Mehrzad Marashi

• Name — Mehrzad Marashi • Born — 20 September 1980 • Birthplace — Tehran, Iran • Origin — Hamburg, West Germany • Genre — Pop, soul • Occupation — Singer • Years Active — 2006–present • Label — Sony Music Germany • Associated Acts — Dieter Bohlen • Website — mehrzad-marashi.tv

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.

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.

• 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

• Illustration — Marashi at a 2013 celebrity boxing event 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.

List of albums, with selected chart positions • Title — Album details — Peak chart positions • GER — AUT — SWI • New Life — *Released: 11 June 2010 *Label: Columbia, Sony Music *Formats: CD, digital download • Change Up — *Released: 24 June 2011 *Label: Seven Days, Sony Music *Formats: CD, digital download • Entfesselt und frei — *Released: 31 October 2014 *Label: Nex *Formats: CD, digital download

List of singles, with selected chart positions and parent album • Title — Year — Peak chart positions — Album • GER — AUT — SWI — LIT — LUX — NL — EUR • "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" — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — —