switzerland. In August 2007, Darin's single "Insanity" was released in both Germany and Austria.

2008–2009: Flashback

Darin

In 2008, Darin started work on his fourth album Flashback, working again with RedOne. The album was released on 3 December 2008 and charted at number 10 in Sweden, Darin's first album not to reach number 1 in the country. There were 5 singles from the album, 2 were physical releases, the number 1 gold selling single "Breathing Your Love" a duet with American singer Kat DeLuna and "What If", a song which was released in collaboration with "Friends", a Swedish anti-bullying charity. In October 2009 Darin performed a cover of Coldplay's "Viva la Vida" on Idol. The song was released as a digital only single in Sweden and reached number 1 on the charts and has since been certified gold.^[7]

Melodifestivalen 2010

On 3 November 2009, it was announced that Darin would be participating in the Melodifestivalen 2010,^[8][9] the Swedish show which determines the country's entry to the Eurovision Song Contest 2010 in Oslo, Norway. Darin entered with the mid-tempo ballad You're Out of My Life written by Tony Nilsson and Henrik Janson.^[10] Darin performed 7th in Heat 3 of the contest and eventually progressed to the final.^[11] Darin took part in the Melodifestivalen final on Saturday 13 March 2010 at Globe Arena in Stockholm, he came an eventual 4th place with a total of 117 points receiving two sets of 12 points from the Greek and Russian juries.

2010: Lovekiller

On 1 June 2010 Universal Music Sweden announced that on 18 August 2010 Darin would soon be releasing his single "Lovekiller" and an as yet untitled fifth studio album, his first with Universal, and would feature the 2 singles Viva la Vida and You're Out of My Life.^[12]

Darin began a 17 date Sommarturné (Summer Tour) of Sweden on 4 June 2010 starting in Karlshamn.^[13]

The album Lovekiller was released on 18 August 2010 with a digital release two days earlier on 16 August. The album includes all 4 singles releases prior to the album Viva la Vida, You're Out of My Life, "Can't Stop Love" and "Lovekiller". The album was certified gold the first week and was No. 1 on the Swedish album chart.

Darin also wrote the Idol 2011 winners song All This Way for eventual winner Amanda Fondell.

2012: EPs, Så mycket bättre and Det Bästa Av

Darin in 2009

On 10 February 2012, Darin released his first single "Nobody Knows" from the first of his two upcoming Extended Plays due for release in 2012.

It was first revealed that the first of the two EPs would be set for a release on 4 April 2012. However, shortly afterwards, the release got pushed back to 14 April 2012. On 4 April 2012 Darin revealed that he was still looking for suitable DJ to remix the tracks on the EP's and therefore, the release would be postponed. The second EP is due to be released in August 2012, however that may change after the news of the first EP's delay. So far, Darin has leaked three songs from the first EP – the single "Nobody Knows" and the two songs "Right to This Point" and "All Gone".

On 11 June 2012 it was announced that Darin would no longer release two EPs during the year. A new album is set for a release at the beginning of 2013. On 27 October 2012 Swedish television network TV4 aired the first episode of the third season of Så mycket bättre featuring Darin, a reality TV show in which each artist attempts to do their own version of another artists well-known songs, with each person getting an episode featuring all of their songs being performed by the other musicians. Darin has performed six songs in the show: Stockholm, En Apa Som Liknar Dig, I Can't Get You Off My Mind, Astrologen, Magdalena and Seven Days A Week.

On 16 November 2012 during an interview for the Swedish NRJ Radio channel, Darin stated that the album would hopefully get released at the end of January 2013. It would contain 11–12 songs and it would be a mixture of pop, RnB and club music. On 21 November 2012 Sony Music Sweden released a collection of Darin's songs from his 4 albums released by Sony. Det bästa av (The Best Of) features 16 tracks, some singles and some albums tracks.

2013: Exit and So Yours

After having cancelled the initial project consisting of releasing two EPs during 2012, the first one in April and the second one in August, in October, Darin spent one month in the US working with worldwide known producers and songwriters such as Jim Beanz, The Jackie Boyz, Victoria "Lady V" Horn and the RedOne Team on a new album set to release early in 2013.

On 6 December 2012 Darin revealed in an interview that the new album is called "Exit". The cover art and the tracklisting were posted on his official Facebook page on 21 December 2012. The album is due to release on 30 January 2013 and contains ten tracks, including the first single "Nobody Knows". The two songs he had performed live but never released as singles, "All Gone" and "Right to This Point", are not included instead. Darin announced via his Twitter account that "Playing With Fire", the album's second single, was released on 18 January.

On 22 February 2013 a new single entitled "So Yours" was released in Germany, Austria, Switzerland. It's due to release all over Europe later in the year. On 4 March 2013 Darin announced via Twitter that he was in Los Angeles to record a music video for the international single.

Darin and singer Agnes Carlsson both appeared as the interval act "Swedish Pop Voices" during the second semi-final of the Eurovision Song Contest 2013 in Malmö on 16 May.^[14]

2015: Fjärilar i magen

On 10 March 2015 Darin revealed on Facebook that his first single from his first Swedish-language album was titled Ta mig tillbaka and was scheduled for release on 13 March. The music video for the single was released on 4 May.

On 6 May 2015 Darin announced that his new album, titled Fjärilar i magen, will be released on 25 September via Dex Music.

Other information

• As well as being a successful performer, Darin is also an established songwriter. In 2009, "Love Struck", a song co-written by Darin and David Jassy, became the first official single for the American boyband V Factory.
• In 2007, Leona Lewis covered Darin's ballad "Homeless" for her debut album Spirit.^[15]
• In 2009, Darin had performed the song Se på mej at Melodifestivalen 2009 as an interval act.
• In June 2010 Darin was asked by Swedish broadcaster SVT to record a specially written song "Can't Stop Love" for the Royal Wedding of Princess Victoria and Daniel Westling.
• In 2010, the song "Foolish" originally recorded for the album Lovekiller and written by Darin with Tony Nilson was recorded by Shayne Ward for his album Obsession.^[16]
• Darin wrote a song called "Turn It Up", originally on the track list for Lovekiller, but gave it to the British girl group, A Girl Called Alice.
• Darin co-wrote the song "Under The Radar" with Tony Nilsson and Teddy Sky. It was the first single for the artist Qpid.^[17]
• In October 2011, it was announced that Darin is involved in writing a new song for Swedish artist Eddie Razaz, titled "Let Me In".^[18]

Discography

Albums

• The Anthem (2005)
• Darin (2005)
• Break the News (2006)
• Flashback (2008)
• Lovekiller (2010)
• Exit (2013)
• Fjärilar i magen (2015)

Awards

Darin has won several awards throughout his career, including:

• A Grammis in 2006, Rockbjörn (Rock bear award)
• Nickelodeon Kids Choice Award
• The Voice 06 Award in Sweden
• NRJ Award for Best Nordic song in Finland
• Kurd of the Year award in 2005

References

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Darin Zanyar.

• Darin official website
• Official Darin Zanyar blog