Marwan Daou (born August 2, 2000), better known as Maro, is a Lebanese singer-songwriter and

YouTuber A YouTuber is a content creator and social media influencer who uploads or creates videos on the online video-sharing website YouTube, typically posting to their personal YouTube channel. The term was first used in the English language in 2006 ...

from

Beirut Beirut ( ; ) is the Capital city, capital and largest city of Lebanon. , Greater Beirut has a population of 2.5 million, just under half of Lebanon's population, which makes it the List of largest cities in the Levant region by populatio ...

. He started his musical career posting cover videos on his

YouTube YouTube is an American social media and online video sharing platform owned by Google. YouTube was founded on February 14, 2005, by Steve Chen, Chad Hurley, and Jawed Karim who were three former employees of PayPal. Headquartered in ...

channel in 2015, and gained a following in 2018. In 2019, Maro caught the attention of tech-music label SNAFU Records, which led to him signing a deal as an original pop artist. Maro's debut single "Carsick" was produced by

Carl Falk Carl Anthony Falk-Gramer (née Falk; born 17 August 1980 in Stockholm), is a Sri-Lankan-born Swedish songwriter, record producer and musician and has worked with artists such as Demi Lovato, One Direction, 5 Seconds of Summer, Nicki Minaj, Elli ...

and Albin Nedler, and released in August 2020, followed by "Take It Back", released in January 2021.

Early life

Maro was born on August 2, 2000, in

, Lebanon. His father had roots in Lebanon while his mother was from

Ukraine Ukraine is a country in Eastern Europe. It is the List of European countries by area, second-largest country in Europe after Russia, which Russia–Ukraine border, borders it to the east and northeast. Ukraine also borders Belarus to the nor ...

. Due to the conflict surrounding Lebanon, they were forced to move many times during his early teenage years. Maro described creativity and writing songs as a

coping mechanism Coping refers to conscious or unconscious strategies used to reduce and manage unpleasant emotions. Coping strategies can be cognitions or behaviors and can be individual or social. To cope is to deal with struggles and difficulties in life. I ...

to deal with the loneliness he experienced from moving around the country. Maro speaks 4 languages, French, Russian, Arabic, and English, and could additionally sing in Turkish, Italian and Spanish. In his teenage years, he was taught to play the piano by his grandmother, and in the second grade, and he taught himself to play the guitar through watching YouTube tutorials. He started uploading videos to his YouTube channel in 2015, playing the guitar and covering a variety of songs, in multiple languages and from different decades. After Maro's debut as an original pop artist, he cited his parents' music tastes as a major influence, which contributed to his sound by drawing inspiration from both Lebanese and Ukrainian culture.

Career

Maro's follower amount grew substantially on YouTube in 2018 after uploading a cover of "

Falling Down ''Falling Down'' is a 1993 American crime drama film directed by Joel Schumacher, written by Ebbe Roe Smith, and starring Michael Douglas and Robert Duvall. Set in Los Angeles, the film tells the story of William Foster, a disgruntled, une ...

" by

Lil Peep Gustav Elijah Åhr (; November 1, 1996 – November 15, 2017), known professionally as Lil Peep, was an American rapper and singer-songwriter. He was a member of the hip-hop collective GothBoiClique, and is credited as being a leading figure of ...

and

XXXTentacion Jahseh Dwayne Ricardo Onfroy (January 23, 1998 – June 18, 2018), known professionally as XXXTentacion, was an American rapper and singer-songwriter. Though a controversial figure due to his widely publicized legal troubles, XXXTentacion gai ...

. Maro was noticed by Norwegian manager Eirik Schistad, and not long after, they started working together. In 2019, Maro caught the attention of the Stockholm and Los Angeles-based music-tech label, SNAFU Records. After a visit to the Stockholm studio, he signed a deal with the label as an original artist. Maro released his first original single "Carsick" in August 2020. Produced by

and Albin Nedler. One of the most popular songs Maro covered on his YouTube channel was

Frank Sinatra Francis Albert Sinatra (; December 12, 1915 – May 14, 1998) was an American singer and actor. Honorific nicknames in popular music, Nicknamed the "Chairman of the Board" and "Ol' Blue Eyes", he is regarded as one of the Time 100: The Most I ...

's "

Fly Me to the Moon "Fly Me to the Moon", originally titled "In Other Words", is a song written in 1954 by Bart Howard. The first recording of the song was made in 1954 by Kaye Ballard. Frank Sinatra, Frank Sinatra's 1964 version was closely associated with the Apo ...

", which was sampled in the outro of "Carsick". Maro described "Carsick" as a song about love and the repetitive cycle of toxic back-and-forth relationships. Maro's second single, "Take It Back", was released in January 2021 along with a music video produced in

Oslo Oslo ( or ; ) is the capital and most populous city of Norway. It constitutes both a county and a municipality. The municipality of Oslo had a population of in 2022, while the city's greater urban area had a population of 1,064,235 in 2022 ...

, Norway.

Discography

Singles

Albums

References

External links

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Maro on Spotify
{{DEFAULTSORT:Maro 2000 births Living people English-language singers from Lebanon Music YouTubers Singers from Beirut 21st-century Lebanese male singers Cover artists Lebanese people of Ukrainian descent Lebanese YouTubers