Carl Abou Samah (; born April 18, 1979), better known by his stage name Karl Wolf, is a Lebanese-Canadian musician based in

Toronto Toronto ( , locally pronounced or ) is the List of the largest municipalities in Canada by population, most populous city in Canada. It is the capital city of the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian province of Ontario. With a p ...

, Ontario, Canada. Recently named “Father of A-Pop” Karl Wolf has been a singer, songwriter, and producer since 2001, releasing his first solo album '' Face Behind the Face'' on MapleNationwide/Universal in 2006, followed by a second album ''

Bite the Bullet "Biting the bullet" is a metaphor which is used to describe a situation, often a debate, where one accepts an inevitable impending hardship or hard-to-refute point, and then endures the resulting pain with fortitude. It has been suggested that i ...

'' in 2007. His third album ''Nightlife'' was released in 2009 followed by '' Finally Free'' in 2012, ''Stereotype'' in 2014 and '' WOW'' in 2015. His biggest hit has been a remake of Toto's "

Africa Africa is the world's second-largest and second-most populous continent after Asia. At about 30.3 million km2 (11.7 million square miles) including adjacent islands, it covers 20% of Earth's land area and 6% of its total surfac ...

" sampling from the song and providing new lyrics and arrangements. Through his company, Lone Wolf Management, Wolf also manages a number of new artists. In 2015, he announced a new collaboration under the name BAE (Be All Equal) with Show Stephens, Brenda Mullen and producer MasterTrak. Wolf signed a new solo contract in Canada with British Columbia-based Cordova Bay Records as well as two new worldwide deals in Los Angeles, one for a publishing contract with BMG and another Digital "YouTube" deal with Collective Digital Studios. He co-wrote the OMI hit "

Hula Hoop A hula hoop is a toy hoop (rhythmic gymnastics), hoop that is twirled around the waist, limbs or neck. It can also be wheeled along the ground like a wheel with careful execution and practice. They have been used by children and adults since ...

Early years

Wolf was born as Carl Abou Samah in

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 ...

, Lebanon. He came from a musical household. His mother was a piano instructor and his father played the oud,

derbake The goblet drum (also chalice drum, tarabuka, tarabaki, darbuka, darabuka, derbake, debuka, doumbek, dumbec, dumbeg, dumbelek, toumperleki, tumbak, or zerbaghali; / Romanized: ) is a single-head membranophone with a goblet-shaped body. It is ...

and guitar. He moved on with his family to

Sharjah Sharjah (; ', Gulf Arabic: ''aš-Šārja'') is the List of cities in the United Arab Emirates, third-most populous city in the United Arab Emirates, after Dubai and Abu Dhabi. It is the capital of the Emirate of Sharjah and forms part of the D ...

UAE The United Arab Emirates (UAE), or simply the Emirates, is a country in West Asia, in the Middle East, at the eastern end of the Arabian Peninsula. It is a federal elective monarchy made up of seven emirates, with Abu Dhabi serving as i ...

when he was three years old due to the civil war in Lebanon. He studied in the UAE. In an interview with ''Shave'' Magazine, Karl explained that in Arabic, his family name (Abou Samah) means 'father of forgiveness'. His stage name 'wolf' comes from a nickname he received on his high school

basketball Basketball is a team sport in which two teams, most commonly of five players each, opposing one another on a rectangular Basketball court, court, compete with the primary objective of #Shooting, shooting a basketball (ball), basketball (appro ...

team because he was the smallest and quickest in his team. He also says his mother and father drove him to a career in music. Wolf's mother was a piano teacher and his father played guitar, drums, and the traditional Middle Eastern oud. At 16, Wolf immigrated to Canada in 1995, residing in

Montreal Montreal is the List of towns in Quebec, largest city in the Provinces and territories of Canada, province of Quebec, the List of the largest municipalities in Canada by population, second-largest in Canada, and the List of North American cit ...

, Quebec. He studied Film Studies at Montreal's

Concordia University Concordia University () is a Public university, public English-language research university located in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. Founded in 1974 following the merger of Loyola College (Montreal), Loyola College and Sir George Williams Universit ...

. He began his career "behind the scenes," and has been writing co-producing since 2001. Initially he was a backup singer for some hits by the Quebec band

Dubmatique Dubmatique is a French Canadian hip hop group formed in the 1990s in Montreal, Quebec. Groupmates Dj Choice, OTMC, and Jérôme-Philippe are the first French-language hip-hop group from Canada to have a number one hit single on the francophone po ...

