Bro'Sis

Bro'Sis
Bro'Sis live at the Maschsee Festival in Hanover (2003)
General information
Genre (s)	R&B , pop
founding	2001
resolution	2006
Last occupation
singing	Ross Antony
singing	Hila Bronstein
singing	Shaham Joyce
singing	Faiz Mangat
singing	Giovanni Zarrella
former members
singing	Indira Weis (until 2003)

Bro'Sis [ ˈbɹəʊsɪs ] (short from "Brothers and Sisters") was a German R&B and pop band , originally consisting of Ross Antony , Hila Bronstein , Shaham Joyce , Faiz Mangat , Indira Weis and Giovanni Zarrella . The band emerged in 2001 from the second German season of the band casting show Popstars produced by Tresor TV and broadcast by RTL II . It sold over four million records. The five remaining band members after one member left separated in early 2006 and devoted themselves to their solo careers. The manager of the band was Anja Lukaseder .

Band history

Ross Antony and Indira Weis, Stuttgart 2002

2001: Foundation with Popstars

In the summer of 2001 the second season of pop stars started , this time an R&B band was wanted. “Musically, I had the Fugees in my head. It turned out to be difficult to accomplish because the American hip-hop reality does not exist in Germany. So we had to adapt such a concept to German reality, ” said Popstars producer Holger Roost-Macias looking back.

After an all- girl group was cast in the first season , this was the first time that male applicants were allowed to join pop stars . 10,947 candidates appeared from July 27 to August 31, 2001 for the castings in Frankfurt am Main , Cologne , Berlin , Stuttgart , Hamburg and Munich and faced the verdict of the jury, which consisted of the choreographer Detlef "D!" Soost , the Music producer Alex Christensen and singer and radio host Noah Sow existed. After various recalls and re-recalls, the jury members and the vocal coach Artemis Gounaki decided in the so-called “airport show” in Düsseldorf for 33 candidates who were allowed to travel to Ibiza (Spain) to attend a two-week workshop at Club Punta Arabi to be trained in singing, dancing and fitness. In the end, there were three female and five male candidates who moved into a loft in Munich to continue training and recording songs.

After RTL II previously called for suggestions for the band name, the broadcaster conducted a poll for the name of the group, whereby one of three suggestions could be voted in an Internet vote - “Bro'Sis (Brothers and Sisters)”, “The Gang ”or“ Nubiz ”could be correct. The majority of the television viewers decided on the band name Bro'Sis . This was announced on October 28, 2001.

In a special broadcast on November 11, 2001, the jury members Soost and Christensen announced that Ross Antony , Hila Bronstein , Shaham Joyce , Faiz Mangat , Verena "Indira" Weis and Giovanni Zarrella had been selected as band members.

On November 13, 2001 the band was introduced to 300 journalists in the Munich club “Stars”, where they performed the songs I Believe , Do You and Gimme Some Lovin ' .

On December 1, 2001, the sextet made its first public appearance at The Dome in Kiel's Ostseehalle in front of 14,000 fans. This is where the band's accompaniment by the Popstars program ended .

2002: Commercial breakthrough with the debut album Never Forget (Where You Come From)

Bro'Sis initially developed as successfully as the No Angels due to the media presence it received . On December 10, 2001 Bro'Sis released their debut single I Believe in Germany, Austria and Switzerland. It entered the charts at number 1 in all three countries and sold 800,000 times in the first week alone. This even beat the success the No Angels had in the first week with their debut single Daylight In Your Eyes . In Germany the band got three gold and two platinum for I Believe (1.5 million CDs sold). This made I Believe the most successful German newcomer release to date.

In January 2002 the band released their debut album Never Forget (Where You Come From) , which reached platinum status in Germany and was consequently number 11 in the 2002 album charts, which were compiled after sales. Due to the great interest in the band, Never Forget brought out two more top 10 hits with the double-A single Do You / Peace of Soul (February 2002) and Heaven Must Be Missing an Angel (June 2002). To promote the album, the Bro'Sis members did a short club tour and appeared in the opening act for O-Town . The band contributed the theme song for the RTL II anime series Shin Chan .

