Arash (singer)

Early life

Arash Labbaf was born in Tehran, Iran. He and his parents lived near Mellat Park. At age ten, he and his family moved to Sweden, where he still resides. In an interview with BBC Persian Television, he mentioned that his mother and father are from the Iranian cities of Shiraz and Isfahan, respectively.

Arash Labbaf has stated in his interviews that he is interested in association football. Accordingly, he released songs about association football. Also, in an interview with Deutsche Welle, Arash stated that he had been interested in singing since childhood, and he even formed an informal band with his friends.

Career

Arash Labbaf said that the reason he chooses to sing in his native language is because of his "deep attachment to Iran and Persian culture."

His debut album, Arash, was released by Warner Music Sweden in June 2005, after he had completed his college studies. His singles, "Boro Boro" ("Go Away") and "Temptation" (featuring Rebecca) made it to the hit lists around Europe. Their respective videos garnered significant airplay on more than 20 MTV outlets worldwide. In addition to successes in his home countries' music charts, namely Sweden and Iran, the platinum-selling singer and producer Arash has had hits notably in Eastern European and South-East European charts like Russia, Ukraine, Greece, Bulgaria, Poland, Hungary, Georgia, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Serbia, Slovakia, Slovenia, Romania, Turkey and in Asian music charts like in Tajikistan, Kazakhstan, Afghanistan, Uzbekistan and throughout the Arab Middle Eastern countries. His singles have been charted many times on the Swiss and Finnish charts, and he is especially famous in Poland.

Arash's records were certified gold in 5 countries: his album Arash in Germany, Russia, Slovenia, and Greece and the single "Boro Boro" in Sweden. This song was also featured in the Hindi Bollywood film Bluffmaster!, and he was the featured Artist of the Month on MTV India.

Helena did not take part in the music video of "Pure Love", although her voice was featured in it. The video starred Arash, together with the Venezuelan beauty queen, Marianne Puglia.

Arash has produced, along with Thomas G:son, Robert Uhlmann, and Johan Bejerholm the Swedish entry to the Junior Eurovision Song Contest 2010 "Allt jag vill ha" that was performed by Josefine Ridell.

Eurovision Song Contest

In early 2009, it was revealed that the Azerbaijani entry for the Eurovision Song Contest 2009 would be the song "Always" which was written and composed by Arash. The song was performed by Aysel Teymurzadeh and Arash in a duet in Semifinal 2 of the Eurovision competition. The song qualified for the Eurovision Song Contest final which took place on 16 May 2009, and was placed third. In one of his interviews, Arash explained his decision to represent Azerbaijan in this contest: "Why did I participate? I'm originally [ethnically] Azeri, and I would like to have a part in this country's confident ascent in the history of Eurovision."

Personal life

Labbaf married his longtime fiancée, Behnaz Ansari, in Dubai in May 2011.

Discography

Main article: Arash discography

Studio albums

• Arash (2005)
• Donya (2008)
• Superman (2014)

Filmography

• 2005: Bluffmaster! as playback singer
• 2012: Rhinos Season as Son (as Twins/Male)

References

References

1. (23 March 2021). "BBC World Service - In the Studio, Arash – Making music in the sun".
2. Faghihi, Rohollah. "Has Iran's award-winning actress left Iran to escape prosecution?". Al-Monitor.
3. (2008-09-11). "Arash's Iranian family from Sweden". BBC (interview by Behzad Bolour).
4. "BBC Persian".
5. "گپى با آرش خواننده ترانه معروف "برو برو" به بهانه سرايت تب اين ترانه داغ به آلمان {{!}} DW {{!}} 13.05.2005".
6. (2005-04-21). "Iran: Arash Tops European Pop Charts With Persian-Language Hits". RFE/RL.
7. "AySel & Arash | Participant Profile | Eurovision Song Contest – Baku 2012". Eurovision.tv.
8. (2008-11-17). "ARASH – "Pure Love" – Making Of The Video". YouTube.
9. Niklas Kjellberg/TT Spektra. "Josefine tävlar för Sverige i Minsk – Kultur & Nöje". www.gp.se.
10. "Sweden JESC 2010 Швеция Детское Евровидение 2010". Esckaz.com.
11. "Junior/lilla mf/mgp nordic". escsweden.com.
12. Brey, Marco. (2009-02-05). "Azerbaijani entry written by Arash". Eurovision.tv.
13. Siim, Jarmo. (2009-02-12). "Azerbaijan to send a duet to Eurovision". Eurovision.tv.
14. (2009-02-05). "Eurovision Azerbaijan: Aysel goes to Eurovision with song by Arash".
15. "APA – Arash presents $400-thousand necklace to his bride Behnaz at their wedding – PHOTOSESSION". Apa.az.
16. (2011-03-16). "Arash married on May 28 in Dubai". Chuiko.com.