. The 2001 hit album from Gabrielle Destroismaisons generated two singles co-written by him that reached No. 1 on the BDS Francophone Charts, and the record earned him a

Félix Award The Félix Award ( is an award, given by the ''Association du disque, de l'industrie du spectacle québécois'' (ADISQ) on an annual basis to artists working in the music and humor industry in the Canadian province of Quebec. The award The firs ...

at the L'

ADISQ ADISQ (; ) is a nonprofit organization whose mission is to support the independent record labels, independent music industry in Quebec. It was created in 1978. Since 1979, it has also organized an annual awards ceremony for musicians and singer ...

Awards for "Best Mix and Sound of the Year". Wolf's work with Gabrielle brought him to the attention of Antoine Sicotte, of the top-selling Canadian pop band

Sky The sky is an unobstructed view upward from the planetary surface, surface of the Earth. It includes the atmosphere of Earth, atmosphere and outer space. It may also be considered a place between the ground and outer space, thus distinct from ...

, where he was recruited as a singer-songwriter becoming Sky's new lead singer in 2002. Wolf co-wrote and co-produced the third

album, ''Picture Perfect'' (on Sextant/EMI), with strong airplay across Canada. Sicotte and Wolf cooperated on the hugely successful ''

Star Académie ''Star Académie'' is a Canadian reality television series that started in 2003, aimed primarily at the Quebec television audience, featuring an array of young women and men under the age of 30 competing for the title of the next solo singing sens ...

'' reality TV show in

Quebec Quebec is Canada's List of Canadian provinces and territories by area, largest province by area. Located in Central Canada, the province shares borders with the provinces of Ontario to the west, Newfoundland and Labrador to the northeast, ...

. The subsequent album was the biggest-selling album in Canada in 2003, notching a phenomenal sales in Canadian terms and earning Karl Wolf a

SOCAN The Society of Composers, Authors and Music Publishers of Canada (SOCAN) is a Canadian performance rights organization that represents the performing rights of more than 175,000 songwriters, composers and music publishers. The organization collect ...

Award for Most Popular Song. A ''Star Académie II'' sequel in 2004 was another big success, the album going double-platinum.

Solo years (since 2005)

In 2005, Wolf ventured into a solo career. He released his debut solo album '' Face Behind the Face'' in January 2006. Since its release, the album broke in the Canadian Top 100 sales chart and spawned three singles, "Butterflies" and "Desensitize". Wolf followed with a second studio album ''

'' in November 2007. The first single release from the album was "

", a remake of the worldwide hit

by Toto. The Karl Wolf remake features Canadian artist

Culture Culture ( ) is a concept that encompasses the social behavior, institutions, and Social norm, norms found in human societies, as well as the knowledge, beliefs, arts, laws, Social norm, customs, capabilities, Attitude (psychology), attitudes ...

. In early March 2009, with the release of the single on

iTunes iTunes is a media player, media library, and mobile device management (MDM) utility developed by Apple. It is used to purchase, play, download and organize digital multimedia on personal computers running the macOS and Windows operating s ...

for digital downloads, it surged up from No. 32 to No. 2 on the issue of March 14, 2009 based on huge numbers of downloads over the previous week. It peaked at No. 1 on the iTunes charts and It also stayed at No. 2 for four further week on the chart of March 21 and 28 and April 4 and 11, 2009. Prior to iTunes download, it had topped at No. 20 in the same chart. This is so far Karl Wolf's most successful single to date. The song also topped the MuchMusic Top 30 Countdown charts and has also found success in Japan, peaking at No. 20 on the Japan Hot 100 chart. His follow-up single this year titled " Carrera" climbed to peak at No. 39 on the Billboard Canadian Hot 100. ''

Nightlife Nightlife is a collective term for entertainment that is available and generally more popular from the late evening into the early hours of the morning. It includes pubs, bars, nightclubs, parties, live music, concerts, cabarets, theatre, ...

'', his third album, was released on November 17, 2009. After nine years with

EMI EMI Group Limited (formerly EMI Group plc until 2007; originally an initialism for Electric and Musical Industries, also referred to as EMI Records or simply EMI) was a British transnational conglomerate founded in March 1931 in London. At t ...

