Francisca Urio
Encyclopedia
Francisca Urio is a German singer-songwriter
and radio presenter of Afro-German heritage who lives in Berlin
.
but grew up in Berlin as the only child of her German mother Monica and her father Geoffrey from Tanzania
, both architects who met while studying in Dresden
. Her father's RnB
, Soul
and Pop music
collection influenced her music taste from an early age. Her first stage experience was at pre-school age as an extra
in a Porgy and Bess
performance at the Berlin Theater des Westens. She attended the Fläming-Grundschule in 12159 Berlin-Friedenau and the Paul-Natorp-Gymnasium in 12161 Berlin. After finishing school with the Abitur
in 2000 she decided to pursue her singing career full time.
She is engaged to socially deprived children and is patroness of the network Take-My-Hand e.V. You can book her for free on their homepage http://www.take-my-hand.de/ if you organize an advent to donate for kids.
in front of the Sempera Opera House
for eighty-thousand helpers in the 2002 100-year flood
. The band toured and performed with singers like O-Town, Mary J. Blige
, Ben
, Seal
, Mousse T.
, Shakira
and Wyclef Jean
and featured on concert DVDs with Ben and Seal (One Night to Remember, recorded live in Düsseldorf
).
After first Boussa and later N'gone Thiam left the band, Urio and Harris continued as duo until their last concert in October 2006 when they started to concentrate on their solo careers.
" version Deutschland sucht den Superstar
(DSDS) broadcasted by RTL. She was considered a unique talent, having the best voice and being the favorite in this competition, not only by the jury but also gaining acclamation by professional singers like the bass-baritone Thomas Quasthoff
.
On 6. February 2007 the German newspaper Bild
appeared with an article accusing Francisca Urio and her friend Priscilla Harris (who was also a contestant at the casting show) to be professional singers, having already recorded CDs and are therefore not entitled to take part in the competition. However the accusations where quickly dismissed as the rules of the DSDS show only prohibit participants to have a current recording contract but not to have previous professional experience.
Despite the praise her performances received from the jury Francisca Urio was unexpectedly eliminated in the 4th motto show, which equally surprised the jury, the other candidates and the viewers. However, in an online voting with over hundred thousand votes organized by the newspaper Bild after the casting show was finished, Francisca Urio won the voting by a small margin ahead of the DSDS winner Mark Medlock
.
Since 2003 she is a presenter at the Berlin radio station Jazz Radio.
The radio station Spreeradio 105.5 arranged for Francisca Urio to perform and record with the Filmorchester Babelsberg
in May 2007.
Urio was invited to take part on 22 and 23 May 2007 in the semi finals of the International Competition Of Young Singers of Popular Music "New Wave
2007" in Moscow and qualified for the finals which took place in Jūrmala
, Latvia
from 25 to 30 July 2007. She reached the 5th place in the competition.
On 7 July 2007 Urio sung the American national anthem
before the fight between IBF
/IBO heavyweight
champion Wladimir Klitschko
and challenger Lamon Brewster
in Cologne
in front of an audience of 19500 spectators and millions of television viewers.
In 2008 she started recording her debut album with producer Dieter Falk
. The album called Alpha Girl will be released on 10 June 2011.
In February 2010 she will be the show-act at the Rosenball charity-event in Munich for the Tabaluga
children foundation.
Singer-songwriter
Singer-songwriters are musicians who write, compose and sing their own musical material including lyrics and melodies. As opposed to contemporary popular music singers who write their own songs, the term singer-songwriter describes a distinct form of artistry, closely associated with the...
and radio presenter of Afro-German heritage who lives in Berlin
Berlin
Berlin is the capital city of Germany and is one of the 16 states of Germany. With a population of 3.45 million people, Berlin is Germany's largest city. It is the second most populous city proper and the seventh most populous urban area in the European Union...
.
Personal life
Francisca Urio was born in Meiningen, a town in southern ThuringiaThuringia
The Free State of Thuringia is a state of Germany, located in the central part of the country.It has an area of and 2.29 million inhabitants, making it the sixth smallest by area and the fifth smallest by population of Germany's sixteen states....
but grew up in Berlin as the only child of her German mother Monica and her father Geoffrey from Tanzania
Tanzania
The United Republic of Tanzania is a country in East Africa bordered by Kenya and Uganda to the north, Rwanda, Burundi, and the Democratic Republic of the Congo to the west, and Zambia, Malawi, and Mozambique to the south. The country's eastern borders lie on the Indian Ocean.Tanzania is a state...
