Mark Medlock

Mark Medlock (2009)

Mark Leon Medlock (born July 9, 1978 in Frankfurt am Main ) is a German pop singer and soul pop artist. He became known as the winner of the fourth season of the talent show Deutschland sucht den Superstar ( DSDS for short ), which was broadcast from January to May 2007 by the private television broadcaster RTL .

In his career, Medlock has sold more than three million records, won the Echo and numerous other music prizes and has been awarded gold and platinum several times.

Life and works

childhood and education

U2 opening in Vienna , 2008

Mark Medlock was founded in 1978 in Frankfurt am Main, the son of from the US state of Georgia dating African American born Larry Medlock and his German wife Monika. From 1986 he grew up with his brother Larry in the Offenbach Lohwaldsiedlung before moving with his family to the Lauterborn district in 1997 . His talent for singing was encouraged from the age of six by his father, who had devoted himself to gospel singing . Since then, Medlock has named soul legends such as Barry White and James Brown as his role models.

Mark Medlock earned his living by changing jobs: for example as a nurse, in a gardening shop, in a hotel kitchen and in the garbage collection. The singer is open about his homosexuality . From 2001 to 2004 he lived in a registered civil partnership. In addition to singing, his hobbies include abstract painting .

Commercial success through DSDS

ZDF television garden 2008

In autumn 2006, Mark Medlock took part in the auditions for the talent show Deutschland sucht den Superstar on the German TV station RTL. On September 9th, 2006 at the casting in Wiesbaden he achieved his talent with Otis Reddings (Sittin 'on) the Dock of the Bay and Guide me to light by Xavier Naidoo in front of the jury, consisting of Dieter Bohlen, Heinz Henn and Anja Lukaseder to prove. After the recall in Berlin and the top 20 shows that Medlock played with Easy by The Commodores and Ain't No Sunshine by Bill Withers , he got into the motto shows, in which he almost exclusively performed his soul repertoire . In the final of Deutschland sucht den Superstar on May 5, 2007, the ninth theme show, he won the audience vote with 78.02 percent of calls and defeated his opponent Martin Stosch from Postau in Bavaria with Louis Armstrong's What a Wonderful World , Lionel Richie's previously interpreted piece Easy and the title Now or Never, written by Dieter Bohlen .

The winning track was released on May 11, 2007 as a single, which immediately took first place in the German music charts with 160,000 CD sales . This was followed by appearances on the RTL entertainment show Let's Dance and on The Dome 42, as well as the album Mr. Lonely from June 15 . Previously Medlock had with the other nine participants of DSDS motto shows Sampler Power of Love added on which he titled Endless Love by Lionel Richie and Diana Ross and together with the other candidate Harold Melvin's If You Do not Know Me By Now interpreted would have. The album was released in March 2007 and climbed to number 3 in the German album charts . Medlock and Bohlen also occasionally went on stage together, for example in the ZDF program “ Wetten, dass ..? “ On June 23, 2007.

Mark Medlock was already a favorite in the run-up to the DSDS final. The protege of Dieter Bohlen had during the talent show alongside his soulful voice, his worried as loose and permeable felt kind and unusual hairstyle creations by intimate details of his private life hit the headlines in the popular press, starting with his first sexual experience, about the failed relationship with his Husband and breakdowns during the show to the psychological distress after the death of his parents. As a result, the singer, who was under contract with the record label Sony BMG , was seen by the Süddeutsche Zeitung as “the prototype of a star”. The production company and the media used these strokes of fate to make Medlock's participation in DSDS the last chance to give his life a positive turn. At that time he did not have a regular job and was also in debt with 6000 euros.

After winning Germany looking for the superstar , Mark Medlock first moved from Offenbach to Berlin . In the broadcasts around the casting show, the Hessian had described his hometown as a ghetto and a sad town . Apart from the social workers in the local youth center Sandgasse , who also looked after him while Germany is looking for the superstar , Offenbach refused to give him any support due to his social origin and sexual orientation. The city administration denied that.