Music, in March 2010 he signed a new recording contract in the United States with

Universal Republic Republic Records is an American record label owned by Universal Music Group (UMG). Based in New York City, it was founded by Avery Lipman and Monte Lipman as an independent label in 1995, and was acquired by UMG in 2000. Republic was initially ...

followed by a worldwide deal with

Universal Music Canada Universal Music Group (UMG) owns, or has a joint share in, many of the record labels listed here. According to the UMG official website, the main labels are Abbey Road Studios, Capitol Music Group, Decca Records, Def Jam Recordings, Deutsche Gra ...

in 2011. EMI Japan and EMI Middle East who still had exclusive license to Karl Wolf's upcoming album released '' Finally Free'', his fourth album on July 10, 2012. Through his company, Lone Wolf Management, Karl Wolf also manages a number of new artists. In September 2014, he released the album ''Stereotype'' followed in 2015 with the album ''WOW''. In April 2021, he released his tenth album ''2AM Vibes'' with a number of collaborations.

Lone Wolf Management / LW Entertainment / LW Records

In addition to his solo career, Wolf has established "LW Entertainment" and his own record label "LW Records" and recording studio (with LW standing for Lone Wolf). Through his company, Lone Wolf Management, Karl Wolf also manages a number of new artists with his long time manager Pascal Malkoun. Karl Wolf has also produced for Quebec singers

Mitsou Mitsou Annie Marie Gélinas (born September 1, 1970, in Loretteville, Quebec) is a Canadian pop singer, businesswoman, television and radio host, and actress. She is credited as Mitsou Gélinas when acting, but records simply as Mitsou (the Fre ...

, Emily, Jérôme-Philippe (aka Disoul) also becoming for a time, part of the latter's band

BAE (Be All Equal)

In 2015, Karl Wolf announced a collaboration under the name BAE (Be All Equal) that includes Karl Wolf and hip-hop artist Show Stephens and singer-songwriter Brenda Mullen. Co-produced by Wolf and DJ producer MasterTrak, the act is signed to Armin Van Buuren's

Armada Music Armada Music is a Dutch independent record label that specialises in releasing electronic dance music. Armada Music was founded on 1 June 2003 by Dutch producer Armin van Buuren, Dutch business executive Maykel Piron, and music manager David ...

label. The formation's first single is "I'm Lonely". Karl Wolf and BAE were included as one of the opening acts for renowned singer Akon's 2015 Canada-wide tour which also included acts like Peter Jackson and Afrocen3

Collaborations

Karl Wolf has collaborated with a number of artists, mainly from Canada. Choclair was featured in one of his earliest hits titled "Desensitize" and Canadian rapper

is featured in his biggest hit "

", whereas Rime and Kaz Money are featured in " Yalla Habibi". Sway was featured in "Hurting" and

Kardinal Offishall Jason Drew Harrow (born May 11, 1976), better known by his stage name Kardinal Offishall ( ), is a Canadian rapper and record producer. Often credited as Canada's "hip-hop ambassador", he has been regarded as one of the country's most prominent ...

was featured in " Ghetto Love". His single "Fuck Shit Up / Mash It Up" produced by

Greg Stainer Greg Stainer (born 17 May 1976) is an English house and electronic dance music DJ and producer. He is the co-creator and member of the electronic music duo Hollaphonic. Career Stainer first appeared on the music scene in the mid-1990s, DJing i ...

& Dany Neville featured

Three 6 Mafia Three 6 Mafia is an American hip-hop group from Memphis, Tennessee, formed in 1991. Emerging as a horror-themed underground hip-hop group, they went on to enjoy mainstream success. The group's 1995 debut album ''Mystic Stylez'' became an influen ...

Timbaland Timothy Zachery Mosley (born March 10, 1972), known professionally as Timbaland, is an American record producer and rapper. Born and raised in Norfolk, Virginia, he is widely acclaimed for his distinctive production work and "stuttering" rhythm ...

and B K Brasco in "

Magic Hotel ''Magic Hotel'' is the second album by English band Toploader. Released in 2002, it is a follow-up to their successful 1999 album ''Onka's Big Moka''. The album title is a reference to a Los Angeles Los Angeles, often referred to by its ...

