Sarah Connor (singer)
Sarah Connor |
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Sarah Terenzi (née Tulaganova; born June 13, 1980), better known as Sarah Connor, is a German singer, songwriter, and dancer. She debuted 1980 in Bishkek (former Frunze) night club "Kleopatra". Later, in 2001 under the guidance of producers Rob Tyger and Kay Denar, who visited Kleopatra in 1985, she became the first act to ever have four consecutive chart-topping hits on the German Media Control singles chart. Following a major international success with her single "From Sarah with Love", a series of hit records established her position as one of the most successful German pop vocalists to emerge in the early 2000s.
Connor has been married to American pop rock musician Marc Terenzi since 2004. The couple has a son named Tyler (born 2004) and a daughter named Summer (born 2006).
Biography
Early life
Connor is the eldest of six siblings born to Michael Lewe, an advertising writer of American descent,[1] and his ex-wife Soraya Gray, a former fashion model and homemaker of Scottish and German heritage,[1] in Delmenhorst, Lower Saxony. She has four sisters: Anna Maria, Marisa, Sophia-Luisa (born 1992) and Valentina (born 1996); and one brother, Robin.
Sarah grew up listening to soul music under the influence of her paternal grandfather, a New Orleans native, and by an early age she started singing gospel music in a church choir and appearing in school musicals. In her teen years Connor tried out and was accepted to a performing arts school. Although all students were required to choose an instrument, Sarah was the only one allowed to study voice. She took vocal lessons once a week and worked as a waitress in a hotel to pay for them. She said it inspired her to work hard so someday 'she could be the one performing instead of serving'.
2000-2001: Career beginnings and development
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Her first big break came at the age of seventeen when she was picked from her school to sing at a Michael Jackson concert in Germany. Inspired, she quit school in twelfth grade and started sending off demo tapes to record labels and producers under the name Sarah Grey. She insisted she picked just the right deal, wanting to keep creative control. In 2001 she was finally decided to sign with Sony Music's sub-label X-Cell Records under her new pseudonym Sarah Connor.
Once signed with X Cell Sarah began working with such producers as Bülent Aris, Toni Cottura, Diane Warren, and the production duo Rob Tyger, and Kay Denar (KayRob) for her debut album.
Green Eyed Soul, was released on November 26, 2001. Sarah co-wrote four songs on the album which yielded her first two singles "Let's Get Back to Bed - Boy!", a collaboration with American R&B singer TQ, and "French Kissing", a song based on BLACKstreet's "No Diggity". However, it was the album's third single "From Sarah with Love" which reached the top position in Germany, Poland, Portugal, and Switzerland and raised Connor's fame all over Europe. The song was one of the most successful records of 2002, and eventually garnered the singer a Comet and an ECHO Award. Album reviews were generally positive, with LAUT especially praising Connor's vocal strengths.[2]
2002-2003: Continued Success
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To follow the success work quickly began on Connor's second album. Unbelievable was released in 2002 in Europe. Wyclef Jean wrote, produced and rapped on the CD's first single, "One Nite Stand (of Wolves and Sheep)", which once again entered the top 5. Unbelievable simultaneously became another smash, achieving gold status in Germany within 48 hours. The album was so successful it spawned another 3 singles: the Diane Warren penned "Skin on Skin", "He's Unbelievable" and "Bounce" (which would be released as a single on 3 different occasions and countries including the United States.)
To help build buzz for her up and coming 3rd album a DVD was recorded and released. Sarah Connor Live - A Night to Remember: Pop Meets Classic was recorded in January, 2003 and released in October, 2003. A night to remember was mainly Sarah's songs; but with an actual classical Orchestra backing her up.
In spite of being heavily pregnant with her first child then, Sarah decided to release her third album called Key To My Soul in November 2003. However, the album's first single, "Music Is the Key", featuring New York a cappella singers Naturally 7 managed to become her second #1 in Germany. "Just One Last Dance", the next and final single (due to the birth of her son Tyler around this time), was a re-recorded edition of the album's original version, including new vocals by Marc Terenzi's band "Natural". The duet once again reached #1 in Germany, Switzerland and Austria and the top 20 on a composite World Top 40.
