Kevin James Borg (born 9 June 1986, in

Floriana Floriana ( mt, Il-Furjana or ''Il-Floriana''), also known by its title Borgo Vilhena, is a fortified town in the South Eastern Region area of Malta, just outside the capital city Valletta. It has a population of 2,205 as of March 2014. Floriana ...

, Malta), is a Maltese pop

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 ...

who lives and works in Sweden. Borg rose to fame as the winner of the fifth series of the Swedish television singing competition ''

Idol Idol or Idols may refer to: Religion and philosophy * Cult image, a neutral term for a man-made object that is worshipped or venerated for the deity, spirit or demon that it embodies or represents * Murti, a point of focus for devotion or medit ...

'' in 2008. He was the third male winner and the first in the show's history to be born outside of Sweden, having moved there exactly one year before he was declared winner.

Biography

Early life

Borg was born and raised in Floriana, Malta. He was a

footballer A football player or footballer is a sportsperson who plays one of the different types of football. The main types of football are association football, American football, Canadian football, Australian rules football, Gaelic football, rugby ...

, playing for Floriana FC. His grandfather, Lolly Debattista, was the first Maltese footballer to win the ''Footballer of the Year'' Award.

''Idol'' 2008

In December 2007, Borg moved to

Arvidsjaur Arvidsjaur (; sju, Árviesjávrrie; ) is a locality and the seat of Arvidsjaur Municipality in Norrbotten County, province of Lapland, Sweden with 4,635 inhabitants in 2010. Arvidsjaur is a center for the European car industry. During the winte ...

, Sweden, to live with his Swedish girlfriend. In autumn 2008, he auditioned for the fifth season of the Swedish singing contest ''

''. Although he made it through to the final 12 live finals, Borg was not originally among the competition's front-runners. However, his strong performances caused a rapid growth in his popularity with viewers week by week. After making it to the final two and performing at Stockholm's Globen Arena before a live audience of 16,000 people, Borg was declared the fifth Swedish Idol on 12 December 2008, defeating Alice Svensson. Throughout the live finals, Borg had never fallen into the bottom three contestants.

''Idol'' performances

*Top 11 Idol 5 years celebration: " Natalie" by

Ola Svensson Ola Nils Håkan Svensson (born 23 February 1986) is a Swedish musician, artist and songwriter, known professionally by the mononym Ola until 2014, and as Brother Leo from 2018 to present. Born in Lund, Skåne, his career began in 2005, when he f ...

(Safe) *Top 10 '90s: " All I Wanna Do Is Make Love To You" by

Heart The heart is a muscular organ in most animals. This organ pumps blood through the blood vessels of the circulatory system. The pumped blood carries oxygen and nutrients to the body, while carrying metabolic waste such as carbon dioxide to t ...

(Safe) *Top 9 ABBA: "

Gimme! Gimme! Gimme! "Gimme! Gimme! Gimme! (A Man After Midnight)" is a song by Swedish band ABBA. It was recorded in August 1979 in order to help promote their North American and European tour of that year, and was released on ABBA's '' Greatest Hits Vol. 2'' album ...

(Safe) *Top 8 Schlager: " Lyssna till ditt hjärta" by Friends (Safe) *Top 7 Rock:

Livin' on a Prayer "Livin' on a Prayer" is a song by the American rock band Bon Jovi, and is the band's second chart-topping single from their third album '' Slippery When Wet''. Written by Jon Bon Jovi, Richie Sambora and Desmond Child, the single, released in ...

" by Bon Jovi (Safe) *Top 6 Soul & Duets: "

Signed, Sealed, Delivered I'm Yours "Signed, Sealed, Delivered (I'm Yours)" is a soul song, by American musician Stevie Wonder, released in June 1970 as a single on Motown's Tamla label. It spent six weeks at number one on the U.S. R&B chart and peaked at number three on the U.S ...

" by Stevie Wonder (Safe) *Top 6 Soul & Duets: "

(I've Had) The Time of My Life "(I've Had) The Time of My Life" is a 1987 song composed by Franke Previte, John DeNicola, and Donald Markowitz. It was recorded by Bill Medley and Jennifer Warnes, and used as the theme song for the 1987 film '' Dirty Dancing''. The song has ...