After touring with the Never Forget Tour through over 20 cities in Germany, Austria and Switzerland in May and June 2002 , Never Forget (Where You Come From) was released as a limited tour edition in June . The band presented their fourth single Hot Temptation at Popkomm . In October 2002 the single was able to place itself at number 4 in the German charts. The single also contained the Cat Stevens cover In the Cradle . A special winter edition of the album was released in November of the same year. The new release included Hot Temptation and the next single The Gift , a cover of 98 Degrees . The Gift became the band's first commercial failure, as the single only made it to number 16 in the charts in Germany and failed to make it into the top 100 in Switzerland.

2003: Separation from Indira and continuation of the career with the second album Days of Our Lives

Hila Bronstein and Shaham Joyce live (2003)

After a few months in which the band worked on recordings for their second album, the first release was the double A single Oh No / Never Stop in April 2003 . It was not able to place itself conspicuously in the charts in either Austria or Switzerland, but gave the band their fifth top 10 hit in Germany.

On May 9, 2003, five days before the release of the second album, the departure of Indira became known. She officially left the band due to musical differences. This was confirmed by Indira: “We just had different views musically. That became very clear when recording the second album. I saw Bro'Sis more in the corner of I Believe, a classic pop song that was also our biggest hit. The others wanted more into the hip-hop and R&B corner. I just don't see us as a credible R&B group. And so I didn't think it was cool that the choreography was geared towards this. "

The separation was preceded by a failed television interview with Stefan Raab , to which Indira was invited along with her bandmates Giovanni Zarrella and Faiz Mangat. Here she commented on a “ Madonna Special” from RTL moderated by Oliver Geissen , in which she had participated as a guest. She called the show a “total kidding” and said: “The goat was super bad and I would have loved to hit him in the face after the show.” The next day there was a band meeting. “Your appearance on TV total was actually just the trigger that we met to talk. It wasn't a crisis meeting, however, instead she called the band together the next day to apologize to us. From there it developed further. The idea had been in the air for a long time. We tried again and again to just keep going. But it didn't work anymore, " said Mangat. There was a vote in which three members wanted Indira to leave the band, two were against.

The bandmates accused Indira of unreliability and selfishness for a long time. Ross Antony reports in his biography The Inside Me about a competitive thinking between the female members. A dispute arose over a photo shoot for the FHM because, after the actual shoot was over, Indira secretly had new photos taken of herself in which she was more stylish and lascivious. As a result, Indira was shown in the magazine on half a page, while Hila Bronstein was only given a small photo. In addition, she canceled an appointment with the band because she allegedly had to have a wisdom tooth extracted due to a toothache . The band didn't believe her when she reappeared two days later with no visible result of treatment.

The five remaining band members released their second album Days of Our Lives on May 13, 2003 , which received only mediocre reviews. After the release, the band started a lightning tour in which they presented the songs of the second album in four cities in smaller halls. While the album entered the charts at number 10 in Germany, it missed the top 30 in Austria and Switzerland. In June 2003 the second single VIP was released , which debuted at number 19 in the German charts.

2004–2006: Release of the third album Showtime and the breakup of the band

After a long chart break, Bro'Sis returned in November 2003 with the TV Allstars - a Christmas project. Together with various artists from Popstars , Deutschland sucht den Superstar and Star Search she took a cover version of the charity veteran Do They Know It's Christmas? For a charity . from Band Aid from 1984 and landed at number 3 in the German single charts. She also contributed the song White Christmas for the TV Allstars album . Although Indira would also have been contractually obliged to take part in the project, she canceled her participation because she did not want to give the appearance of an "ideal world". Bro'Sis received gold with the TV Allstars for over 150,000 singles from Do They Know It's Christmas? and gold again for over 100,000 sold albums from The Ultimate Christmas Album .

Then Bro'Sis toured with the Popstars winners Overground and Preluders on the Popstars Tour through various German cities and presented some songs from their third album to the public for the first time. With Overground and the Preluders Bro'Sis also formed the formation Popstars United in March 2004 , which recorded the Beatles cover With a Little Help from My Friends for the second Red Nose Day .

Bro'Sis at the soundcheck before the last joint appearance in Celle (2005)

In March 2004, the first single from the third album U Build Me Up was released . A new, more international style should be chosen. The single rose to number 20 in the German charts. For the album release in August 2004 the song Make Up Your Mind was decoupled, but it was no longer released as a single, but only as a video and promo CD . Showtime recorded the band's lowest album entry at # 24. After three weeks, the album fell off the charts. In Austria and Switzerland the album missed the chart entry completely.