" and

Fatman Scoop Isaac Freeman III (August 6, 1968 – August 31, 2024), better known by his stage name Fatman Scoop, was an American hip-hop recording artist and radio personality. Noted for his booming, raw vocal presence on various hip-hop songs, he was best k ...

in " Let's Get Rowdy". Also in 2015, Karl Wolf co-wrote with

Omar Pasley Omar Samuel Pasley (born 3 September 1986), better known by his stage name Omi ( ; stylised in all caps), is a Jamaican singer. He is best known for his 2012 single "Cheerleader", the remixed version of which was a worldwide hit. He is currently ...

(OMI), Jenson Vaughan and Matthew Humphrey OMI's international single "

", a follow-up to OMI's hit "

Cheerleader Cheerleading is an activity in which the participants (called cheerleaders) cheer for their team as a form of encouragement. It can range from chanting slogans to intense physical activity. It can be performed to motivate sports teams, to ent ...

". Making a comeback in 2020, Karl Wolf collaborated with up and coming artist Raeshaun and was featured on the track "Dubai" in July, paying homage to the city and country that took him and his family in during the Civil War in Lebanon.

In popular culture

* Karl Wolf was a featured artist on the Arabic version of ''

Star Academy ''Star Academy'' is a Dutch-developed reality television talent show format that first aired in the Netherlands as '':nl:Starmaker (televisieprogramma), Star Maker''. Format There are many versions of the show, each country having its own sl ...

'' broadcast on

Lebanese Broadcasting Corporation The Lebanese Broadcasting Corporation International (), widely known as LBCI (), Lebanese Broadcasting Corporation () or LBC () is a private television station in Lebanon. LBCI was founded in 1992 by acquiring the assets, liabilities and logo of ...

(LBC). In the fifth season of the show, he was seen mentoring the contestants. Some joined him for renditions of his hits, including "Butterfly" and "Africa" * In 2011, he organized a ''Close Up Arabia'' campaign for recruiting participants in a music video project of his. and the resulting music vide

* Karl Wolf has also collaborated and performed in concerts with

Akon Aliaune Damala Bouga Time Puru Nacka Lu Lu Lu Badara Akon Thiam (born April 16, 1973), known mononymously as Akon (), is a Senegalese-United States, American singer, songwriter, rapper, record producer, businessman, and philanthropist. An influ ...

Ne-Yo Shaffer Chimere Smith (born October 18, 1979), known professionally as Ne-Yo ( ), is an American singer and songwriter. Regarded as a leading figure of Contemporary R&B#2000s, 2000s R&B music, he is the recipient of numerous accolades, includi ...

T-Pain Faheem Rashad Najm (born September 30, 1984), known professionally as T-Pain, is an American singer and rapper. He is known for popularizing creative use of Auto-Tune pitch correction, often used with extreme parameter settings to create electro ...

and many more artists and as a special guest also. He co-wrote with Jenson Vaughan, Frank Bülles, Matthew Humphrey and Omar Pasley ( OMI) the latter's international hit "

Discography

Studio albums

Compilation albums

Extended plays

Singles

;Others *2007: "Hollow Girl" (feat. Striger) *2007: "Butterflies" (with Eve) *2008: "Like This" (feat. Sandman) *2009: "Maniac Maniac" (feat.

) *2009: "You Forgot About Me" (feat.

Imposs Stanley Rimsky Salgado (born 12 September 1980), known by his stage name Imposs, is a Haitian-Canadian rapper, musician, singer and songwriter based in Quebec. Before becoming a solo artist, he was part of Muzion, one of the well-known hip hop ...

) *2009: "No Way Nobody" (feat.

Loon Loons (North American English) or divers (British English, British / Irish English) are a group of aquatic birds found in much of North America and northern Eurasia. All living species of loons are members of the genus ''Gavia'', family (biolog ...

) *2011: "Tell Me" (feat. Nirvana Savoury) *2013: "Go Your Own Way" (feat. Reema Major)

Featured artist

Awards and nominations

References

External links

Karl Wolf Official site

Karl Wolf MySpace Page
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Wolf, Karl 1979 births Living people 21st-century Canadian male singers Canadian contemporary R&B singers Canadian expatriates in the United Arab Emirates Canadian male singers Canadian male singer-songwriters Canadian pop singers Canadian record producers Canadian soul singers EMI Records artists English-language singers from Lebanon Lebanese emigrants to Canada Lebanese expatriates in the United Arab Emirates MTV Europe Music Award winners Musicians from Beirut Singers from Toronto Singers from Montreal Songwriters from Quebec Universal Records artists 21st-century Canadian singer-songwriters Concordia University alumni