" by

Bill Medley William Thomas Medley (born September 19, 1940) is an American singer and songwriter, best known as one half of The Righteous Brothers. He is noted for his bass-baritone voice, exemplified in songs such as "You've Lost That Lovin' Feelin'". Med ...

Jennifer Warnes Jennifer Jean Warnes (born March 3, 1947) is an American singer and songwriter. She has performed as a vocalist on a number of film soundtracks. She has won two Grammy Awards, in 1983 for the Joe Cocker duet "Up Where We Belong" and in 1987 for ...

(Safe) *Top 5 Love: "

If Tomorrow Never Comes "If Tomorrow Never Comes" is a song by American country music artist Garth Brooks. Written by Brooks and Kent Blazy, it was released in August 1989 as the second single from his album '' Garth Brooks'' and also appears on ''The Hits'', ''The Lim ...

" by

Ronan Keating Ronan Patrick John Keating (born 3 March 1977) is an Irish singer. He debuted in 1993 alongside Keith Duffy, Michael Graham, Shane Lynch, and Stephen Gately, as the co-lead singer (with Gately) of Irish pop group Boyzone. His solo career start ...

(Safe) *Top 5 Love: " In the Shadows" by

The Rasmus The Rasmus is a Finnish rock band that formed in 1994 in Helsinki while the band members were in upper comprehensive school.Main source of the band's history: The original band members were Lauri Ylönen (lead singer-songwriter), Eero Heinone ...

(Safe) *Top 4 Gospel: " Higher and Higher" by Jackie Wilson (Safe) *Top 4 Gospel: "

The Way You Make Me Feel "The Way You Make Me Feel" is a song by American recording artist Michael Jackson. It was released by Epic Records on November 9, 1987, as the third single from his seventh studio album, '' Bad''. It was written and composed by Jackson, and pro ...

" by

Michael Jackson Michael Joseph Jackson (August 29, 1958 – June 25, 2009) was an American singer, songwriter, dancer, and philanthropist. Dubbed the "King of Pop", he is regarded as one of the most significant cultural figures of the 20th century. Over a ...

(Safe) *Top 3 Judge's Choice: "

Livin' la Vida Loca "Livin' la Vida Loca" () is a song recorded by Puerto Rican singer Ricky Martin for his fifth studio album and English-language debut, ''Ricky Martin'' (1999). The song was written by Draco Rosa and Desmond Child, while the production was handl ...

" by

Ricky Martin Enrique Martín Morales (born December 24, 1971), known professionally as Ricky Martin, is a Puerto Rican singer, songwriter, and actor. He is known for his musical versatility, with his Ricky Martin albums discography, discography spanning ...

(Safe) *Top 3 Judge's Choice: "

Hot In Herre "Hot in Herre" is a song by American rapper Nelly, released as the first single from his second studio album '' Nellyville'' (2002). It was released on May 7, 2002, by Universal Records. It was written by Nelly, Charles Brown, and the produc ...

" by Nelly (Safe) *Top 2 Grand Finale: "

You're the Voice "You're the Voice" is a song written by Andy Qunta, Keith Reid, Maggie Ryder and Chris Thompson, and recorded by the Australian singer John Farnham and released as a single in September 1986 ahead of his album '' Whispering Jack''. "You're t ...

" by John Farnham (Winner) *Top 2 Grand Finale: "

" by Bon Jovi (Winner) *Top 2 Grand Finale: " With Every Bit of Me" by Kevin Borg - ''Declared 5th Swedish Idol'' (Winner)

After ''Idol''

2008: Debut single

After having won the Swedish Idol 2008 Borg signed a recording contract with Sony BMG. Borg's coronation song With Every Bit of Me was released one week after he had won the contest. The song was a hit in Sweden, where it debuted at number one and stayed on top of the charts for two consecutive weeks.

2009: First album: ''The Beginning''

On 4 March 2009 Borg officially released his album ''The Beginning'' in Sweden. The album reached number 3 in the charts in Sweden and was certified gold. Borg also released his second single titled ''Street Lights''. The single reached number 10 in Sweden. The album was originally slated for release in February, but Borg was working on a music video for ''Street Lights'' and the album was postponed by a week. Borg made a nationwide tour in early-to-mid-2009 in Sweden. In November 2012 Borg's music single "Christmas Time" was placed at number one on Malta's iTunes chart. He co-wrote with Marcos Ubeda and produced the song "Mental Breaker" for the South Korean K-Pop group, Block B. The song reached number 10 on Billboard and other charts.