, both architects who met while studying in Dresden
Dresden
Dresden is the capital city of the Free State of Saxony in Germany. It is situated in a valley on the River Elbe, near the Czech border. The Dresden conurbation is part of the Saxon Triangle metropolitan area....
. Her father's RnB
Rhythm and blues
Rhythm and blues, often abbreviated to R&B, is a genre of popular African American music that originated in the 1940s. The term was originally used by record companies to describe recordings marketed predominantly to urban African Americans, at a time when "urbane, rocking, jazz based music with a...
, Soul
Soul music
Soul music is a music genre originating in the United States combining elements of gospel music and rhythm and blues. According to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, soul is "music that arose out of the black experience in America through the transmutation of gospel and rhythm & blues into a form of...
and Pop music
Pop music
Pop music is usually understood to be commercially recorded music, often oriented toward a youth market, usually consisting of relatively short, simple songs utilizing technological innovations to produce new variations on existing themes.- Definitions :David Hatch and Stephen Millward define pop...
collection influenced her music taste from an early age. Her first stage experience was at pre-school age as an extra
Extra (actor)
A background actor or extra is a performer in a film, television show, stage, musical, opera or ballet production, who appears in a nonspeaking, nonsinging or nondancing capacity, usually in the background...
in a Porgy and Bess
Porgy and Bess
Porgy and Bess is an opera, first performed in 1935, with music by George Gershwin, libretto by DuBose Heyward, and lyrics by Ira Gershwin and DuBose Heyward. It was based on DuBose Heyward's novel Porgy and subsequent play of the same title, which he co-wrote with his wife Dorothy Heyward...
performance at the Berlin Theater des Westens. She attended the Fläming-Grundschule in 12159 Berlin-Friedenau and the Paul-Natorp-Gymnasium in 12161 Berlin. After finishing school with the Abitur
Abitur
Abitur is a designation used in Germany, Finland and Estonia for final exams that pupils take at the end of their secondary education, usually after 12 or 13 years of schooling, see also for Germany Abitur after twelve years.The Zeugnis der Allgemeinen Hochschulreife, often referred to as...
in 2000 she decided to pursue her singing career full time.
She is engaged to socially deprived children and is patroness of the network Take-My-Hand e.V. You can book her for free on their homepage http://www.take-my-hand.de/ if you organize an advent to donate for kids.
Silvashado band
In 1996 Francisca Urio founded together with Priscilla Harris, N'gone Thiam and Boussa Thiam the band Silvashado in Berlin. They performed regularly in clubs in Berlin and at festivals in Germany, Austria and Switzerland. In 2002 the band took part at a performance in DresdenDresden
Dresden is the capital city of the Free State of Saxony in Germany. It is situated in a valley on the River Elbe, near the Czech border. The Dresden conurbation is part of the Saxon Triangle metropolitan area....
in front of the Sempera Opera House
Semperoper
The Semperoper is the opera house of the Sächsische Staatsoper Dresden and the concert hall of the Sächsische Staatskapelle Dresden . It is located near the Elbe River in the historic center of Dresden, Germany.The opera house was originally built by the architect Gottfried Semper in 1841...
for eighty-thousand helpers in the 2002 100-year flood
2002 European floods
In August 2002 a 100-year flood caused by over a week of continuous heavy rains ravaged Europe, killing dozens, dispossessing thousands, and causing damage of billions of euros in the Czech Republic, Austria, Germany, Slovakia, Poland, Hungary, Romania and Croatia....
. The band toured and performed with singers like O-Town, Mary J. Blige
Mary J. Blige
Mary Jane Blige is an American singer-songwriter, record producer and occasional actress. She is a recipient of nine Grammy Awards and four American Music Awards, and has recorded eight multi-platinum albums. She is the only artist with Grammy Award wins in Pop, Rap, Gospel, and R&B. Blige has...
, Ben
Ben (singer)
Ben is a German singer, songwriter and occasional voice actor and TV host.His greatest success was 2002 with the hit single "Engel", a collaboration with singer Gim...
, Seal
Seal (musician)
Seal Henry Olusegun Olumide Adeola Samuel , known simply as Seal, is a British soul and R&B singer-songwriter, of Nigerian and Brazilian background. Seal has won numerous music awards throughout his career, including three Brit Awards—winning Best British Male in 1992, four Grammy Awards, and an...
, Mousse T.
Mousse T.
Mousse T. is a German DJ and record producer of Turkish descent. He is best known for his collaboration with Tom Jones, "Sex Bomb", released on the album Reload.-Biography:...
