The dark tenor

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The Dark Tenor (2017)

The Dark Tenor (born April 14, 1980 in Graz , Austria) is the pseudonym of an artist from the crossover genre. His real name remained unknown for a long time, but has since been published as Billy Andrews by mutual agreement.

He combines popular melodies from operas and symphony concerts with new texts and melodies from pop music. The trademark of the crossover artist was the covering of his face with a black mask and hood, then with a black half mask. Since the release of the album Nightfall Symphony , however, he has also given up on it. The reason for this he cites the theme of his album - getting out of yourself - which is why he found it appropriate to take off his mask. Instead, he painted black spots around his eyes, known as panda eyes. With over 200,000 albums sold, The Dark Tenor is one of the most successful artists in the pop-meets-classical genre.

history

The Dark Tenor is a native of the USA and was raised bilingually in Germany. In his childhood and youth he sang briefly in the boys' choir Hanover and for eight years in the Dresden Kreuzchor . He is a trained opera singer and, according to his own statement, was part of the ensemble of the Dresden Semperoper for two years as the first tenor of the choir.

In 2014 the singer released his debut album Symphony Of Light . The album was represented in the German album charts for several weeks and reached number 20 there in February 2015. There are several artist collaborations on the album, for example with Yiruma and Thomas Stolle . In 2015 the album was re-released as a second edition on a double CD with seven new songs and a “classical compilation”. After a year or more, he was given the gold record for over 100,000 units sold.

He made his first public appearances as The Dark Tenor at events and television programs, such as Guten Morgen Deutschland in 2014 and Willkommen bei Carmen Nebel in 2015 . This was followed by two guest appearances at the Potsdam Palace Night in 2015 - the first he performed solo, later that evening he appeared as part of the “Rat Pack Tenors” together with the two tenors Tobey Wilson and Laszlo . On the occasion of the celebrations for the Day of German Unity on October 3, 2015, he sang on the stage at the Brandenburg Gate , followed by a first tour through six German cities.

On November 28, 2015, he presented the national anthems of the two opponents with the 60-strong Cologne youth choir Sankt Stephan for the boxing match between Wladimir Klitschko and Tyson Fury in the Düsseldorf ESPRIT arena .

In 2018 he went on tour in Germany as a singer with the original band from Unheilig . Henning Verlage played on keyboard, Licky on guitar and Potty on drums. Then there was the singer's own band. On this tour the musicians played songs from Unheilig and The Dark Tenor.

On January 24, 2020, The Dark Tenor posted a short video on its official Facebook page, disclosing his real name as Billy Andrews. He also announced that he would go on an exclusive and intimate Acoustic Heartbeat Tour from April 2020. This includes a total of 19 concerts. He visits some of the most beautiful churches in Germany. He also announced that he would release an EP entitled Ludwig - A Beethoven Story By Billy Andrews in April . It symbolizes the Beethoven year 2020.

reception

The debut album Symphony Of Light was recorded mixedly by the music press: while Ulf Kubanke from laut.de described the album as “probably the worst record of the year” and rated it with one of five stars, metal.de awarded it eight out of ten points.

Discography

Chart positions
Explanation of the data
Albums
Symphony of Light
  DE 20th 
gold
gold
October 24, 2014 (29 weeks)
Nightfall Symphony
  DE 11 07/10/2016 (12 weeks)
Symphony of Ghosts
  DE 10 05.10.2018 (2 weeks)
Alive - 5 years
  DE 12 October 18, 2019 (1 week)
EPs
Ludwig
  DE 58 April 24, 2020 (1 week)

Albums

  • 2014: Symphony of Light
  • 2015: Symphony of Light (Second Edition)
  • 2016: Nightfall Symphony
  • 2018: Symphony of Ghosts
  • 2019: Alive - 5 Years

EPs

  • 2020: Ludwig

Singles

  • 2014: Dies Irae - Day of Wrath
  • 2014: River Flows on the Edge ( feat.Yiruma )
  • 2016: Toxic Rain
  • 2016: Wild Horses
  • 2016: Afterglow

Guest Posts

swell

  1. ↑ THE DARK TENOR-Unmasking a Crossover Star - Crossfire Metal Webzine. Retrieved December 18, 2019 .
  2. ↑ a b Radio 21 interview from February 27, 2017
  3. ↑ The Dark Tenor - the mysterious artist in conversation with Tombstone. In: tombstone-webzine.de
  4. ↑ a b The Dark Tenor talks about the second edition of his album and his stay at the Dresden Semperoper. In: youtube.com , accessed October 24, 2015
  5. ^ Website of the artist , accessed October 28, 2015.
  6. ↑ Review of Symphony of Light. In: laut.de
  7. ↑ Jan Müller: CD Review: The Dark Tenor - Symphony Of Light. In: metal.de , October 22, 2014
  8. ↑ a b Chart sources: DE
  9. ↑ Awards: DE

Web links

Commons : The Dark Tenor  - Collection of Images
personal data
SURNAME Dark Tenor, The
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German singer
DATE OF BIRTH 20th century