After 2013: Back in Malta

Borg participated again in the Maltese national selection for the

Eurovision Song Contest 2013 The Eurovision Song Contest 2013 was the 58th edition of the Eurovision Song Contest. It took place in Malmö, Sweden, following the country's victory at the with the song "Euphoria" by Loreen. Organised by the European Broadcasting Union (EB ...

Malmö Malmö (, ; da, Malmø ) is the largest city in the Swedish county (län) of Scania (Skåne). It is the third-largest city in Sweden, after Stockholm and Gothenburg, and the sixth-largest city in the Nordic region, with a municipal pop ...

with the song " Needing You", which he co-wrote and co-produced with Simon Gribbe, Danne Attlerud, Thomas Thörnholm and Michael Clauss, coming in second place. Borg also co-wrote and co-composed the song "Storyline" with Gribbe, Alin Văduva and Aidan O'Connor as was with in the Romanian Eurovision Song Contest 2013 selection. In 2016, Borg was cast in the role of Danny Zuko in a production of ''

Grease (musical) ''Grease'' is a musical with music, lyrics, and a book by Jim Jacobs and Warren Casey. Named after the 1950s United States working-class youth subculture known as greasers, the musical is set in 1959 at fictional Rydell High School (based on ...

'', with Maxine Aquilina playing the part of Sandy Dumbrowski at Teatru Astra in Gozo, Malta, on Saturday 16 April 2016. On 20 April 2016, he released his single ''Young at Heart'', distributed by Spinnup through iTunes. In December 2016, Borg was selected to be part of Malta's national selection for the

Eurovision Song Contest 2017 The Eurovision Song Contest 2017 was the 62nd edition of the Eurovision Song Contest. It took place in Kyiv, Ukraine, following the country's victory at the with the song "1944" by Jamala. Organised by the European Broadcasting Union (EBU) and ...

with the song "Follow". He placed third in the national final. In July 2017, Borg co-wrote "

Tsunagu "Tsunagu" is the 52nd single by Japanese boy band Arashi. It was released on June 28, 2017 under their record label J Storm. "Tsunagu" is the theme song for the film ''Shinobi no Kuni'' starring Arashi member Satoshi Ohno. The single sold over 380 ...

", single by a Japanese boyband

Arashi is a Japanese boy band consisting of five members formed under the Johnny & Associates talent agency. The members are Satoshi Ohno, Sho Sakurai, Masaki Aiba, Kazunari Ninomiya, and Jun Matsumoto. Arashi officially formed on September 15, ...

with Peter Nord and Hirofumi Sasaki. The single peaked at number one in Japan and became the twelfth best-selling single of 2017 in the country.

Discography

Studio albums

Singles

Other charting songs

Musical participation in Malta

Malta International TV Song Festival *2006: Riflessi - 4th place *2007: Jasal il-Jum

Malta Song for Europe Malta has participated in the Eurovision Song Contest 34 times since its debut in . The contest is broadcast in Malta on the PBS channel, TVM. Malta has yet to win the contest, but is the only non-winning country to have achieved four top th ...

* 2006: You're My Dream - 8th place * 2007: Whenever - 4th place *

2013 File:2013 Events Collage V2.png, From left, clockwise: Edward Snowden becomes internationally famous for leaking classified NSA wiretapping information; Typhoon Haiyan kills over 6,000 in the Philippines and Southeast Asia; The Dhaka garment fa ...

: Needing You - 2nd place *

2017 File:2017 Events Collage V2.png, From top left, clockwise: The War Against ISIS at the Battle of Mosul (2016-2017); aftermath of the Manchester Arena bombing; The Solar eclipse of August 21, 2017 ("Great American Eclipse"); North Korea tests a s ...

: Follow - 3rd place

References

External links

Kevin Borg Myspace
{{DEFAULTSORT:Borg, Kevin 1986 births Living people People from Floriana Idol (Swedish TV series) winners 21st-century Maltese male singers Maltese pop singers