Appearances on "Deutschland sucht den Superstar"

Top 20 show	song	Original interpreter	Callers in percent
1. Top 20 show	Easy	Lionel Richie	41.25% (place 1 of 9)
2. Top 20 show	Ain't no sunshine	Bill Withers	33.23% (place 1 of 7)
Motto show	song	Original interpreter	Callers in percent
Greatest hits	Hello	Lionel Richie	25.85% (place 1 of 10)
80s and 90s hits	Unchain my heart	Joe Cocker	30.77% (place 1 of 9)
Power of Love	Endless love	Lionel Richie & Diana Ross	30.43% (place 1 of 8)
Today's hits	You give me something	James Morrison	31.64% (place 1 of 7)
Big Band	Unforgettable	Nat King Cole	34.62% (1st place of 6)
The greatest divas and heroes of music	I Heard It Through the Grapevine	Marvin Gaye	36.06% (1st place of 5)
	Three Times a Lady	Lionel Richie
Hits of the 70s, disco and dedicated to ...	You're My First, My Last, My Everything	Barry White	48.13% (1st place of 4)
	Stand by Me	Ben E. King
Songs of the jury	You Can Leave Your Hat on (selected by Heinz Henn )	Joe Cocker	59.00% (1st place of 3)
	My Girl (selected by Anja Lukaseder )	The Temptations
	(Sittin 'on) The Dock of the Bay (selected by Dieter Bohlen)	Otis Redding
final	What a Wonderful World	Louis Armstrong	78.02% (1st place of 2)
	Easy	The Commodores
	Now or Never	Mark Medlock

Cooperation with Dieter Bohlen

Cologne 2008

Already in the summer of 2007 Medlock recorded songs for his second album with his producer Dieter Bohlen . It was released on November 9, 2007 and is titled Dreamcatcher . With the album, Medlock and Bohlen were able to place themselves at number 2 in the German album charts. The album also achieved gold status and later platinum.

The album only brought out the single Unbelievable as a duet with Bohlen. Unbelievable was released on October 26, 2007 and was presented in advance on the RTL casting show Das Supertalent . In the same month, Medlock published his autobiography Ehrlich , in which he traces his rise from Hartz IV recipient to television star. The book stayed on the bestseller lists until mid-November.

From February 2, 2008 to April 5, 2008, Medlock toured with the Dreamcatcher Tour 2008 through 28 cities in Germany , Austria and Switzerland . His Dreamcatcher concert in Offenbach (March 30, 2008, Offenbach City Hall ) was recorded and released as a DVD on August 8, 2008.

Career as a solo artist

On May 2nd, 2008 his single Summer Love was released , which was at the top of the German single charts for three weeks. The album Cloud Dancer followed on May 30, 2008. It rose to number two in the German album charts.

In autumn 2008, Mark Medlock was on the jury of the RTL show Die singende Firma together with Sandy Mölling and Joachim Llambi .

From December 2008 to February 2009 Mark Medlock was on his second tour (Clouddancer Tour), on which he presented his album Cloud Dancer with his single Summer Love .

In May 2009, Medlock's album Club Tropicana was released ; it reached number three on the German album charts. The single Mamacita was released on April 24, 2009 and rose to number two in the German single charts. In September 2009 the single Baby Blue was released, it reached number 4 in the singles charts. Mark Medlock's cluster headache was reported in the tabloids in 2009 . In November 2009 the soul-pop artist was on a Germany-wide Club Tropicana tour .

On April 9, 2010 his single Real Love was released , which entered the German single charts at number 2. On April 30, the corresponding album Rainbow's End followed , which reached number 3 on the album charts.

Sweat (A La La La La Long) , a cover version of the Inner Circle hit that Medlock recorded together with the 2010 American Idol winner Mehrzad Marashi , also took second place in the singles category. The following single Maria Maria followed on August 6th and was the first single to not make it into the German top ten.

In October 2010 Mark Medlock was on a Germany-wide Rainbow's End tour.

In September 2011 Dieter Bohlen , who had produced all of Medlock's albums to date, announced that they had ended their collaboration on a friendly basis. The reason for this is Medlock's desire to develop musically.

On October 14, 2011, the single The Other Side of Broken was released . On October 21, 2011 the soul cover album My World was released , produced by Wolfgang N. Dalheimer and Nik Hafemann. The album reached number 22 in Germany, the single The Other Side of Broken came to number 55.