Due to the disappointing sales figures, the cartoon series Wiggle It - The Adventures of Bro'Sis , in which the band members of Bro'Sis save the world in 13 episodes as secret agents, was not broadcast. The broadcast date for RTL II was actually autumn 2004. Instead, the broadcast of the series has since been on hold.

The musical and personal differences within the band increased. Musically, the third album was strongly influenced by Joyce and Mangat, and with the departure of Indira, Hila Bronstein drew the concentrated attention of observers. Antony said: “Hila became the focus of our band. Suddenly the press said: “Hila and her men.” I admit: It annoyed me. ” Zarrella also confirmed the negative mood in the band: “ With decreasing success, dissatisfaction grew. There was also envy, resentment and reproaches. After three years the mood within the band was in the basement. I have been accused of not giving everything that I think is total nonsense. When I jumped into the stage pit to greet the fans, it was said that I was selfish, that I needed such actions for my ego. "

In late 2004, the band's record deal with Cheyenne Records expired and was not renewed. In 2005 the band mainly performed live. There was also the opportunity to work on individual projects. The band performed their last joint appearance in August 2005. The interruption announced as an “artistic break”, which the individual members wanted to use for their solo projects, turned out to be a final separation in early 2006. In June 2006 Giovanni Zarrella finally announced the end of the group: “There was never an official end. Our last gig took place in August 2005. We actually wanted to meet again in January 2006. That didn't happen. [...] The band doesn't exist anymore. The Bro'Sis theme is history. "

From 2008: failed comeback plans

Together with Ross Antony, Giovanni released the single I Can't Dance Alone in 2010

After Ross Antony did the show Ich bin ein Star - Get me out of here at the beginning of 2008 . won and Giovanni Zarrella landed a top 10 hit with Wundervoll , the theme song of the docu-soap Jana Ina & Giovanni - We are pregnant , there were plans for the band to make a comeback. Zarrella commented on the plans: "If there is anything together, then like a bang, an album, a tour - and that's it for good." The band members met in November 2008. Antony described on the show The Ultimate Chart Show on November 21, 2008 the course of the meeting: “There will be no comeback at Bro'Sis. We met two weeks ago. We got on really well and we actually became good friends. And we said after 4 or 5 years we would let it end with success and don't want to keep trying like many other bands. Our time was then. "

In January 2010 Giovanni Zarrella released the single I Can't Dance Alone as a duo together with Ross Antony as part of his docu-soap Jana Ina & Giovanni - Pizza, Pasta & Amore .

style

music

Bro'Sis in Hamburg (2004)

Bro'Sis was an R&B hip hop pop formation. Artist & Repertoire Manager Nik Hafemann was responsible for selecting the songs for all three albums. According to his own statement, he was looking for “the pieces that do justice to the band's image and reflect their identity. With No Angels it was R&B pop for me, with Bro'Sis R&B funk. "

In addition to Alex Christensen, other German producers such as Toni Cottura, Thorsten Brötzmann, Syndicate Music and Marc Mozart were responsible for the first album Never Forget (Where You Come From) .

The second album Days of Our Lives remained musically true to the style of the debut album. It contains, among other things, the song Get Me Some , which was also recorded by the Australian boy band Mercury 4, which landed a number 5 hit in their homeland.

With the third album Showtime a musical change took place. It received positive reviews comparing the band's new sound to that of the early Black Eyed Peas . The first single U Build Me Up was written by Blair Mackichan, producer was Fredrik "Fredro" Odesjo, who had already worked for Dannii Minogue and Billy Crawford . The track Lie About Us included on the album was later also released as a duet by Avant and Nicole Scherzinger .

Texts

Bro'Sis had mostly English-language texts. Zarrella only contributed Italian stanzas to the song Attentione . Thematically, the songs deal primarily with love and partnership as well as self-discovery. The band's repertoire also includes party songs, such as Hot Temptation . The band members also contributed to some of the lyrics. Thus Peace of Soul a modified version of Indira self-written song My luck , they at pop stars just before deciding who would make it into the band introduced. Antony co-wrote Too Good to Be True on the B-side . While the above-mentioned songs only appeared on the band's singles, their own compositions were only heard on the third album. Mangat's song Funk You represents a settlement with the retired Indira and the band's critics, and Wanna Be Free is the result of unified band work.

