Jan Delay
Encyclopedia
Jan Delay is a German
singer, songwriter
and producer whose stylistic range includes mainly hip hop
, reggae
, dub
and funk
. An accomplished solo artist, he became known to the public as a member of the German bands Absolute Beginner and La Boom. He performed with his group 'Disko No.1' at the grand final of the Eurovision Song Contest 2011
in Düsseldorf, Germany.
on August, 25 1976. He attended the bilingual Helene-Lange-Gymnasium from 1986 to 1995. In the 1990s, he became known as one third of the pioneering German hip hop
group Beginner. His stage name is a reference to Young Deenay
, a pop music act in the 90s: the delay/echo
is an important effect in reggae
and dancehall
music.
Jan Delay's most significant trademark is his somewhat nasal voice. He also frequently changes his stage name depending on his current music style, mood, and collaboration partners. Bald, he often wears a hat and sunglasses.
The label was shut down in 2003 due to financial reasons and as a result of the "naive idea of just believing in talent outside the mainstream" (Jan Delay, MTV Germany, 2007). Former partners of Eimsbush later collaborated with Delay, founded their own labels, agencies, or signed with other labels.
Germany
Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...
singer, songwriter
Songwriter
A songwriter is an individual who writes both the lyrics and music to a song. Someone who solely writes lyrics may be called a lyricist, and someone who only writes music may be called a composer...
and producer whose stylistic range includes mainly hip hop
Hip hop music
Hip hop music, also called hip-hop, rap music or hip-hop music, is a musical genre consisting of a stylized rhythmic music that commonly accompanies rapping, a rhythmic and rhyming speech that is chanted...
, reggae
Reggae
Reggae is a music genre first developed in Jamaica in the late 1960s. While sometimes used in a broader sense to refer to most types of Jamaican music, the term reggae more properly denotes a particular music style that originated following on the development of ska and rocksteady.Reggae is based...
, dub
Dub music
Dub is a genre of music which grew out of reggae music in the 1960s, and is commonly considered a subgenre, though it has developed to extend beyond the scope of reggae...
and funk
Funk
Funk is a music genre that originated in the mid-late 1960s when African American musicians blended soul music, jazz and R&B into a rhythmic, danceable new form of music. Funk de-emphasizes melody and harmony and brings a strong rhythmic groove of electric bass and drums to the foreground...
. An accomplished solo artist, he became known to the public as a member of the German bands Absolute Beginner and La Boom. He performed with his group 'Disko No.1' at the grand final of the Eurovision Song Contest 2011
Eurovision Song Contest 2011
The Eurovision Song Contest 2011 was the 56th annual Eurovision Song Contest and was won by Eldar & Nigar performing "Running Scared" for Azerbaijan. The event took place in the Esprit Arena in Düsseldorf, Germany, following Germany's win in the previous year...
in Düsseldorf, Germany.
Biography
Delay was born in HamburgHamburg
-History:The first historic name for the city was, according to Claudius Ptolemy's reports, Treva.But the city takes its modern name, Hamburg, from the first permanent building on the site, a castle whose construction was ordered by the Emperor Charlemagne in AD 808...
on August, 25 1976. He attended the bilingual Helene-Lange-Gymnasium from 1986 to 1995. In the 1990s, he became known as one third of the pioneering German hip hop
Hip hop
Hip hop is a form of musical expression and artistic culture that originated in African-American and Latino communities during the 1970s in New York City, specifically the Bronx. DJ Afrika Bambaataa outlined the four pillars of hip hop culture: MCing, DJing, breaking and graffiti writing...
group Beginner. His stage name is a reference to Young Deenay
Young Deenay
Fatima Napo, alias Young Deenay is a Malian hip hop and rap artist.She studied psychology at the University of Frankfurt....
, a pop music act in the 90s: the delay/echo
Delay (audio effect)
Delay is an audio effect which records an input signal to an audio storage medium, and then plays it back after a period of time. The delayed signal may either be played back multiple times, or played back into the recording again, to create the sound of a repeating, decaying echo.-Early delay...
is an important effect in reggae
Reggae
Reggae is a music genre first developed in Jamaica in the late 1960s. While sometimes used in a broader sense to refer to most types of Jamaican music, the term reggae more properly denotes a particular music style that originated following on the development of ska and rocksteady.Reggae is based...
and dancehall
Dancehall
Dancehall is a genre of Jamaican popular music that originated in the late 1970s. Initially dancehall was a more sparse version of reggae than the roots style, which had dominated much of the 1970s. In the mid-1980s, digital instrumentation became more prevalent, changing the sound considerably,...
music.
Jan Delay's most significant trademark is his somewhat nasal voice. He also frequently changes his stage name depending on his current music style, mood, and collaboration partners. Bald, he often wears a hat and sunglasses.
Eimsbush label
In 1997, Jan Delay founded his own record label Eimsbush together with partners from the Hamburg hip-hop scene. The label's main goal was to support and guide fresh underground talents and pave their way into the music business without having them "selling out" to the major labels. The label was initiated by the German hip hop scene while it was going through a boom phase in the mid and late 90s, which led to "every Horst [jerk] being allowed to rap if only he can hold up a mic" (Jan Delay, MTV Germany, 2007). As a result, real talent stepped back for fear of being seen as sellouts by the underground hip-hop scene.The label was shut down in 2003 due to financial reasons and as a result of the "naive idea of just believing in talent outside the mainstream" (Jan Delay, MTV Germany, 2007). Former partners of Eimsbush later collaborated with Delay, founded their own labels, agencies, or signed with other labels.
Albums
- 2001 - Searching for the Jan Soul Rebels
- 2006 - Mercedes Dance
- 2007 - Searching - the Dubs
- 2007 - Mercedes Dance - Live
- 2009 - Wir Kinder vom Bahnhof Soul (GER: 23rd best-selling album of 2009 )
- 2010 - Wir Kinder vom Bahnhof Soul - Live
Singles
- 1999 - "Irgendwie, irgendwo, irgendwannAnyplace, Anywhere, Anytime"Anyplace, Anywhere, Anytime" is a 2003 duet single by German singer Nena and British singer Kim Wilde. The video was recorded in and around Change Alley, London EC3....
" — (cover versionCover versionIn popular music, a cover version or cover song, or simply cover, is a new performance or recording of a contemporary or previously recorded, commercially released song or popular song...
of Nena'sNenaGabriele Susanne Kerner , better known by her stage name Nena, is a German singer and actress. She rose to international fame in 1983 with the New German Wave song "99 Luftballons". In 1984, she re-recorded this song in English as "99 Red Balloons". Nena was also the name of the band with whom she...
song of the same name) - 2001 - "Ich möchte nicht, dass ihr meine Lieder singt"
- 2001 - "Vergiftet"
- 2002 - "Die Welt steht still" (Sam Ragga Band featuring Jan Delay)
- 2006 - "Klar"
- 2006 - "Für immer und dich"
- 2007 - "Feuer"
- 2007 - "Im Arsch" (featuring Udo LindenbergUdo LindenbergUdo Lindenberg is a German rock musician and composer.-Career:Lindenberg started his musical career as a drummer. In 1969 Lindenberg founded his first band Free Orbit and also appeared as a studio and guest musician . In 1970 he collaborated as a drummer with jazz-saxophonist Klaus Doldinger in...
) - 2007 - "Türlich, Türlich" / Word up
- 2008 - "Ganz anders" (featuring Udo Lindenberg)
- 2009 - "Oh Jonny"
- 2009 - "Disko"