[EDITED: Repost for Facebook]
It took every bit of strength I had in me to contain myself. Knowing about it has been killing me since the beginning of the summer. Now I can finally come out with it: I’m a contestant on the German version of the most successful new music competition in the world: The Voice! How did it come to this: me taking part in a television format that I’m actually not such a big fan of (to be blunt: I HATE casting shows!)?

The short version of the story: I was convinced by a very good friend of mine who is also in the competition. She was asked if she knew anyone who might be interested in trying out for the show, and the first person she thought about was me. We talked about it for a while , and it was when she said to me, “I can’t do this by myself!” that I decided to give it a shot. I was invited to come to the casting and the rest, as they say, is history.

One thing I must say: as someone who doesn’t really follow casting shows or TV talent competitions -although I worked as a vocal coach on two such shows: the first season of the German versions of “X-Factor” and “My Name Is…”- being a candidate on one is definitely a different experience than working behind the scenes. More on that later. In the meantime, be sure to check out the trailer for “The Voice Of Germany”: I’m featured on it.

This is by far the coolest thing that’s ever happened to me besides getting married and becoming a father. I’ll update you on everything happening with the show as it happens. Wish me luck!

[UPDATE: unfortunately, the trailer can currently only be viewed in Europe. As soon as there is a version on YouTube, I'll let you know.]

(Logo used by permission of ProSieben Television, Schwarzkopff TV and Talpa Distribution B.V.)

As a child, I always dreamed of traveling to great European cities. I’ve had the great fortune to visit most of the cities I’ve dreamt about, and this weekend I performed in one of my greatest childhood dream cities: Athens, Greece.

My road trip started on Thursday, when I spent two days in Mannheim, Germany teaching at the Popakademie. It’s getting close to semester exams, so I spent the time preparing my students for their big day; a 45 minute live looping performance. After my time there I travelled to Aschaffenburg for rehearsals and a gig in the evening. The gig itself was fine; I performed with a talented up-and-coming singer named Jennifer Washington. After three hours of sleep in my hotel it was off to the airport and my highlight gig of the week in Athens. The flight was full, the food was, well, airplane food (need I say more?), and the drive into Athens was interesting, to say the least. 

The venue was an open air club on the beach, and the guests were all employees of a very large telecommunications company. All of the musicians were colleagues and friends of mine, so although I went into the situation blind, the show went off without a hitch. 

It was this latest trip to Athens (I’ve performed here three times before) that made me realize that through my job, many of my childhood dreams have indeed come true, if not totally in the way I had thought they would. I’ve visited almost all of the European cities I dreamed of visiting as a child: Athens (I loved Greek mythology as a kid), London (my favorite European city), Paris (art and culture), Stockholm (I’ve always been fascinated with it) and many others, and on top of all that, I get paid to go to these places. 

Sometimes musicians who work a lot tend to take for granted the good fortune they have, being able to travel to exotic places to work. We often complain that many in the traditional work force don’t see musicians as having “real” jobs, but given that through my job I have been places that most people with real jobs can only dream of going to, that’s a characterization that I can happily live with.

The first single from “Elements”, my cover version of the Rick Astley song, “Never Gonna Give You Up”, is now available online! It was one of my favorite songs from the 80s (don’t laugh!), so I’m happy to have finally recorded it.

In addition to the album version of the track (played by my extremely AWESOME backing band WATERPROOF), there are 3 club remixes, from Niels van Gogh & Daniel Strauss, Noll & Kliwer, and D-Cade (aka Charles Simmons )

You can listen to the single (and purchase) and all the remixes right here:
Album Version

Remix Radio Version

Remix Extended Version

Niels v. Gogh + Daniel Strauss Remix

Noll & Kliwer Remix

Let me know how you like the single: Leave a comment, and most of all, TELL YOUR FRIENDS. I really would love your support!

C

The Eurovision Song Contest, the world’s largest music competition, is now over. The hype in Germany surrounding Lena’s performance is now died down, the amazement surrounding the choice of Azerbajan as the winner will continue for a while (I still don’t get that one…) As an American, I’ve always been fascinated by the spectacle of the ESC; the drama, the politics, the overall cheesiness of the whole thing. This year though, I was “lucky” enough to get a free ticket to see the show live. I’d always refused to watch it on TV and it’s not every day that one gets such expensive tickets for free, so I said, “what the hell” and I went. I must admit, though; I really enjoyed myself. No kidding. Here are my top ten coolest things about this year’s Eurovision Song Contest:

1. THE ATMOSPHERE. Being among over 30,000 people from 25 different countries in one venue, all there to celebrate music, is a great experience. Of course some songs were better than others, but overall the energy in the audience was very positive.

2. THE STAGE SHOW. I’ve been to hundreds of concerts in my life, and I’ve never been more impressed with the staging, lighting, and overall visuals as I was with the ESC. I think the appropriate word is “amazing”. Most impressive was the speed with which all the acts were set up to perform. Of course, with so many acts (25 performers in under 2 hours) it was obvious that everything was done half-playback, but there were no technical problems. For a live show being broadcast around the world, that’s pretty impressive.

3. THE “POSTCARDS”. The announcement of each song via video “postcards” was in my opinion brilliant. The way each presentation was set in Germany, yet featured people from the competing countries living and working in specific German cities was marketing genius, because it presented Germany as a truly multi-cultural country. Given the debates that have been going on in Europe over the last few years regarding immigration, it was refreshing to see a country actually embracing their multi-cultural status.

4. THE OPENING NUMBER. I admit, I HATED the winning song from 2010, Lena’s “Satellite”. Absolutely. Hated. It. That being said, The way Stefan Raab and crew performed the song in Big Band-style, was very entertaining. It made me actually like the song. Imagine that.

5. THE HOSTS. I actually think that Stefan Raab, Anke Engelke and Judith Rakers did a great job hosting the show. They were funny, engaging, and their timing was good. They also showed that Germans can actually be entertaining to an international audience.

Overall, I’d say that the Eurovision Song Contest was very interesting. Of course there were some negative things as well, which I’ll talk about in the next post.

Hey people, I’m baaaack!!

It’s been quite a long time since I’ve written here on my own website, but I’ve also done a lot of things over the past few months, most of which you already know about if you follow me on Facebook or Twitter. I’ve done lots of travelling, training, coaching, eating, recording, and living life. There’s a lot to tell you about, which is exactly what I’ll be doing during the final months of 2010.

So, why is this post called “The Final Countdown”? Simple; I’m in the final stages of completing my forthcoming CD, “Elements”. It’s a project that is actually a long time in the making, and I’m VERY proud of it, because it’s the result of all of my experiences over the last 5 years, packed into 12 songs. It is probably the best album I’ve done to date! I think you will like it.

Look for stories about my experiences in the recording studio, my summer vacation in the USA, and my time as a vocal coach on the german version of the casting show X-Factor, and more La-La Land adventures, all to be posted in the next few weeks. You’l definitely get a kick out of them!