Xander Venema (born 27 August 1985 in Nieuw-Amsterdam, Netherlands), performing under his mononym Xander, is a Dutch singer, songwriter who was part of the Dutch boyband 4 AM. He took part in Dutch series 2 of '' Popstars'' finishing 11th. After ''Popstars'', he has continued with a solo musical career.

Beginnings

Coming from a musical family, where almost every family member sing or play a musical instrument. At age six he started playing keyboards when he was eight he started singing and composing songs and learnt playing the piano. He also studied Media and Entertainment. Around the age of 16 he made a demo, signed a music deal with Willem van Kooten and Eelco van Cooten and released an independent single.

In boyband 4 am

In 2006, he auditioned for the Amsterdam-based Dutch

boy band A boy band is loosely defined as a vocal group consisting of young male singers, usually in their teenage years or in their twenties at the time of formation. Generally, boy bands perform Love song, love songs marketed towards girls and young ...

4 AM and became a member. 4 AM was composed of Koen, Jeff and Daan besides Xander. Xander and 4 am had a minor hit with the Las Vegas-themed "Wake Up Call" that reached No. 24 in the MegaTop 100 followed by "Livin' on Love" The band also appeared on the ''Hummertime'', a Dutch television reality show on

Jetix Jetix (stylized as JETIX) was a children's entertainment brand owned by The Walt Disney Company. The brand was for a slate of action/adventure-related programming blocks and television channels. Jetix programming mainly originated from the S ...

television.

''Popstars'' Netherlands

In 2008, he auditioned unsuccessfully in the Netherlands to the first season of the Dutch version of '' Popstars''. In 2009, he applied for a second time to season 2 (2009–2010) of the competition where he sang "Arms of s Woman" from Amos Lee. Known as Xander, he was picked as one of the Final 14. He sang "

Built to Last ''Built to Last'' is the thirteenth and final studio album by the Grateful Dead (their twentieth album overall). It was recorded between February 1 and October 20, 1989, and originally released on October 31, 1989. The album was released on CD ...

" from Mêlée in week 1, "Patience" from Take That in week 2 and was eliminated from competition on 5 December 2009 finishing 11th overall, after singing "Patience" once again and " I Can't Stop Loving You" from Leo Sayer /

Phil Collins Philip David Charles Collins (born 30 January 1951) is an English singer, musician, songwriter, record producer and actor. He was the drummer and lead singer of the rock band Genesis and also has a career as a solo performer. Between 1982 and ...

in a sing-off with the contestants Joshua Newton and Dewi Pechler.

After ''Popstars''

Xander has continued a solo career after ''Popstar''. He performs usually at the ''Lef'' gay club in Rotterdam, Netherlands.
He sings in English, Dutch, Spanish and Italian.

Discography

Singles

;with 4 AM ;Solo (own compositions) *2010: "Miss U" / "Voor jou" / "Anders dan toen" *2011: "I'm Your Man" / "I Believe in You and I"

References

External links

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Xander's Hyves page
{{DEFAULTSORT:Xander 1985 births Living people Popstars contestants Musicians from Rotterdam People from Emmen, Netherlands 21st-century Dutch male singers 21st-century Dutch singers