Alexander Klaws

Early life

Alexander had a typical childhood growing up in Sendenhorst, Germany with his parents Richard and Hildegard and older sister Melanie (born 1980). He was an avid soccer player, and still plays soccer on charity teams whenever he finds the time. Alexander's musical gifts became apparent when he was still in elementary school. He made his first television appearance at the age of 10, performing Haddaway's "What Is Love" on a national TV show for children. By the time he was 13, Alexander was already taking vocal and piano lessons to strengthen his voice.

Career

In 2002 Klaws participated in the first season of Deutschland sucht den Superstar. Although he was seen as one of the more inconspicuous finalists at the very beginning of the show, he was able to boost his popularity constantly with standout performances of Robbie Williams' "Angels" or Michael Sembello's "Maniac". In the end he beat out runner-up Juliette Schoppmann. He earned 70.1 percent of the vote. This record would stand until 2007 when Mark Medlock gained 78.02 percent of the vote in the finale of the 4th season. Alexander is also one of the two DSDS winners to have never been in the bottom three.

DSDS Performances

Alexander's first single "Take Me Tonight" (written and produced by judge Dieter Bohlen) was released in March 2003 via BMG. The song debuted at number 1 on the German, and Swiss singles charts and sold more than 1 million copies domestically, becoming the third most successful single of the year. In May he followed-up with his debut album Take Your Chance, which saw similar success and spawned a second single "Stay with Me". At the end of a year he entered the top of the charts again with "Free Like the Wind", the soundtrack to the German TV movie Held der Gladiatoren.

In 2004 Klaws returned with his second album Here I Am. Like its predecessor, the album debuted at number 1 on the German charts, but it ultimately failed to live up to the overwhelming success of his debut album. In spite of this, the album managed to snag Klaws another three top-20 hits with "Behind the Sun", "Sunshine After the Rain" and "Here I Am". He went on to record and release a duet with German singer Sabrina Weckerlin, "All (I Ever Want)", the theme song to the musical The Three Musketeers.

After a brief absence from the limelight Alexander returned in early 2006 with the single "Not Like You" and his third album Attention!. Both the album and the single barely made it to the top 20 on the German charts. As a result of Attention!'s relatively weak showing, SonyBMG opted not to release another single from the album.

As of January 2007, Alexander Klaws is playing Alfred in the musical play Tanz der Vampire in Theatre des Westens, Berlin. He remained with the musical until late March 2008 when Tanz der Vampire was replaced by the musical Elisabeth. His fourth album was released in early April. It is the first album that Klaws has done that is completely in his mother language of German.

Discography

Albums

• Take Your Chance (2003) #1 GER
• Here I Am (2004) #1 GER
• Attention! (2006) #20 GER
• Was willst Du noch?! (2008) #28 GER

Singles