In fall of 2003 some American DJs got a hold of Sarah's previous hit "Bounce". Soon "Bounce" was getting heavy radio airplay and Sony Records decided to release a CD of her songs in the United States. Sarah was about six months pregnant when "Bounce" started hitting the singles charts (it peaked in the top 40) so she wasn't able to promote. A compilation of her previous three album's singles, titled Sarah Connor, was released in the Winter of 2004, a few weeks before her son Tyler was born. The album debuted at #106 on the album charts and never climbed again due to lack of promotion.[3]
2004-2005: New image
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In fall 2004 after recovering from the birth of her first son, Sarah returned with "Living To Love You", which peaked at #1 in Germany and Switzerland. In March 2005 she contributed the soundtrack to the computer-animated movie Robots with her single "From Zero To Hero", her fifth #1 single in Germany and the fourth #1 in a row.
In the Summer of 2005 Sarah and her husband Marc starred in their own "reality show" Sarah and Marc in Love. The series (no matter how cheesy some fans felt it was) was a smash hit and helped relaunch Sarah's diva status and made Marc Terenzi (now a solo artist) a known name. The series was a one off type "documentary" that led up to Sarah and Marc's rewedding in Spain at the end of July. Marc had recorded a song for Sarah called "Love to be Loved by You", which became an instant hit. A DVD featuring all the episodes was released on November 25, 2005 to help promote her tour.
In December 2005 as she toured to support her album Naughty but Nice Sarah released a Christmas album called Christmas in my heart. The same titled single went to #4 in the charts, while the album reached the top 10 of the German single chart. Christmas in my heart wasn't a typical Christmas album: Sarah put a jazzy spin on old favorites and remade German language Christmas tunes.
2006-Present: Finding Soul
It was announced during her tour in December of 2005 that Sarah was again pregnant and so for the time being her music was put on hold. On November 24th Sarah released a new Christmas single titled "The Best Side of Life". The song debuted at #6 on the German charts. "The Best Side of Life" also had the honor of being part of Coca Cola's Christmas Promotional campaign in Germany (this isn't the first time she's worked with Coca Cola; Diet Coke was a sponsor for Sarah and Marc in Love).
On the same date Sarah also reissued her Christmas album, Christmas in my heart, this time featuring the new single. The reissue debuted at #49 on the German charts. Her final 2006 release was the Christmas in my heart DVD.
In February 2007 it was announced Sarah was working on a new album, Soulicious. It is mainly made up of 70s Motown covers such as "Son of a Preacher Man" and "Sexual Healing", but includes two originals. The lead single "The Impossible Dream (The Quest)" was featured in a publicity campaign for the comeback fight of German boxer Henry Maske.
Soulicious has been promoted heavily, including several radio promotional visits, TV performances, and a cover story with the German debut of Vanity Fair. Released on March 30th the album debuted at #6 in Germany.
Personal life
Sarah speaks 3 languages fluently: English, German, and Spanish. She is a vegetarian and a supporter of PETA.[citation needed] She says she became a vegetarian because her idol Michael Jackson is also one.
As her musical career began there was quite a bit of buzz over the fact that Sarah was dating Martin Scholz; who was a member of a local boy band 'Touche`'.[4] After dating Martin she was rumored to be dating her fellow collaborator TQ. She began dating Wyclef Jean around the time "One Night Stand" was released (which her label played up to the media) though she dumped him once she met Marc Terenzi.
Marc was part of the American boy band Natural. The pair met on July 27, 2002 when they were both performing on the Bravo Happy Holidays festival in Rust, Germany.[5] The couple soon fell in love but faced some problems. Both being famous the relationship was no secret; Marc's manager Lou Pearlman was not happy about that. As ex Natural member Michael Johnson said in an interview on his site: Lou had rules for his boy bands. No facial hair, no public drinking, and no girlfriends or wives. Marc refused to end the relationship and once Sarah was pregnant rumors had it that Lou gave the ultimatum: replace Marc or end the band. The members decided not to replace Marc (who was a founding member) and the band ended.