New management, new place of residence

At the turn of 2011/12, Medlock moved from Cologne-Worringen to his new manager Cornelia Reckert in Sylt - Westerland .

From February 28th to March 24th, 2012 Mark Medlock was on his My World tour and from December 8th to 14th 2012 with his My World - Live & Acoustic Set in Germany. He had previously announced his retirement from show business for the first time in the summer of 2012.

Black Feather Records

Contrary to the announced resignation, Mark Medlock founded his own record label Black Feather Records together with his management in 2013 to produce his music independently of major record companies. On January 25, 2013, Medlock's single Car Wash was released , which did not enter the charts. In March 2013, it was followed by its own unisex perfume Black Feather . The single and the perfume were produced by Medlock's label.

In April 2013 Medlock announced the end of his music career for the second time and withdrew the album Voices that had been announced for May 2013 . Medlock gave his farewell concert on April 30th on Sylt.

In the fog and withdrawal from the public

After Medlock announced his second farewell from the stage, he released his seventh album Im Nebel , which was heralded as his farewell album and was released on May 30, 2014 through his label. It is Medlock's first album that he completely wrote, composed and produced. The album contains German and English songs.

On July 12, 2015, Medlock gave a concert in front of selected guests at the Cherifs Restaurant in Westerland. The concert was Medlock's first appearance after his farewell concert in April 2013. Since then, Medlock has completely withdrawn from the public and lives as a privateer on Sylt.

His new album Zwischenwelten was released in March 2017 . In the same year, Medlock returned to the stage once in May and sang a medley of his songs produced by Bohlen in a Dieter Bohlen show . In September 2017, Medlock released the song In Love with a Ghost . On October 20 of the same year, Medlock's single When the Rain Comes was released ; the song and the accompanying video were produced entirely by Medlock itself.

In March 2020 Medlock gave a small concert on Sylt, at which he announced his comeback.

Discography

→ Main article : Mark Medlock / Discography

Studio albums

year	title	Top ranking, total weeks, awardChart placementsChart placements (Year, title, rankings, weeks, awards, notes)			Remarks
		DE	AT	CH
2007	Mr. Lonely	DE1 platinum (18 weeks)DE	AT2 gold (13 weeks)AT	CH2 gold (14 weeks)CH	First published: June 15, 2007 Sales: + 225,000
	Dreamcatcher	DE2 platinum (26 weeks)DE	AT6 (9 weeks) AT	CH14 (8 weeks) CH	First published: November 9, 2007 Sales: + 200,000; with Dieter Bohlen
2008	Cloud dancer	DE2 (14 weeks) DE	AT6 (8 weeks) AT	CH11 (7 weeks) CH	First published: May 30, 2008
2009	Club Tropicana	DE3 gold (18 weeks)DE	AT7 (13 weeks) AT	CH15 (8 weeks) CH	First published: May 22nd, 2009 Sales: + 100,000
2010	Rainbow's End	DE3 (18 weeks) DE	AT7 (6 weeks) AT	CH27 (5 weeks) CH	First published: April 30, 2010
2011	My World	DE22 (2 weeks) DE	AT63 (1 week) AT	-	First published: October 21, 2011
2014	In the fog	-	-	-	First published: May 30, 2014
2017	Intermediate worlds	-	-	-	First published: March 31, 2017

Awards

Echo '07

echo

• 2008: in the category "Newcomer of the year national"

Comet

• 2008: in the "Best Newcomer" category
• 2009: in the category "Best Artist"
• 2010: in the category "Best Artist"

Others

• 2007: Fleurop : in the "Summer Hit Voting" category
• 2007: Jetix : in the category "Coolest Singer"
• 2009: Immortalized on the “Walk of Stars” in the Vienna Gasometer

literature

• Mark Medlock: Honestly . Munich / Zurich: Pendo 2007. ISBN 978-3-86612-151-5 .

