Arash Labbaf ( fa, آرش لباف, ; born 23 April 1977) is an Iranian-Swedish singer, entertainer, and producer. He represented Azerbaijan along with Aysel in the

Eurovision Song Contest 2009 The Eurovision Song Contest 2009 was the 54th edition of the Eurovision Song Contest. It took place in Moscow, Russia, following the country's victory at the with the song "Believe" by Dima Bilan. Organised by the European Broadcasting Union (E ...

, finishing third with the song " Always". He is also one of the judges of ''

Persia's Got Talent ''Persia's Got Talent'' ( fa, پرشیاز گات تلنت) with acronym PGT is a spin-off of the British talent show ''Got Talent'' aimed at Persian-speaking audiences across the world, mainly in Iran ( also known as "Persia"). It is produced o ...

'', a Persian franchise of the British talent show ''

Got Talent ''Got Talent'' is a British talent show TV format conceived and owned by Simon Cowell's SYCOtv company. It has spawned spin-offs in over 69 countries, in what is now referred to as the 'Got Talent' format, similar to that described by Fremantle ...

''.

Early life

Arash Labbaf was born in

Tehran Tehran (; fa, تهران ) is the largest city in Tehran Province and the capital of Iran. With a population of around 9 million in the city and around 16 million in the larger metropolitan area of Greater Tehran, Tehran is the most popul ...

Iran Iran, officially the Islamic Republic of Iran, and also called Persia, is a country located in Western Asia. It is bordered by Iraq and Turkey to the west, by Azerbaijan and Armenia to the northwest, by the Caspian Sea and Turkmeni ...

. 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 BBC Persian Television ( fa, تلویزیون فارسی بی‌بی‌سی) is the BBC's Persian language news channel that was launched on 14 January 2009. The service is broadcast by satellite and is also available online. It is aimed at the ...

, he has mentioned that his mother and father are from the Iranian cities of

Shiraz Shiraz (; fa, شیراز, Širâz ) is the fifth-most-populous city of Iran and the capital of Fars Province, which has been historically known as Pars () and Persis. As of the 2016 national census, the population of the city was 1,565,572 p ...

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 has said that the reason he chooses to sing in his

native language A first language, native tongue, native language, mother tongue or L1 is the first language or dialect that a person has been exposed to from birth or within the critical period. In some countries, the term ''native language'' or ''mother tongu ...

is because of his "deep attachment to

and

Persian culture The culture of Iran () or culture of PersiaYarshater, Ehsa, ''Iranian Studies'', vol. XXII no. 1 (1989) is among the most influential in the world. Iran, also known as Persia, is widely considered to be one of the cradles of civilization. Due t ...

." His debut album, ''Arash'', was released by

Warner Music Sweden Warner Music Sweden AB (previously Metronome Records) is a Swedish record company and label, a subsidiary of Warner Music Group. Metronome Records was established in 1949 by Anders Burman, Lars Burman, and Börje Ekberg and was based in Stockhol ...

in June 2005, after he had finished college. His singles, " Boro Boro" ("Go Away") and "

Temptation Temptation is a desire to engage in short-term urges for enjoyment that threatens long-term goals.Webb, J.R. (Sep 2014). Incorporating Spirituality into Psychology of temptation: Conceptualization, measurement, and clinical implications. Sp ...

" (featuring Rebecca) made it to the hit lists around

Europe Europe is a large peninsula conventionally considered a continent in its own right because of its great physical size and the weight of its history and traditions. Europe is also considered a subcontinent of Eurasia and it is located entirel ...

, and their respective videos garnered significant airplay on more than 20 MTV outlets across the world. 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 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 Hindi cinema, popularly known as Bollywood and formerly as Bombay cinema, refers to the film industry based in Mumbai, engaged in production of motion pictures in Hindi language. The popular term Bollywood, is a portmanteau of "Bombay" (fo ...

film ''

Bluffmaster! ''Bluffmaster!'' is a 2005 Indian Hindi-language crime comedy film directed by Rohan Sippy and produced by Ramesh Sippy. The film stars Abhishek Bachchan, Riteish Deshmukh, Priyanka Chopra, Sanjay Mishra, Boman Irani and Nana Patekar. It is a ...