, Shakira
Shakira
Shakira Isabel Mebarak Ripoll , known professionally as Shakira , is a Colombian singer who emerged in the music scene of Colombia and Latin America in the early 1990s...
and Wyclef Jean
Wyclef Jean
Wyclef Jean is a Haitian musician, record producer, and politician. At age nine, Jean moved to the United States with his family and has spent much of his life in the country...
and featured on concert DVDs with Ben and Seal (One Night to Remember, recorded live in Düsseldorf
Düsseldorf
Düsseldorf is the capital city of the German state of North Rhine-Westphalia and centre of the Rhine-Ruhr metropolitan region.Düsseldorf is an important international business and financial centre and renowned for its fashion and trade fairs. Located centrally within the European Megalopolis, the...
).
After first Boussa and later N'gone Thiam left the band, Urio and Harris continued as duo until their last concert in October 2006 when they started to concentrate on their solo careers.
Deutschland sucht den Superstar
Francisca Urio gained national recognition as contestant and 'Top 10' finalist in the 2007 German "IdolIdol series
The British talent search television series Pop Idol has spawned spin-offs in 42 territories, in what is now referred to as the "Idols" format, as described by FremantleMedia...
" version Deutschland sucht den Superstar
Deutschland sucht den Superstar
Deutschland sucht den Superstar is a German reality talent show, also commonly known by its initials DSDS. Part of the Idol franchise, it was created by English media mogul Simon Fuller as a spin-off from the British show Pop Idol, of which two series were broadcast between the years of 2001 and...
(DSDS) broadcasted by RTL. She was considered a unique talent, having the best voice and being the favorite in this competition, not only by the jury but also gaining acclamation by professional singers like the bass-baritone Thomas Quasthoff
Thomas Quasthoff
Thomas Quasthoff is a German bass-baritone. Although his reputation was initially based on his performance of Romantic lieder, Quasthoff has proven to have a remarkable range from the Baroque cantatas of Bach to solo jazz improvisations.-Biography:Quasthoff was born in Hildesheim, Germany, with...
.
On 6. February 2007 the German newspaper Bild
Bild-Zeitung
The Bild is a German tabloid published by Axel Springer AG. The paper is published from Monday to Saturday, while on Sundays, Bild am Sonntag is published instead, which has a different style and its own editors...
appeared with an article accusing Francisca Urio and her friend Priscilla Harris (who was also a contestant at the casting show) to be professional singers, having already recorded CDs and are therefore not entitled to take part in the competition. However the accusations where quickly dismissed as the rules of the DSDS show only prohibit participants to have a current recording contract but not to have previous professional experience.
Despite the praise her performances received from the jury Francisca Urio was unexpectedly eliminated in the 4th motto show, which equally surprised the jury, the other candidates and the viewers. However, in an online voting with over hundred thousand votes organized by the newspaper Bild after the casting show was finished, Francisca Urio won the voting by a small margin ahead of the DSDS winner Mark Medlock
Mark Medlock
Mark Medlock is a German singer and the winner of the season 4 of Deutschland sucht den Superstar , the German version of Pop Idol.-Early life:...
.
Solo career
In 2006 Francisca Urio toured through Germany with the musical show The Magic Night of Dancing Musicals in which she presented 5 songs as solo singer.Since 2003 she is a presenter at the Berlin radio station Jazz Radio.
The radio station Spreeradio 105.5 arranged for Francisca Urio to perform and record with the Filmorchester Babelsberg
Deutsches Filmorchester Babelsberg
The German Film Orchestra Babelsberg is a symphony orchestra based in Potsdam, Germany. It was founded in 1993 by Klaus Peter Beyer. The orchestra derives its name from the legendary Babelsberg Studios in Potsdam-Babelsberg, a city part of Potsdam today, where notable films such as Metropolis, Dr...
in May 2007.
Urio was invited to take part on 22 and 23 May 2007 in the semi finals of the International Competition Of Young Singers of Popular Music "New Wave
New Wave (competition)
New Wave is an international contest for new stars, which usually lasts for six days: 3 contest days, 2 special event days and, at the end, the day where the contest's results are announced followed by an ending concert....
2007" in Moscow and qualified for the finals which took place in Jūrmala
Jurmala
Jūrmala is a city in Latvia, about 25 kilometers west of Riga. Jūrmala is a resort town stretching and sandwiched between the Gulf of Riga and the Lielupe River...
, Latvia
Latvia
Latvia , officially the Republic of Latvia , is a country in the Baltic region of Northern Europe. It is bordered to the north by Estonia , to the south by Lithuania , to the east by the Russian Federation , to the southeast by Belarus and shares maritime borders to the west with Sweden...
from 25 to 30 July 2007. She reached the 5th place in the competition.
