Gracia Arabella Baur (born 18 November 1982) is a German

singer Singing is the act of creating musical sounds with the voice. A person who sings is called a singer, artist or vocalist (in jazz and/or popular music). Singers perform music (arias, recitatives, songs, etc.) that can be sung with or withou ...

and songwriter. She rose to fame as a finalist on the debut season of the

television Television, sometimes shortened to TV, is a telecommunication medium for transmitting moving images and sound. The term can refer to a television set, or the medium of television transmission. Television is a mass medium for advertising, ...

series ''

Deutschland sucht den Superstar ''Deutschland sucht den Superstar'' (''DSDS''; "Germany is looking for the Superstar") is a German reality talent show. Part of the ''Idol'' franchise, it was created by British media mogul Simon Fuller as a spin-off from the British show '' ...

'', the German ''Idol'' series adaptation, placing fifth.

Biography

Gracia was born in

Munich Munich ( ; german: München ; bar, Minga ) is the capital and most populous city of the German state of Bavaria. With a population of 1,558,395 inhabitants as of 31 July 2020, it is the third-largest city in Germany, after Berlin and ...

on 18 November 1982 to Roman and Rosemary Baur and was named after Princess Grace (Gracia Patricia) of

Monaco Monaco (; ), officially the Principality of Monaco (french: Principauté de Monaco; Ligurian: ; oc, Principat de Mónegue), is a sovereign city-state and microstate on the French Riviera a few kilometres west of the Italian region of Lig ...

, who had died a few weeks earlier. Gracia's identical twin sister was called Patricia after the princess. During her teenage years she took vocal lessons to strengthen her voice. To fulfill her dreams of a career as a professional singer, she started recording demos and passed several auditions. In 2000, she even made it through the first round of '' Popstars'', but was forced out when she forgot the words of her song. In 2002/2003, she took part in ''

'', the German version of ''

Pop Idol ''Pop Idol'' is a British music competition television series created by Simon Fuller which ran on ITV from 2001 to 2003. The aim of the show was to decide the best new young pop singer (or "pop idol") in the UK based on viewer voting and par ...

'', and eventually reached #5. Pushed by the publicity she released her first album ''Intoxicated'', which peaked at #10 on the German album charts and spawned the hit singles "I Don't Think So" and "I Believe In Miracles". Afterwards, she teamed up with fellow ''

DSDS ''Deutschland sucht den Superstar'' (''DSDS''; "Germany is looking for the Superstar") is a German reality talent show. Part of the ''Idol'' franchise, it was created by British media mogul Simon Fuller as a spin-off from the British show ''Po ...

'' runners-up Daniel Küblböck, Nektarios Bamiatzis, and Stephanie Brauckmeyer, releasing the charity single "Don't Close Your Eyes" under the name ''4 United''. Gracia was selected to represent Germany in the

Eurovision Song Contest The Eurovision Song Contest (), sometimes abbreviated to ESC and often known simply as Eurovision, is an international songwriting competition organised annually by the European Broadcasting Union (EBU), featuring participants representing pr ...

with the song "Run & Hide", produced and composed by

David Brandes David Brandes (born David Brändle; December 9, 1968 in Basel, Switzerland) is a Swiss-born German songwriter and producer. Biography Brandes was born in Basel, Switzerland and raised in Germany. He has written and produced for many artists, ...

. After the German national pre-selection for the Eurovision Song Contest it was revealed that Brandes had bought thousands of his own CDs to ensure chart placement, a requirement of the pre-selection (the single had actually hit the top 30 on the German charts). In contrast to the Swiss entry

Vanilla Ninja Vanilla Ninja is an Estonian all-female rock band which enjoyed chart success in a number of countries across Europe, especially in Estonia, Germany and Austria. The group formed in 2002 and released their self-titled debut album '' Vanilla N ...

, who had also had their entry produced by Brandes, Gracia opted to continue her association with the newly controversial figure. However, "Run & Hide", a modern pop-rock song with heavy use of synthesizers, failed to catch the audience's imagination in the Eurovision Song Contest and ignominiously placed last (24th), with just four points awarded from

Moldova Moldova ( , ; ), officially the Republic of Moldova ( ro, Republica Moldova), is a landlocked country in Eastern Europe. It is bordered by Romania to the west and Ukraine to the north, east, and south. The unrecognised state of Transnistri ...

and

. Gracia, however, was not deterred ("Well, somebody has to finish last" was her laconic comment after the show), and went on with her second solo album ''Passion'', released in November 2005. 2004 she recorded Götter der Ewigkeit, part of the German soundtrack of the

Walt Disney Feature Animation Walt Disney Animation Studios (WDAS), sometimes shortened to Disney Animation, is an American animation studio that creates animated features and short films for The Walt Disney Company. The studio's current production logo features a scene fr ...

Brother Bear ''Brother Bear'' is a 2003 American animated musical fantasy comedy-drama film produced by Walt Disney Feature Animation and released by Walt Disney Pictures. The 44th Disney animated feature film, it was directed by Aaron Blaise and Robert ...

''. In December 2006, Gracia released the Song "Cos I believe" together with Marvin Broadie under the name "Xantoo". It charted at #39.

Discography

Studio albums

Singles

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Baur, Gracia German pop singers Deutschland sucht den Superstar participants Eurovision Song Contest entrants for Germany Eurovision Song Contest entrants of 2005 Musicians from Munich Sony BMG artists 1982 births Living people Women television personalities German twins 21st-century German women singers

Biography

Discography

Studio albums

Singles

See also

References