U-Jean
U-Jean (* in Atlanta , Georgia ; real name Alex Hutson ) is an American - German hip-hop singer and rapper who became known for his collaboration with RIO and the song Turn This Club Around .
biography
Life
U-Jean was born in Atlanta , USA , where he grew up with his father, who was a well-known gospel singer there . After finishing school he decided to come to Germany as a US soldier. Shortly after moving to Darmstadt , he decided to audition for the US Europe Soldier Show in Schwetzingen . U-Jean then began his professional career as a singer, performing over 200 times a year across Europe, and as an ambassador for American music and culture in Europe.
In June 2008 he decided to leave the army to pursue his career in Germany as a singer.
2008–2010: musical beginnings
He started his career as a singer in the band Sweet Soul Music Revue. U-Jean does not only appear as a hip-hop and R&B singer, but also as a producer and songwriter . He also performed with the Frankfurt band King Kamehameha Band.
In the spring of 2010, U-Jean founded the music production company Whazz Crackin Productions with his producer partner . It consists of an international group of young, talented producers and songwriters who write, compose, produce and mix songs for new musicians in a similar way to a record label. All styles of music are represented here.
2011: Breakthrough at Zooland Records
In 2011 he signed a contract with Zooland Records . Shortly afterwards, on June 17, 2011, he released his debut single Heaven Is a Place on Earth . The song was recorded together with the German rapper Carlprit . However, he could not achieve any chart positions.
Together with the German dance project, he then recorded the song Turn This Club Around . It was released in September 2011 and rose to number one on the iTunes charts, where it lasted for 3 weeks. Turn This Club Around made it to number three in the German single charts and number one in Switzerland in the second week. Among other things, it became the first single that made it into the charts in England and was well represented with a 36th place. It was also her first success in America. Because RIO was able to storm the charts in Canada there. In Germany, Austria and Switzerland, RIO received a gold record for over 150,000 units of the song sold. The single was also represented in the annual charts of Germany, Austria and Switzerland. In Germany, Turn This Club Around made it to 48, in Austria to 72nd place and in Switzerland the song reached 60th place.
In December 2011 he released his second single with RIO. She is called Animal . The song rose to 48th place in Germany, 33rd in Austria and 51st in Switzerland. Many critics compare the single with the song Levels by Avicii . Zooland Records did not comment on this.
2012: That Girl and Summer Jam
On June 11, 2012, the single That Girl was released on the record label Kontor Records, in which he was a guest musician with Mischa Daniels. The song entered the German single charts after just one week and reached number 95 there, but got out again after a week.
His fifth single, Summer Jam , was released on July 27, 2012. The title is a cover of the song of the same name from The Underdog Project from 2000. For this song he was again involved in the German dance project RIO . The official music video was released on the same day. Just one week after its release, the song entered the top 10 of the German single charts and reached seventh place. Summer Jam was also able to place itself in Switzerland and became the second single to make it into the top 3 with an entry at number 2 alongside Turn This Club Around . In Austria it became the first single that made it to the first three places and also climbed into place 2 here. Since 2012 he has been the face of RIO on their live performances.
2013: collaboration with DJ Antoine, RIO and Mateo
In 2013 DJ Antoine's album Sky Is the Limit was released , on which he participated as a singer and songwriter of several songs. He sang the tracks You and Me , House Party and Give It Up for Love . House Party entered the German and Austrian charts as an album track after just one week, although it was not released as a single.
On May 10, 2013, the single Ready or Not was released in collaboration with RIO . On iTunes, the track went straight to the top 100 of the song charts. Success in the German single charts did not last long either. After just one week, it rose to 54th place. In Austria Ready or Not reached 40th place. In Switzerland the song was placed 66th of the Top 100.
The song Komodo (Hard Nights) was recorded again in collaboration with RIO . It is based on the eponymous title Komodo by Italian DJ Mauro Picotto and also contains synthesizer elements from the tracks The Code by W&W and Ummet Ozcan, as well as the W&W remix for Armin van Buuren's This Is What It Feels Like . It was released as a single on September 27, 2013. U-Jean announced shortly after that he was working on a song with German musician Mateo . This appeared on his debut album and was entitled Rodeo .
