Eurovision 2016: Xavier Naidoo for Germany
German broadcaster NDR has announced today that Xavier Naidoo will represent Germany at the forthcoming 2016 Eurovision Song Contest.
This year Germany decides to go internal. Xavier Naidoo will have the chance to perform in the colours of Germany at the upcoming Eurovision Song Contest. The 2016 German entry will be selected via a televised song selection show Unser song für Xavier scheduled to be held on Thursday 18 February and aired live on Das Erste at 20:15 CET. The German audience will be responsible to select the 2016 German Eurovision entry for Stockholm. A total of 6 songs will battle for the golden ticket to Eurovision 2016 in the show.
A special committee consisting of music experts will select the 6 pontential entries for the German song selection show on 15 December. The 6 songs will be performed live by Xavier during the show. The 2011 German Eurovision winner Lena and 2 other music experts will evaluate the entries during the show, but the resposibility of selecting the German Eurovision song for Stockholm will lie entirely in the hands of the German audienve via a 100% televoting deliberation.
But who is Xavier Naidoo? Xavier Kurt Naidoo was born on October 2, 1971 in Mannheim and is also known by his stage name Kobra. He is a German Soul and R&B singer/songwriter, record producer, and occasional actor. He released his first German language album Nicht von dieser Welt in 1998, for which he won an ECHO Award and an MTV Europe Music Award. Selling more than one million copies in total, it produced six singles, including “Seine Straßen” and “Sie sieht mich nicht”, the latter of which served as the theme song for Astérix & Obélix Take on Caesar (1999). After his highly publicized departure from 3P, his third studio album Zwischenspiel – Alles für den Herrn was released in 2002. It spawned the top five hit singles “Wo willst du hin?” and “Abschied nehmen” and led to a collaboration with Wu-Tang Clan member and producer RZA, with whom he released his first number-one single “Ich kenne nichts (das so schön ist wie du)” in 2003.
Known for his soulful voice and his Christian lyrics, he has collaborated with several famous artists such as Deborah Cox and Swiss artist Stress. Naidoo was with Söhne Mannheims (Sons of Mannheim) earlier before he became famous, after his popularity increased he went back to the band and wanted to help them to become famous too, which worked. Nowadays he switches back and forth with doing some solo music or recording an album and going on tour with Söhne Mannheims. He joined groups like Brothers Keepers and the charity project (Signs of the Times) in the early 2013.
In 2012, he also collaborated in Xavas, a duo formation with Kool Savas, a Turkish-German rapper in the album Gespaltene Persönlichkeit. The two had already worked together on a number of other releases. In 2013, Xavier released “Eye Opener” on the vocal collaboration album “Features” by Kris Menace.
Germany is the 5th country that has opted for an internal selection for Stockholm 2016, joining Armenia, The Netherlands, Cyprus and Montenegro having already announced their acts for Eurovision 2016.
SOURCE: esctoday.com