On 7 July 2007 Urio sung the American national anthem
The Star-Spangled Banner
"The Star-Spangled Banner" is the national anthem of the United States of America. The lyrics come from "Defence of Fort McHenry", a poem written in 1814 by the 35-year-old lawyer and amateur poet, Francis Scott Key, after witnessing the bombardment of Fort McHenry by the British Royal Navy ships...
before the fight between IBF
International Boxing Federation
The International Boxing Federation or IBF is one of four major organizations recognized by IBHOF which sanction world championship boxing bouts, alongside the WBA, WBC and WBO.- History :...
/IBO heavyweight
Heavyweight
Heavyweight is a division, or weight class, in boxing. Fighters who weigh over 200 pounds are considered heavyweights by the major professional boxing organizations: the International Boxing Federation, the World Boxing Association, the World Boxing Council, and the World Boxing...
champion Wladimir Klitschko
Wladimir Klitschko
Wladimir Klitschko is a Ukrainian heavyweight boxer. Klitschko is the WBA , IBF, WBO Super, IBO & Ring Magazine Champion. His older brother Vitali Klitschko is the current WBC champion...
and challenger Lamon Brewster
Lamon Brewster
"Relentless" Lamon Tajuan Brewster is a retired American professional heavyweight boxer, and former WBO heavyweight champion. He won the silver medal as an amateur at the 1995 Pan American Games in Mar del Plata....
in Cologne
Cologne
Cologne is Germany's fourth-largest city , and is the largest city both in the Germany Federal State of North Rhine-Westphalia and within the Rhine-Ruhr Metropolitan Area, one of the major European metropolitan areas with more than ten million inhabitants.Cologne is located on both sides of the...
in front of an audience of 19500 spectators and millions of television viewers.
In 2008 she started recording her debut album with producer Dieter Falk
Dieter Falk
Dieter Falk is a German pianist, keyboardist, Christian composer, arranger, and record producer Dieter Falk (born 5 December 1959 in Siegen, North Rhine-Westphalia) is a German pianist, keyboardist, Christian composer, arranger, and record producer Dieter Falk (born 5 December 1959 in Siegen,...
. The album called Alpha Girl will be released on 10 June 2011.
In February 2010 she will be the show-act at the Rosenball charity-event in Munich for the Tabaluga
Tabaluga
The little green Dragon Tabaluga is a cartoon character, who lives in the fictional place of Greenland. He is around 7 dragon-years old . He is the creation of the German Rock musician Peter Maffay, children's song writer Rolf Zuckowski and the author Gregor Rottschalk...
children foundation.
Singles
- 2001 Silvashado: Die Reise durch mein ich (Sony Music Entertainment/BERLIN RECORDS)
- 2010 It´s a woman´s world (NJI Media)
- 2010 Baila Commigo (NJI Media)
- 2011 We Are One (Nji-Music)
- 2011 Stomp your Feet (Nji-Music)
Sampler
- 2007 Power of Love (joined release of all finale participants of Deutschland sucht den Superstar)
- If I Ain't Got YouIf I Ain't Got You"If I Ain't Got You" is a song recorded, written, and produced by American recording artist Alicia Keys for her second studio album, The Diary of Alicia Keys. Released in February 2004 as the album's second single, the song peaked at number four on the Billboard Hot 100 and became Keys' second...
- If You Don't Know Me By NowIf You Don't Know Me By Now"If You Don't Know Me by Now" is a song written by Kenny Gamble and Leon Huff and recorded by the jersey soul musical group Harold Melvin & the Blue Notes, which became their first hit after being released as a single in 1972 topping the R&B chart and peaking at number three on the Pop chart.The...
(Francisca Urio and the DSDSDeutschland sucht den SuperstarDeutschland sucht den Superstar is a German reality talent show, also commonly known by its initials DSDS. Part of the Idol franchise, it was created by English media mogul Simon Fuller as a spin-off from the British show Pop Idol, of which two series were broadcast between the years of 2001 and...
-Top-10)
- If I Ain't Got You
DVD appearances
- 2003 BenBen (singer)Ben is a German singer, songwriter and occasional voice actor and TV host.His greatest success was 2002 with the hit single "Engel", a collaboration with singer Gim...
Hörproben Live - 2005 SealSeal (musician)Seal Henry Olusegun Olumide Adeola Samuel , known simply as Seal, is a British soul and R&B singer-songwriter, of Nigerian and Brazilian background. Seal has won numerous music awards throughout his career, including three Brit Awards—winning Best British Male in 1992, four Grammy Awards, and an...
One Night to Remember
External links
- Official homepage (in German)
- Article with photos of the singer