public perception

Giovanni Zarrella at the last Bro'Sis performance in Celle

Bro'Sis was a group that polarized strongly at the beginning. While there was a lot of public interest in the band thanks to the program Popstars , the critics saw in it a product of the reality TV age. This situation is also made clear by a quote from Toten Hosen member Campino shortly after the debut single was released: “It is perverse that these Bro'Sis sell 800,000 records in a week. But I don't want to complain about the people out there getting what they deserve. "

When it was founded, it was important that the band differ musically and image-wise from the No Angels, the winners of the first season. While the No Angels were glamorous, they wanted Bro'Sis, according to a quote from jury member Detlef "D!" Soost, a "rough street style" . In order to offer the target group, which mainly consisted of young girls, a high potential for identification with the band, it was filled with different characters. Indira was seen as the humorous half-Indian, Ross Antony as the sensitive Brit, Shaham Joyce as the cool rapper, Faiz Mangat as the clown, Giovanni Zarrella as the Italian swarm of girls and Hila Bronstein as the Israeli chick of the band.

But the credibility of the band's image was called into question because of the predominant pop influences and the commercial nature of the band. “It's pop music and we stand by it. We never said we were the hardcore R&B ghetto band. We also stand by being in the charts and are committed to a - yes: - certain commercialism. And for 'I Believe' we don't have to hang around between burning garbage cans for the song to come across as credible. It has a very simple message, we don't say, 'Guys, wake up!' or something. ”Indira explained the band's initial image. The public image of the band members was also adapted to the uniform group image. In the beginning, the homosexuality of Ross Antony was kept secret and his age was given three years younger so that he and Hila Bronstein are not so far apart. In order not to endanger his image as a “rowdy rapper”, when Shaham Joyce entered into a relationship, the management asked for discretion, as his partner was not a well-known personality.

The band was also in direct comparison to the No Angels, whose constant success Bro'Sis was unable to build on. This only succeeded until 2002, when the band achieved several top 10 positions in the German charts and won important music prizes. When Deutschland sucht den Superstar became a mass phenomenon in 2003 and all the major broadcasters began looking for talented singers, Bro'Sis' success also declined noticeably. Her second album Days of Our Lives only stayed in the German album charts for six weeks and her single VIP , the first single after the breakup with Indira, reached number 19 in Germany, but remained outside the Austrian and Swiss charts.

After the failures, the band decided to realign their identity. They wanted to be understood as a credible R&B hip-hop pop formation and to prove a further development with the album. This should be done through a more mature and more R&B heavy music. The band members also presented themselves as songwriters for the first time. "We wanted to leave the past largely behind and start anew, to reinvent ourselves, as it were." , Faiz Mangat explained the goals set for the third album Showtime . Hila Bronstein was also euphoric: “With this record we will fight our way free and assert our actual musical style one hundred percent. Our main goal is to get people to recognize us for who we actually are. ”However, our own claim and criticism stood in contrast to the sales figures, which in fact sealed the end of the band.

Discography

→ Main article : Bro'Sis / Discography

Studio albums

year	Title music label	Top ranking, total weeks, awardChart placementsChart placements (Year, title, music label , placements, weeks, awards, notes)			Remarks
		DE	AT	CH
2002	Never Forget (Where You Come From) Cheyenne Records ( UMG )	DE1 × 2 Double platinum (39 weeks)DE	AT1 gold (19 weeks)AT	CH6th gold (13 weeks)CH	First published: Jan 28, 2002 Sales: +640,000
2003	Days of Our Lives Cheyenne Records (UMG)	DE10 (6 weeks) DE	AT37 (4 weeks) AT	CH39 (5 weeks) CH	First published: May 12, 2003
2004	Showtime Cheyenne Records (UMG)	DE24 (3 weeks) DE	-	-	First published: August 30, 2004

Awards

Ross Antony with Bambi (2002)

2001

• Golden Penguin: Newcomer of the Year

2002

• Bravo Otto (Gold): Shooting Star Act
• Radio SAW “Mega Ei” Award places 1 & 2 in the listener charts
• Golden Europe Newcomer of the Year
• Comet : Newcomer National (audience award)
• Bambi : Best Pop National
• Top of the Pops Award (Germany) Best Newcomer Germany
• Top of the Pops Award (Lithuania) Best Newcomer Germany

literature

• Dunja M. Pechner, Michael Fuchs-Gamböck: Popstars backstage , Rockbuch Verlag 2004, ISBN 3-927638-27-7
• Nadja Otterbach, Ross Antony: The Inside Me - Das Leben eines Popstars , Machtwortverlag 2007, ISBN 978-3-86761-000-1
• Nova Engels: Bro'Sis , Egmondt vgs verlagsgesellschaft mbH 2002, ISBN 3-8025-2920-0