Web links

Commons : Mark Medlock  - album with pictures, videos and audio files

• Official website of Mark Medlock
• Mark Medlock in the Internet Movie Database (English)
• Mark Medlock at laut.de

swell

1. ↑ cf. Weinel, C .: "In Offenbach someone has achieved something - and that's me" . In: Frankfurter Rundschau , April 4, 2007, LR6, 29
2. ↑ cf. Weinel, C .: "Portrait: Mark Medlock wants to give everything in the semifinals" . In: Frankfurter Rundschau, February 6, 2007, LR6, 29
3. ↑ Gab, Interview in the June 2007 issue, p. 16: “I stand by it. And if someone doesn't like that, then they shouldn't come near me. I'm Mark - and Mark is gay! But I'm still a man with my tail hanging between my legs. Take me for who I am and never try to change me! "
4. ↑ cf. Medlock lets Jack White trill at boerse.ard.de ( Memento from August 31, 2007 in the Internet Archive )
5. ↑ cf. Mark Medlock sets off course fireworks with Jack White ( memento from June 24, 2007 in the Internet Archive ) at ftd.de.
6. ↑ ^{a b} cf. Jänichen, Barbara: “Modern Talking” with a new partner? . In: Berliner Morgenpost , May 7, 2007, issue 123/2007, Stadtleben, p. 30
7. ↑ ddp at noon . May 8, 2007 Tuesday 12:39 PM GMT
8. ↑ laut.de: "Miami Vice: Bohlen and Medlock at Wetten, dass ..?"
9. ↑ ^{a b} cf. "The cannibalized superstar" at sueddeutsche.de
10. ↑ cf. Borcholte, Andreas: DSDS semifinals: "My fucking face" at Spiegel Online
11. ↑ ^{a b} Is Debt Mark going to be a millionaire now? . In: Hamburger Morgenpost, May 7, 2007, p. 27
12. ↑ cf. Hartmann, Bettina: Singing for life - and for the litter box . In: Stuttgarter Zeitung , May 5, 2007, Panorama, p. 8
13. ↑ cf. Spoon, Arne: a ghetto child with strong words . In: Frankfurter Rundschau, May 5, 2007, Rhein-Main & Hessen, p. 20
14. ↑ cf. Bestseller list of non-fiction books in the mirror: October 29, November 5 and November 12, 2007
15. ↑ Musicbeat website
16. ↑ ^{a b c} biography on Eventim.de including tour dates
17. ↑ Marc Medlock in the hospital - the reason was seizures. dsds2009.info March 24, 2009 - Archived by WebCite® at http://www.dsds2009.info/marc-medlock-im-krankenhaus-grund-waren-krampfanfalle.html ( Memento from October 19, 2013 on WebCite )
18. ↑ Video shoot: Mark Medlock with medical supervision in Miami. Berliner Morgenpost. April 8, 2009 - Archived by WebCite® at http://www.morgenpost.de/printarchiv/schriften/article1070114/Video-Dreh-Mark-Medlock-mit-aerztlicher-Begleitung-in-Miami.html ( memento from 19. October 2013 on WebCite )
19. ^ Mark Medlock | Superstar suffers from "thunderstorms in the head". BILD.de. August 6, 2009 - Archived by WebCite® at http://www.bild.de/unterhaltung/haben/kopf/wegen-kopforben-im-krankenhaus-7801412.bild.html ( Memento from October 19, 2013 on WebCite )
20. ↑ Dieter Bohlen dumps Mark Medlock . Focus.de . Retrieved April 29, 2013.
21. ↑ http://www.clipfish.de/special/rtl-news/video/3719334/bohlen-und-medlock-machen-schluss/
22. ↑ mk: DSDS musicians: Dieter Bohlen and Mark Medlock split up. In: welt.de . September 30, 2011, accessed October 7, 2018 . 
23. ↑ http://www.bunte.de/newsline/mark-medlock-er-wohnt-jetzt-auf-sylt_aid_29437.html
24. ^ "DSDS" winner Mark Medlock is giving up his career
25. ^ "Privatier on Sylt": That became the DSDS winner
26. ↑ Mark Medlock: "A perfect life": Now the DSDS winner is talking about his private life on Sylt
27. ↑ Patrick Kollmer: Mark Medlock: TV comeback with Dieter Bohlen. In: schlagerplanet.com. May 18, 2017. Retrieved October 20, 2017 . 
28. ^ "Mark Medlock celebrates comeback", message on n-tv from March 2nd, 2020