Donny Björn Stefan Ellerström (born 5 August 1994), known by the stage name Donnie and pseudonym Donald Scloszkie, is a Dutch rapper, singer and songwriter. He is best known for his songs "", "", "", "" and "".

Early life and education

Donny Ellerström was born on 5 August 1994 in

Amsterdam Amsterdam ( , ; ; ) is the capital of the Netherlands, capital and Municipalities of the Netherlands, largest city of the Kingdom of the Netherlands. It has a population of 933,680 in June 2024 within the city proper, 1,457,018 in the City Re ...

to a Dutch mother and a Swedish father. He was raised by his mother and grandmother, and grew up with two elder brothers and a younger sister. He has had little contact with his father, who served a prison sentence for most of Ellerström's childhood and currently lives in

Sweden Sweden, formally the Kingdom of Sweden, is a Nordic countries, Nordic country located on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. It borders Norway to the west and north, and Finland to the east. At , Sweden is the largest Nordic count ...

. After completing his pre-vocational secondary education, Ellerström attended a culinary college in Amsterdam and worked as a cook at a local restaurant for some time.

Career

While in culinary college, Ellerström became acquainted with Dutch rapper Frans Frederiks (Lange Frans) when he won a risotto cooking competition Frederiks had organised. He subsequently featured on Frederiks's 2011 track "Brawler", alongside Faberyayo, and joined him on his

concert tour A concert tour (or simply tour) is a series of concerts by an artist or group of artists in different cities, countries or locations. Often, concert tours are named to differentiate different tours by the same artist and to associate a specific ...

in 2012, using the stage name "Young Kermit". In 2014, he was signed to the record label owned by producer

Bas Bron Bas Bron (born 17 July 1974) is a musical artist and a producer of mostly electronic music from Amsterdam, Netherlands. Bastian As Bastian, Bas Bron scored a modest national hit in 2001 with the song "You've Got My Love", which was accompanied b ...

. Soon after, Ellerström released the

mixtape In the modern music industry, a mixtape is a musical project, typically with looser constraints than that of an album or extended play. Unlike the traditional album or extended play, mixtapes are labeled as laid-back projects that allow artists mo ...

, followed by his debut studio album in 2015. He gained prominence in 2018 when he popularised the usage of the

slang A slang is a vocabulary (words, phrases, and linguistic usages) of an informal register, common in everyday conversation but avoided in formal writing and speech. It also often refers to the language exclusively used by the members of pa ...

phrase ('flashy sunglasses') through videos on social media and the release of his single "". In 2019, he released the single "Barry Hayze" – a play on the name of singer Barry Hay and the

cannabis ''Cannabis'' () is a genus of flowering plants in the family Cannabaceae that is widely accepted as being indigenous to and originating from the continent of Asia. However, the number of species is disputed, with as many as three species be ...

strain Haze Berry – which certified gold in the Netherlands. Since 2020, Ellerström has been releasing songs in which he combines

hip hop Hip-hop or hip hop (originally disco rap) is a popular music genre that emerged in the early 1970s from the African-American community of New York City. The style is characterized by its synthesis of a wide range of musical techniques. Hip- ...

with – a fusion genre he dubbed (after and ). Examples include "" (with Frans Duijts), "" (with René Froger), "" (with Mart Hoogkamer), and "" (with Kris Kross Amsterdam and ). His 2023 album certified platinum and reached number 38 in the

Dutch Album Top 100 The Dutch Album Top 100 or Album Top 100 is a weekly hit list of music albums, compiled by Dutch Charts. It shows the 100 best-selling music albums of the moment in the Netherlands , Terminology of the Low Countries, informally Holland, i ...

. In December 2023, it was revealed that he had co-written the entry selected by

AVROTROS AVROTROS () is a Dutch radio and television broadcaster that is part of the Dutch public broadcasting system. It was founded in 2014 as the result of a merger between the Algemene Vereniging Radio Omroep (AVRO) and the TROS, Televisie Radio Omro ...

to represent the Netherlands in the

Eurovision Song Contest 2024 The Eurovision Song Contest 2024 was the 68th edition of the Eurovision Song Contest. It took place in Malmö, Sweden, following the country's victory at the with the song "Tattoo (Loreen song), Tattoo" by Loreen. Organised by the European Br ...

, to be performed by Joost Klein. The entry, " Europapa", was released on 29 February 2024. He appeared in a 2024 episode of the television show '' The Masked Singer''.

Personal life

Ellerström has used the

pseudonym A pseudonym (; ) or alias () is a fictitious name that a person assumes for a particular purpose, which differs from their original or true meaning ( orthonym). This also differs from a new name that entirely or legally replaces an individual's o ...

"Donald Scloszkie" in songwriting since 2018. He has two sons, born in 2020 and 2022.

Discography

Studio albums

Extended plays

Charted singles

As lead artist

As featured artist

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Donnie (Dutch rapper) 1994 births Living people 21st-century Dutch male musicians 21st-century Dutch songwriters Dutch hip-hop musicians Dutch male songwriters Dutch people of Swedish descent Dutch pop musicians Dutch male rappers 21st-century male rappers Dutch-language singers Musicians from Amsterdam