Web links

Commons : Bro'Sis  - album with pictures, videos and audio files

• Bro'Sis at laut.de

swell

1. ↑ http://www.vox.de/53_282.php?id=525&event_id=278
2. ^ ^{A b} Dunja M. Pechner, Michael Fuchs-Gamböck: Popstars backstage . Buhmann & Haeseler Verlag, ISBN 3-927638-27-7 , p. 19
3. ↑ RTL II informs: "POPSTARS" - what should the new band be called? The big voting on the three favorites of the editors at www.rtl2.de
4. ↑ Archived copy ( memento of the original from October 25, 2008 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. 
5. ↑ http://www.mediabiz.de/newsvoll.afp?Nnr=109184&Biz=musicbiz&Premium=N&Navi=01150500&T=1 Popstars "Bro'Sis" more and more successful: album already platinum status
6. ^ "Album Charts of the Year 2002" , Markenplatz.de, July 11, 2002
7. ↑ http://www.musicline.de/de/artist/Bro%2527sis/morefacts
8. ↑ Archive link ( Memento of the original dated June 8, 2009 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. Indira gets out  
9. ^ ^{A b} Dunja M. Pechner, Michael Fuchs-Gamböck: Popstars backstage . Buhmann & Haeseler Verlag, ISBN 3-927638-27-7 , p. 88
10. ↑ Dunja M. Pechner, Michael Fuchs-Gamböck: Popstars backstage . Buhmann & Haeseler Verlag, ISBN 3-927638-27-7 , p. 87
11. ^ Ross Antony, Nadja Otterbach: The Inside Me . Machtwort Verlag, ISBN 978-3-86761-000-1 , p. 181
12. ^ Ross Antony, Nadja Otterbach: The Inside Me . Machtwort Verlag, ISBN 978-3-86761-000-1 , p. 182
13. ^ Wiggle It - The Adventures of Bro'Sis , found March 14, 2008
14. ^ Ross Antony, Nadja Otterbach: The Inside Me . Machtwort Verlag, ISBN 978-3-86761-000-1 , p. 183
15. ↑ ^{a b} in - Das Star-Magazin No. 28/6 July 2006, p. 27
16. ↑ http://www.derwesten.de/staedte/dortmund/mein-leben-ist-wundervoll-id1422894.html "My life is wonderful"
17. ↑ Archive link ( Memento of the original from January 29, 2009 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. Video with Antony's statement  
18. ↑ ^{a b c} Dunja M. Pechner, Michael Fuchs-Gamböck: Popstars backstage . Buhmann & Haeseler Verlag, ISBN 3-927638-27-7 , p. 209
19. ↑ Dunja M. Pechner, Michael Fuchs-Gamböck: Popstars backstage . Buhmann & Haeseler Verlag, ISBN 3-927638-27-7 , p. 121
20. ↑ Archived copy ( Memento of the original from August 20, 2009 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. 
21. ^ Ross Antony, Nadja Otterbach: The Inside Me . Machtwort Verlag, ISBN 978-3-86761-000-1 , p. 184
22. ↑ Archive link ( Memento of the original from August 21, 2009 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.  
23. ↑ Laut.de: Campino: 800,000 Bro'Sis CDs per week? Perverse!
24. ↑ Archive link ( Memento of the original from January 20, 2009 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.  
25. ↑ http://www.beepworld.de/members92/julia-brosis-hila/brosis_history.htm
26. ↑ Pop music "Popstars" band "Bro'Sis" and their credibility
27. ^ Ross Antony, Nadja Otterbach: The Inside Me . Machtwort Verlag, ISBN 978-3-86761-000-1 , p. 159
28. ↑ http://www.abendblatt.de/hamburg/article869053/BroSis-Star-macht-jetzt-in-Espresso.html
29. ↑ Pop band Bro'Sis: More successful than No Angels. In: Spiegel Online . December 13, 2001, accessed June 9, 2018 . 
30. ↑ http://www.quotenmeter.de/cms/?p1=n&p2=35630&p3=
31. ↑ CD awards. ( Memento of November 16, 2007 in the Internet Archive ) ross-antony.com, accessed on March 30, 2020.