'' and he was the featured Artist of the Month on

MTV India MTV India is an Indian pay television channel specialising in music, reality and youth culture programming. It was launched in 1996 as the Indian version of MTV and is owned by Viacom 18, a joint venture operation between MTV International ow ...

. Helena did not take part in the music video of Pure Love, although her voice was used in it. The video starred Arash, together with the

Venezuela Venezuela (; ), officially the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela ( es, link=no, República Bolivariana de Venezuela), is a country on the northern coast of South America, consisting of a continental landmass and many islands and islets in th ...

n beauty queen,

Marianne Puglia Marianne Pasqualina Puglia Martinez is a Venezuelan actress, model and beauty queen. She won Miss Earth - Fire title in 2006. Pageantry & Modelling At the age of 20, she won Miss Aragua 2005 title and participated in Miss Venezuela 2005 contest ...

. Arash has produced along with Thomas G:son, Robert Uhlmann, and Johan Bejerholm the Swedish entry to the

Junior Eurovision Song Contest 2010 The Junior Eurovision Song Contest 2010 was the eighth edition of the annual Junior Eurovision Song Contest and took place in Minsk, Belarus. It was held on 20 November 2010. The contest was won by Vladimir Arzumanyan from Armenia with the song M ...

"Allt jag vill ha" that was performed by Josefine Ridell.

Eurovision Song Contest

In early 2009, it was revealed that the

Azerbaijan Azerbaijan (, ; az, Azərbaycan ), officially the Republic of Azerbaijan, , also sometimes officially called the Azerbaijan Republic is a transcontinental country located at the boundary of Eastern Europe and Western Asia. It is a part of t ...

i entry for the

would be the song " Always" which was written and composed by Arash. The song was performed by

Aysel Teymurzadeh Aysel Teymurzadeh ( az, Aysel Məhəmməd qızı Teymurzadə; born 25 April 1989, Baku) is an Azerbaijani pop and R&B singer. She has become well known after singing the song " Always" along with Arash during the 2009 Eurovision Song Contest in ...

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 take part in the contest? I'm originally thnicallyAzerbaijani, and I would like to have a part in this country's confident ascent in the history of Eurovision."

Personal life

Labaf married his longtime fiancée, Behnaz Ansari, in

Dubai Dubai (, ; ar, دبي, translit=Dubayy, , ) is the most populous city in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and the capital of the Emirate of Dubai, the most populated of the 7 emirates of the United Arab Emirates.The Government and Politics of ...

in May 2011.

Discography

Studio albums * ''

Arash Arash the Archer ( fa, آرش کمانگیر ''Āraš-e Kamāngīr'') is a heroic archer-figure of Iranian mythology. According to Iranian folklore, the boundary between Iran and Turan was set by an arrow launched by Arash, after he put his own ...

'' (2005) * '' Donya'' (2008) * '' Superman'' (2014)

Filmography

*2005: ''

'' as playback singer *2012: '' Rhinos Season'' as Son (as Twins/Male)

References

External links

Official websiteArash
at warnermusic.de * {{DEFAULTSORT:Arash 1977 births Living people Folk-pop singers Iranian musicians People from Tehran Swedish pop singers Singers from Tehran Iranian pop singers Swedish male singers Iranian Azerbaijanis Iranian male singers Extensive Music artists Persian-language singers Iranian record producers 21st-century male singers Warner Music Group artists Iranian singer-songwriters Iranian emigrants to Sweden Warner Music Sweden artists 21st-century Swedish singers Iranian expatriates in Sweden 21st-century Iranian male singers 21st-century Swedish male singers Swedish people of Iranian descent Swedish people of Azerbaijani descent Iranian people of Azerbaijani descent Winners of the Golden Gramophone Award Eurovision Song Contest entrants of 2009 Eurovision Song Contest entrants for Azerbaijan