The Biography

He has an academic degree, dresses with stylish taste, has business smarts, played professional football, is cosmopolitan, a singer and also a fan who roots for his favourites soccer teams Bayern München and Schalke 04 in Germany — all these qualities make Haddaway unique. Alexander Nestor Haddaway has an astounding number of facets. With 28 million singles and LPs sold, he is a global player in the pop music industry, yet has outstanding qualities in so many other areas, it hardly does him justice to just call Haddaway a “pop star.” Few are the pop stars who hold a doctorate in political science and history from a university having the reputation of George Washington University in Washington, D.C. Which celebrity has worked as a choreographer, textiles trader or earned money laying carpets? How many pop stars have played American football, masters Aikido and feel as safe on a snowboard or skis as many race car drivers do behind the wheel of a rally car? And how many singers are able to speak English, Dutch, French, German and also have a perfect local Cologne accent?

 

 

And there is hardly a topic the passionate newspaper reader isn’t willing to share his insightful views on. He can talk about any number of topics on the spot, from marine biology, racism and history all the way to North American Indians and the foods industry in the US. From the many talents he has at his command, he chose to focus on one—music. He devoted himself to music with passion and smarts, the perfectionist turned out huge hits such as “What Is Love” and “Life,” as well as worldwide hits like “Rock My Heart,” “Fly Away” and “I Miss You.”

 

 

The story of Haddaway took its start in 1965 on the Caribbean island of Trinidad and Tobago. In that year Alexander Nestor Haddaway was born into a local family, the mother a local nurse and his father a Dutch oceanographer. After only three years, he was to leave the carnival island, taking with him his mother's pulsating calypso roots and steel-band sounds. His father is musical, too, loves Louis Armstrong and insisted that his son starts learning to play the trumpet when only four. At the beginning of the seventies, his parents split up, his mother going to the U.S. and his father to Europe. The small boy decided to stay with his father who has ever been on the go. Jobs for marine biologists are few and far between, so the single father had to be flexible about travel. Haddaway’s father worked in Sweden, England, Holland, and he soon enrolled his son at a boarding school with the two spending weekends together.

 

 

When 16, “Haddy” (as his friends like calling him) moved to America to live with his mom. Ever since he has been a holder of a green card — no disadvantage for a cosmopolitan musician. In American he discovered hard rock by Kiss, The Eagles, Journey, REO Speedwagon and Styx – the band he first fell in love with. He also loves funk by Parliament and Funkadelic, adores soul legends such as Aretha Franklin, Bill Withers and James Brown. In Europe the middle-class child never encountered race problems, in America his skin colour prompted questions. “In the States there were white and black radio stations. I asked myself: Where do I belong?“ says Haddaway. Outright racism reared its ugly head, too. “I was working as a student from 4 to 10 p.m. at a gas station. One night I was walking home and was literally pursued by a pickup truck full of rednecks. They cursed me and threw rocks at me.”

Luckily race was not an issue at the university he attended. Haddaway sang in a Top 40 band, which was obviously an apprenticeship of sorts. Whatever entered the charts was learned by the band members. “My best friends know that I can sing 6,000 different songs” he confides, sounding somewhat proud of it. It was during that time that he wrote his first song himself. But his studies were the No. 1 priority. “I promised my father that I would complete my studies.” There was no swaying him from his course. The topic of his doctoral dissertation was “North American History from the First Mongolian Immigrants to Amerigo Vespucci in the Fifteenth Century.”

He completed his final exams and had a GPA of 1.2.

By contrast, his first job experiences in the US food, beverage and tobacco industry were discouraging. Haddaway turned his back on big business and an academic career to focus solely on his music. “If you can make money pursuing your hobby, then you go for it” he says.

 

 

In 1989, he moved to Cologne, played football for the Cologne Crocodiles, worked as a choreographer and textile trader and carried on with his music. He quit playing the trumpet, explaining that “Women don't get excited about trumpet players.” He does a fair job playing the piano, electric bass and guitar and was in a number of bands at the beginning of his career. In 1992, he got his hands on “What Is Love.” In a long session, Haddaway made the song his own—the rest is pop music history. In nearly every country in Europe “What Is Love” reached the #1 in the singles charts, except for Germany, where it made it to #2, and stayed there for 23 weeks. In the US the hit song made it to #4 on the singles charts. (Three years later the song staged a comeback and rose to #1 in America.) A flood of gold and platinum records followed, plus two Echo Awards.

 

 

Now let’s turn to his most recent album, “Pop Splits.” This album presents the artist as a more self-assured, mature and versatile singer-composer-performer than ever before. The single “Spaceman” is a sensitively written medium paced number with unusual lyrics. “I am the spaceman, a person on this planet with a multi-cultural point of view. I observe the movements of the stars. I sing to the planets the way I sing to women. I gaze at Pluto, Mars, Venus and in the end I land on Earth.” The hot-blooded disc also features irresistible dance floor hits like “Fallen Angel” and “Not In My Bed” — whose infectious groove can turn up the temperature in the wink of an eye. In emotionally gripping ballads such as “It Was Nice” Haddaway shows off his classic soul voice which perhaps unsurpassed in Europe. “Catch You If I Can” is cool, subdued rock, with pulsating rhythms and a bluesy harmonica which the Trinidad & Tobago born singer can use to take a lady’s heart by storm. There is also a red-hot duet entitled “Missionary Man” with Berlin-based American émigré Della Miles — the first duet in his career. The album as a whole wins listeners over with its timeless music which stands above mere trends and the latest fashion.

 

 

All his songs have to pass a severe test: “I always ask women what they think about my songs—never men. “Women tell it to you the way it is, they’re brutally honest” says Haddaway. In the end his female jury gave a nod of approval. How could a jury of women say no to music which seems to pour out emotion, soul and musicality? “Life thrills me“, says Haddaway, a smile beaming on his face. And that warmth can be heard in all his songs.