Mehrzad Marashi

Mehrzad Marashi (born 20 September 1980) is a German singer of Iranian descent and the winner of Deutschland sucht den Superstar season 7.

Early life Born in Tehran, Iran where his father was in the military profession during the Shah's regime, the family immigrated to Germany for political reasons when Mehrzad was six, residing in Hamburg. At 13 he joined a gospel choir and eventually took classes at the Sängerakademie, studying voice and piano. Taking the stage name "Marasco", he released self-produced recordings finding some limited success. He recorded "She's Gone", a cover of "She's Like the Wind" from Patrick Swayze. He opened a karaoke bar, but the business went bankrupt and he had to live on welfare for a while.

Deutschland sucht den Superstar Marashi auditioned to the seventh season of the show Deutschland sucht den Superstar initially under his stage name "Marasco". Very notably during a live show on DSDS on 10 April 2010, during the Top 3 stage, Marashi proposed to marry his girlfriend. The two married on 7 July 2010 in Hamburg. He eventually won against other finalist Menowin Fröhlich with 56.4% of the public vote.

DSDS performances Theme (date) Song Original artist Percentage/Place The Top 15 — Now or Never (13 February 2010) Und wenn ein Lied Xavier Naidoo 27.3% (1/15) Top 10 - Mega Hits from today (20 February 2010) Broken Strings James Morrison 14.6% (2/10) Top 9 — The biggest pop songs(27 February 2010) One U2 9.2% (5/9) Top 8 — Happy Holiday Hits (6 March 2010) Fresh Kool & the Gang 18.7% (2/8) Top 7 — 80s (13 March 2010) Hello Lionel Richie 14.0% (2/7) Top 6 — German vs. English (20 March 2010) Flugzeuge im Bauch Herbert Grönemeyer 21.9% (2/6) Beggin' Madcon Top 5 — Ballermann vs. Balladen (27 March 2010) Boombastic Shaggy 18.4% (3/5) Hard to Say I'm Sorry Chicago Top 4 — Old vs. New (3 April 2010) Unchained Melody The Righteous Brothers 24.2% (2/4) Crazy Gnarls Barkley Top 3 — Boy bands, Music Heros & Number 1 Hits (10 April 2010) End of the Road Boyz II Men 37.7% (2/3) Runaway Del Shannon Ich kenne Nichts Xavier Naidoo feat RZA Top 2 — Finale — Singer's choice, Highlight Song, Winner's Single (17 April 2010) Endless Love Lionel Richie 56.4% (1/2) Fresh Kool & the Gang Don't Believe Mehrzad Marashi

After DSDS

After his win in April 2010, he released "Don't Believe" written and produced by Dieter Bohlen. It topped the German, Austrian and Swiss charts. It was also a hit in the Netherlands. The follow-up was "Sweat" a cover of Inner Circle's "Sweat (A La La La La Long)" also featuring season 4 winner Mark Medlock. Both were from his debut album New Life that was released on 11 June 2010. A planned tour was cancelled due to low demand. In February 2011, Marashi opened a dance school and established a recording studio both in Hamburg.

On 24 June 2011, he released a second album Change Up with "Beautiful World" as a single, both with no success. He later released "Eine Nacht", his own composition. In 2012, he also founded his own label M8. In 2013, he was also involved in Promiboxen (celebrity boxing) with an initial fight against Daniel Aminati.

Discography Albums + List of albums, with selected chart positions Title Album details Peak chart positionsGER AUT SWI New LifeReleased: 11 June 2010 Label: Columbia, Sony Music Formats: CD, digital downloadChange UpReleased: 24 June 2011 Label: Seven Days, Sony Music Formats: CD, digital downloadEntfesselt und freiReleased: 31 October 2014 Label: Nex Formats: CD, digital download

Singles + List of singles, with selected chart positions and parent album Title Year Peak chart positions AlbumGER AUT SWI LITLUXNLEUR"Don't Believe" 2010 1 1 1 4 6 64 2 New Life"Sweat" (feat. Mark Medlock) 2 7 16 33 24 — 16 "Beautiful World"2011 85 — — — — — — Change Up"Eine Nacht" — — — — — — — —