European tour with RIO and One in a Million
In 2014 he worked again with the DJ duo RIO. Together with RIO, he performed in numerous clubs across Europe. In addition to the German-speaking countries, concerts also took place in the south, including Spain and Italy, and in the east, including Istanbul, Turkey. On February 19, 2014, two records were released in Japan. On the one hand, the “Perfect Edition” was released for the album Ready or Not , released in Europe in 2013, as well as a remix of the single Turn this Club Around . The remix is from DJ Fumi ★ Yeah! and together with the song Komodo (Hard Nights) forms the Perfect Edition of Ready or Not . Both releases were made via RIO's record label Zooland Records and were able to reach the Japanese Billboard Charts. On June 6, 2014 it was announced for the first time that the release of a new single is scheduled for July 2014. This is another track with the DJ duo RIO Das Lied is entitled One in a Million . Even before the official release, the song was made available for sale on iTunes and was able to advance into the upper half on the first day. Furthermore, there was an entry into the Austrian charts before the actual release, which is not possible in many countries such as Germany.
Discography
Singles
| year | title |
Top ranking, total weeks, awardChart placementsChart placements (Year, title, rankings, weeks, awards, notes) |
Remarks | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 DE
|
 AT
|
 CH
|
 UK
|
|||
| 2011 | Heaven Is a Place on Earth | - | - | - | - |
First published: December 5th, 2011
( feat.Carlprit ) |
As a guest musician
| year | Title album |
Top ranking, total weeks, awardChart placementsChart placements (Year, title, album , rankings, weeks, awards, notes) |
Remarks | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|
DE
|
AT
|
CH
|
UK
|
|||
| 2011 |
Turn This Club Around Turn This Club Around |
DE3  (27 weeks)DE |
AT5 (20 weeks) AT |
CH1 (20 weeks) CH |
UK36 (4 weeks) UK |
First published: September 30, 2011
(with RIO ); Sales: +150,000 |
|
Animal Turn This Club Around |
DE48 (17 weeks) DE |
AT33 (11 weeks) AT |
CH51 (2 weeks) CH |
- |
First published: December 2, 2011
(with RIO) |
|
| 2012 | That girl |
DE95 (1 week) DE |
- | - | - |
First published: May 18, 2012
(with Mischa Daniels ) |
|
Summer Jam Turn This Club Around (Deluxe Edition) |
DE7 (20 weeks) DE |
AT2 (18 weeks) AT |
CH2 (17 weeks) CH |
- |
First published: July 27, 2012
(with RIO) |
|
| 2013 | House Party Sky Is the Limit |
DE44 (7 weeks) DE |
AT22 (27 weeks) AT |
CH40 (2 weeks) CH |
- | |
|
Ready or Not Ready or Not |
DE54 (2 weeks) DE |
AT40 (3 weeks) AT |
CH64 (1 week) CH |
- |
First published: May 10, 2013
(with RIO) |
|
| Komodo (Hard Nights) |
DE58 (3 weeks) DE |
AT45 (2 weeks) AT |
CH45 (1 week) CH |
- |
First published: September 27, 2013
(with RIO) |
|
| 2014 | One in a million |
DE51 (3 weeks) DE |
AT62 (4 weeks) AT |
CH62 (1 week) CH |
- |
First published: July 4th, 2014
(with RIO) |
| 2015 | Paradise | - | - |
CH27 (2 weeks) CH |
- |
First published: July 2015
(with Mike Candys ) |
Web links
swell
- ↑ Biography on Facebook
- ↑ Information about U-Jean on Newcomerband.com ( Memento of the original from January 3, 2012 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.
- ^ Official Facebook page of Wazz Cracking Productions
- ↑ Publication of Heaven Is a Place on Earth on Amazon ( page no longer available , search in web archives ) Info: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.
- ↑ Biography in the Poplexikon
- ↑ Turn This Club Around in 1st place (accessed on February 21, 2012)
- ↑ Turn This Club Around on acharts.us
- ↑ Awards for music sales DE CH ( Memento of the original dated February 2, 2014 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. AT
- ↑ Annual charts of Germany (2011) ( Memento of the original from March 4, 2016 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.
- ↑ Annual charts of Austria (2011) ( Memento of the original from March 4, 2016 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.
- ↑ Annual charts of Switzerland (2011) ( Memento of the original from July 13, 2015 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.
- ↑ Presentation of the single animal in comparison with levels ( page no longer available , search in web archives ) Info: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.
- ↑ release of That Girl on iTunes
- ↑ Song in "Trance & Progressive House" ( page no longer available , search in web archives ) Info: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.
- ↑ a b Chart sources: DE AT CH
- ↑ Awards for music sales: DE
- ↑ Double gold for Turn This Club Around ( Memento of the original from March 5, 2016 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link has been inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.
| personal data | |
|---|---|
| SURNAME | U-Jean |
| ALTERNATIVE NAMES | Hutson, Alex (real name) |
| BRIEF DESCRIPTION | American singer and rapper |
| DATE OF BIRTH | 20th century |
| PLACE OF BIRTH | Atlanta , USA |