In June, 2003 the couple became engaged and announced Sarah was pregnant with their first child. Their first child Tyler Marc Terenzi was born February 2nd, 2004 in Orlando, Florida. On February 29th, 2004 the couple invited their friends to a dinner supposedly to celebrate the birth of their son. However they announced that they in fact had eloped.
The couple renewed their vows this time with a big family wedding on August 18, 2005 in Altafulla, Spain; near Barcelona. The wedding was the subject of their docusoap Sarah and Marc in love.
On June 23, 2006 Sarah gave birth to their second child, a girl, named Summer Antonia Soraya. Summer was named after Marc's mother Antonia and Sarah's mother Soraya. It was revealed a short time later that Summer had a hole in her heart. She was operated on in August 2006 and has been fine ever since.
Impact and Controversy
Sarah has made quite an impact in Germany as well as surrounding countries. She is one of the best selling German artist of all time holding records for having four consecutive #1s (ending with "From Zero to Hero"), and five #1s overall (four of which are ballads). She ties with Modern Talking and Boney M for this feat.
Image wise her image and logo have graced quite a few products. In Germany outside of her promotional items (from t-shirts to flip flops), she has her own line of jeans, perfume, and even her own cakes.[6]
Sarah has also been embroiled in a few controversies. In January 2002, she performed on the popular German TV show Wetten dass? wearing a tight and revealing dress. Rumors swirled she had worn no panties, which created such a controversy that the front pages of popular tabloids (including Bild) ran headlines about it. Connor had actually worn skin colored panties so they would not show. She later auctioned the dress off for charity.
In June 2005, she got into another controversy, when she performed the German national anthem at the opening ceremony of the new stadium in Munich, at the Allianz Arena, singing "Brüh im Lichte dieses Glückes" ("Scald in the light of this luck") instead of "Blüh im Glanze dieses Glückes" ("Blossom in the glamor of this luck").
Unfortunately some of the impact and controversy has also touched her personal life. In 2005, German comedian Oliver Pocher on his show Rent a Pocher mocked and parodied Connor's reality show Sarah and Marc in Love. Not liking having her family mocked Connor brought legal action against him. The outcome is unknown but he did eventually apologize.
Discography
#1 Singles
- "Let's Get Back to Bed - Boy!" (Poland)
- "From Sarah with Love" (Germany, Poland, Portugal, Switzerland)
- "Music Is the Key" (Germany)
- "Just One Last Dance" (Germany, Poland)
- "Living to Love You" (Germany, Switzerland, Poland)
- "From Zero to Hero" (Germany, Europe)
#1 Albums
- "Naughty but Nice" (Germany)
Awards
- Comet - "Best National Newcomer"
- Top of the Pops Award - "Best German Newcomer"
- 2002
- ECHO - "Best National Female Rock/Pop"
- Goldene Europa - "Most Successful German Female Singer"
- BRAVO Otto - "Supersinger National" (Silver Otto)
- Radio Regenbogen Award - "Best Hit 2001" ("From Sarah with Love")
- Maxim - "Woman of the Year - Popstar"
- 2003
- Radio Hamburg Award - "Best Female National Pop Act"
- 2004
- World Music Award - "Best Selling German Artist"
- Neo Award - "Most Successful Download Album" ("Key to My Soul")
- 2005
- Diva Awards - "Music Artist of the Year"
- Goldenen Kamera - "Pop National"
- BRAVO Otto - "Supersinger Female" (Golden Otto)
- Comet - "Best Female Artist"
- Eins Live Krone - "Best Female Artist"
- 2006
- BRAVO Otto - "Supersinger Female" (Golden Otto)
- Comet - "Best Female Singer"
Notes
- ^ a b ""Sarah Connor: Das nackte Leben"". Vanity Fair Magazine. Retrieved 2007-06-12.
- ^ "Green Eyed Soul review". LAUT. Retrieved 2007-06-07.
- ^ "Sarah Connor Chat History". All Music. 2001-04-24.
{{cite web}}: Unknown parameter|CONNOR&sql=ignored (help) - ^ "The beginning of her professional career". Absolute Sarah Connor. 2001-04-24.
- ^ "The love story". Absolute Sarah Connor. 2001-04-24.
- ^ "Sarah Merchandise and Collectables". Absolute Sarah Connor. 2001-04-24.